Biofuels emissions may be worse than oil - studies

NEW YORK, Feb 7 (KUNA) -- Quoting two major studies, the NewScientist electoronic news service, on Thursday said that biofuels, once seen as a useful way of combating climate change, could actually increase greenhouse gas emissions.
It added that it may take tens or hundreds of years to pay back the "carbon debt" accrued by growing biofuels in the first place.
"The calculations join a growing list of studies questioning whether switching to biofuels really will help combat climate change," it added.
Biofuel production has accelerated over the last five years, spurred in part by a US drive to produce corn-derived ethanol as an alternative to petrol.
"The idea makes intuitive environmental sense - plants take up carbon dioxide as they grow, so biofuels should help reduce greenhouse gas emissions - but the full environmental cost of biofuels is only now becoming clear," it argued.
Extra emissions are created from the production of fertiliser needed to grow corn, for example, leading some researchers to predict that the energy released by burning ethanol is 25 percent greater than that used to process fuel. (end) sj.bs KUNA 072353 Feb 08NNNN