The dark side of biofuels
Date: 11.2.2008
According to a new study, turning native ecosystems into “farms” for **biofuel crops** causes major carbon emissions that worsen the global warming that biofuels are meant to mitigate.
The study by University of Minnesota was published online in "Science":[ http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/]. It shows that biofuels produced this way can cause more emissions than gasoline. In some places like Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States, land is being planted with corn or sugarcane to **produce ethanol**, or with palm trees or soybeans to produce **biodiesel**. The carbon, stored in the original plants and soil, is released as carbon dioxide when that organic matter decays, which can go on for 50 years or longer.
Whole article: "http://umn.edu":[ http://www1.umn.edu/umnnews/Feature_Stories/The_dark_side_of_biofuels.html]
