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| The Environmental Footprint of Biofuels |
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A new UN report emphasizes the importance of addressing land use, water, and biodiversity impacts of biofuels.
The jury is now in on biofuels: Current government mandates in the United States, Europe and other countries to blend biofuels into ordinary car fuels cause substantial environmental damage, do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and have a questionable contribution to energy security. A new UN report and a new book document many, sometimes fascinating facets of this intricate issue. There are many types of biomass, different options for growing this biomass, a few technologies for converting the biomass to various liquid fuels. It is not surprising that the environmental impacts depend on the particularities of the growing, harvesting, transporting, converting and use ...
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Posted by Edgar Hertwich at Sunday, November 15, 2009
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| What does the Carbon Footprint mean? |
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Many people have asked how a country’s carbon footprint compares to the territorial emissions reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)?
In hindsight, it was perhaps remiss of us not to include this data in the paper. However, it was not our motivation.
Focusing on whether the emissions are bigger or smaller misses a large part of the story. The main focus of the paper is on what consumption categories cause emissions and how this varies across countries with different incomes. The current approach in the UNFCCC reveal what the emissions are from electricity, transportation, and so on. This is vital information, however, only a carbon footprint can reveal what the emissions are to produce food, car, television, or to get a hair cut. This info...
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Posted by Glen Peters at Thursday, August 13, 2009
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