To follow on from my last post, it is worth mentioning that biofuels are not a proven way to reduce our ecological footprint. They can reduce CO2 emissions, but the problem is that CO2 is not the only greenhouse gas. Nitrous oxide is also a greenhouse gas. It is 296 times more worse than CO2 and is released in fertilizers.
Just last month the Nobel prize winning chemist Paul Crutzen released a paper that showed that if you factor in the nitrogen-based fertilizers used in growing the crops, biofuels may actually be worse than fossil fuels as agents of climate change.
Those with more scientific minds can take a look at the report here. In summary though: “When the extra N2O emission from biofuel production is calculated in ‘CO2 equivalent’ global warming terms, and compared with the quasi-cooling effect of ‘saving’ emissions of fossil fuel derived from CO2, the outcome is that the production of commonly used biofuels, such as biodiesel from rapeseed and bioethanol from corn (maize), can contribute as much or more to global warming by N2O emissions than cooling by fossil fuel savings.”
There are other issues too, such as the fossil fuels used in farming and processing the fuels, and those are better dealt with elsewhere.
The Earthbound Report 
Dosent switchgrass grow wild ?
Yes, the Australians are exploring the options with wild grass I believe, since they have plenty of it. The main sources of biofuels however, maize and rapeseed, are farmed. There are other wild-growing potential sources of fuel, but the big businesses investing in biofuels are planting industrial scale plantations, not sweeping up wild grass. They are even burning the amazon to clear ground for these plantations, which is ironic.
I heard a snippet on the ‘Today’ programme this morning. Increasing areas of forest in Malaysia are now being destroyed to make way for palm oil, to be used as a biofuel. The problem is that swamp forest is being taken over for palm oil production, but the swamp forest is one of the main oxygenating areas of our planet, and its loss will have a seriously adverse effect on the balance of gases in the atmosphere. We just can’t get it right, can we? That is what greed is doing to us.
Biofuels aren’t the solution everyone thinks they are. Yes they pollute less, but in the long run their production comes at a cost. With an increase in demand for biofuels, we’ll see an increase in deforestation for these plantations. We need to think very carefully about what we do. If we’re not careful, countries like Indonesia will be setting up huge plantations in the name of saving the planet. which in the long run is making things worse.
Biofuels are touted as green not because they are green, but because they are an easy way of sounding green. No ned to replace diesel engines – just put biofuels through them! It’s a way of avoiding the problem whilst looking like you’re doing something.