by Philip Brown

Created on: April 26, 2008   Last Updated: May 07, 2008

As the price of oil continues to hit record highs and international demand skyrockets, biofuels have gained attention as a possible solution to the global energy crisis. But are they actually any more efficient than traditional fossil fuels?

Biofuels can be derived from any recently dead biological material but most often plant material is used. The most popular biofuel in the United States is ethanol which is derived from corn. Although ethanol fuel itself is more carbon friendly to the environment than petroleum, when the process of creating ethanol from corn is analyzed it becomes clear that any reduction in environmental emissions is negated. The corn must be planted, fertilized, irrigated, harvested, transported, and processed, all of which require energy to accomplish. Large amounts of land and water resources are needed to grow corn. In places like Brazil and Southeast Asia, large-scale deforestation is used to create suitable land for biofuel crops. Because trees that would normally help balance carbon emissions are destroyed, deforestation has an adverse affect on overall greenhouse gas levels. Deforestation in conjunction with the inefficient process of manufacturing hurts the viability of current biofuels as an environmentally friendly alternative.

Current biofuels are actually more harmful to the environment than petroleum. A 2008 study by scientists at Princeton University showed that "...corn-based ethanol, instead of producing a 20% savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years." Ethanol fuel itself may emit lower levels of CO2 than traditional fossil fuels when burned, but when other factors such as manufacturing and transportation are taken into account, current biofuels are actually more harmful to the environment than petroleum.

Biofuels are more expensive to produce than fossil fuels and must be heavily subsidized by the government in order to be economically viable. Ethanol only produces 2/3 the energy of the same amount of gasoline so it takes a greater volume of ethanol fuel to drive a car any given distance. Even though ethanol costs roughly $0.12 less per gallon than petroleum at the pump, it is still more expensive in the long run due to the lower energy content.

Biofuel production also competes with food production. Since corn is a staple food around the world the price increases as more land is subsidized for biofuel production and not food. This most dramatically affects impoverished

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