Biofuel

Biofuel is fuel that's made from food(...)( or in some cases, non-food crops that were grown specifically to make fuel ).

• For example, corn grain can be fermented to make ethanol (alcohol) which can be used as a replacement for gasoline in cars.

Biofuels are part of the global food inefficiency problem. And this diagram is just the status quo. If biofuels were scaled up more (i.e. enough to have any noticeable impact on replacing fossil fuels), the results would be disastrous.

Why it's a terrible idea

Superficially, biofuels seem like a good idea because food is technically renewable while fossil fuels are not. But in reality, using biofuels would be even worse for the planet than using fossil fuels:

Promotes global hunger

When food is turned into fuel, it affects the global food supply, leaving less food available for people to eat. Economically this manifests as higher food prices; the poorest of the poor are the first to suffer from this.

• Also note: Even when non-food crops are grown for fuel, it still has the same effect, because the crop land could have been used to grow food crops instead.

Promotes deforestation

The more biofuels are used, the more agricultural land is needed.iOr in more precise terms: If the rate of production of biofuels were to increase globally, then (controlling for other factors(...)( other factors such as food waste, dietary choices and crop yields. And even if any of those were to tip towards efficiency, it would still probably be better to not use biofuels, and to rewild more farmland instead.💬 discussion maybe make a page to discuss this conjecture )), the demand for agricultural land would increase. Globally, agriculture already uses more land than all other land usage combined. To increase it even further would require destroying ecosystems.

Could not even come close to producing enough energy

While the average person eats approximately 2,500 Calories/day, the average fossil fuel consumption is equivalent to 40,000 Calories/day per capita globally. 💬 discussion TODO: i gotta explain where i calculated this from It's simply no comparison - and it's unrealistic to expect the food supply to keep up with the demand for fuel. 💬 discussion Related discussion: How much land would it take to replace all fossil fuels with biomass? (assuming we use both the edible crop and the crop residue) TODO: Also explain the marginal utility principle - how the environmental costs outweigh the benefits for any amount of biofuel usage, large or small. TODO: Also add info about the overall carbon footprint per unit of biofuel energy(...)( i.e. from fossil fuels involved in biofuel production, plus also from deforestation (averaged somehow, using whichever methodology(...)( and ideally, the reader should be able to see what methodology was used ) ), compared to fossil fuels.

For better ways that fossil fuels could be phased out, see: Decarbonize the energy supply

See also

• Biomass waste - fuel made from by-products instead
• Reduce the amount of land required to feed the world