Using agricultural "waste" to make biofuels has problems. Removing
crop waste increases the need for nitrogen fertilizers, which release
the most potent greenhouse gas of all, nitrous oxide, which is 296
times more effective at trapping the earth's heat than carbon
dioxide. Much of the residual crop biomass must be returned to the
soil to maintain topsoil integrity, otherwise the rate of topsoil
erosion will increase dramatically. If we mine our topsoil for
energy, we may end up committing slow agricultural suicide, just as
the Mayan Empire once did. Without topsoil, the world starves!
Mayan Empire story -
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/15nov_maya.htm
Secondly, the only publicly proven method of making ethanol from
cellulose costs the equivalent of making gasoline from crude oil that
costs $305. a barrel. Various companies have made claims they can do
it cheaper, but there are excatly ZERO production plants in the world
making ethanol from lignocellulose. Making small amounts in a lab is
different than a full scale commercial operation. Remember cold
fusion? If we can ever make ethanol from true garbage, then that is a
great idea, but we must not destroy our precious topsoil, or speed
global warming while doing it.
