Indirect emissions from biofuels: how important
Abstract
Biofuel Backfire: For compelling economical, geopolitical, and environmental reasons, biofuels are considered an attractive alternative to fossil fuels for meeting future global energy demands. Melillo et al. (p. 1397 , published online 22 October), however, suggest that a few serious drawbacks related to land use need to be considered. Based on a combined biogeochemistry and economic model, indirect land use (for example, clearing forested land for food crops to compensate for increased biofuel crop production on current farmlands) is predicted to generate more soil carbon loss than directly harvesting biofuel crops. Furthermore, increased fertilizer use for biofuels will add large amounts of nitrous oxide—a more effective heat-trapping molecule than carbon dioxide—to the atmosphere. Policy decisions regarding land and crop management thus need to consider the long-term implications of increased biofuel production.
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Transitioning lands in other uses to biofuel feedstock production will affect the carbon stocks of these lands.
“Transitioning lands in other uses to biofuel feedstock production will affect the carbon stocks of these lands (Melillo et al. , 2009; Fargione et al. , 2010).”
From Influence of spatially dependent, modeled soil carbon emission factors on life‐cycle greenhouse gas emissions of corn and cellulosic ethanol (2016) · cites this paper as Melillo et al., 2009
Recent research has found that starch- and sugar-based bioenergy sources have drawbacks and has turned attention to ligno-cellulosic feedstocks.
“Recent research has found that these bioenergy sources have their drawbacks [3,4] and turned attention to the use of ligno-cellulosic feedstocks, such as perennial grasses and short rotation woody crops for bioenergy production [5,6].”
From The effect of bioenergy expansion: food, energy, and environment (2014) · cites this paper as [6]
Land use change impacts on carbon stocks can be so large that biofuels' GHG benefits are offset from a life-cycle perspective.
“Its impacts on carbon stocks (e.g., vegetation, soil) can be so large [75,76] that biofuels' GHG benefits are offset from a life-cycle perspective [9,70].”
From Biomass and biofuels in China: Toward bioenergy resource potentials and their impacts on the environment (2018) · cites this paper as [70]
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- Authors
- Melillo, J. M., Reilly, J. M., Kicklighter, D. W., Gurgel, A. C., Cronin, T. W., Paltsev, S., Felzer, B. S., Wang, X., Sokolov, A. P., & Schlosser, C. A.
- Affiliations
- Marine Biological Laboratory (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
- Corresponding author
- Melillo, Jerry M.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2009-12-04
- Volume
- 326
- Issue
- 5958
- Pages
- 1397-1399
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2103706312
- Semantic Scholar
- bbd7b7532c537db302e457e5a00481e4046a61b5
- Cited by
- 572
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 47 · 2014: 68 · 2013: 77 · 2012: 72
- FWCI
- 134.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Scientific Electronic Library Online (São Paulo Research Foundation, Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Bioenergy crop production and management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Keywords
- biofuels, indirect land use change, greenhouse gas emissions, land use change, nitrous oxide emissions, nitrogen fertilizer use, carbon loss, forest protection, climate policy, global warming potential
- MeSH terms
- Agriculture, Atmosphere, Carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Computer Simulation, Conservation of Natural Resources, Fertilizers, Fossil Fuels, Nitrous Oxide, Time Factors, Trees, Ecosystem, Models, Economic, Biofuels, Climate Change
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