October, 24 2012, 02:45pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Adam Russell, 202-222-0751
Micha Rosenoer, 202-222-0734
Biofuels from Algae Pose Threat to Water and the Climate, National Research Council Reports
This morning the National Research Council released a new report titled "Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels in the United States," highlighting the multiple environmental risks of using algae for transportation fuel. The report was requested by the U.S. Department of Energy due to sustainability concerns with large-scale production of algae for biofuels.
WASHINGTON
This morning the National Research Council released a new report titled "Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels in the United States," highlighting the multiple environmental risks of using algae for transportation fuel. The report was requested by the U.S. Department of Energy due to sustainability concerns with large-scale production of algae for biofuels. The DOE and the U.S. Navy's history of support for algae as a potential feedstock has been hotly debated in Congress over the past year.
Michal Rosenoer, biofuels campaigner for Friends of the Earth, had the following response to the report:
"This report rightly highlights the huge environmental risks and unknowns of using algae for biofuels. Algae production poses a double-edged threat to our water resources, already strained by the drought. It requires massive amounts of water for production -- and is genetically-engineered to produce oil. If the wind blows algae out of its open-air production vats, cross contamination could cause never-before-seen oil spills in our rivers and oceans. We could have another BP oil spill that's coming from within the ecosystem itself. We just don't have the technology to clean up that kind of mess.
"Algae could also perpetuate the food versus fuel problem already common with corn ethanol. Some companies are feeding algae sugar to max out their biomass production. If we're using food to develop biofuels, we're risking increasing food prices as well."
The National Research Council released the following facts:
- 3.15 liters to 3,650 liters of freshwater is required to produce a single liter of algal biofuel equivalent of gasoline.
- To produce 39 billion liters of algal biofuels, 6 million to 15 million metric tons of nitrogen and 1 million to 2 million metric tons of phosphorus would be needed each year. These requirements represent 44 percent to 107 percent of the total nitrogen use and 20 percent to 51 percent of the total phosphorus use in the U.S.
- The greenhouse gas emissions of algal biofuels are unclear and estimates span a wide range; some studies suggest that algal biofuel production generates far more emissions than petroleum gasoline.
Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.
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Climate Crisis to Cost Global Economy $38 Trillion a Year by 2050
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The climate crisis will shrink the average global income 19% in the next 26 years compared to what it would have been without global heating caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, a study published in Nature Wednesday has found.
The researchers, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), said that economic shrinkage was largely locked in by mid-century by existing climate change, but that actions taken to reduce emissions now could determine whether income losses hold steady at around 20% or triple through the second half of the century.
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"That seems like… a lot," writer and climate advocate Bill McKibben wrote in response to the findings. "The entire world economy at the moment is about $100 trillion a year; the federal budget is about $6 trillion a year."
This means that the costs of inaction have already exceeded the costs of limiting global heating to 2°C by six times, the study authors said. However, limiting warming to 2°C can still significantly reduce economic losses through 2100.
"This clearly shows that protecting our climate is much cheaper than not doing so, and that is without even considering noneconomic impacts such as loss of life or biodiversity," Wenz said.
The damages predicted by the study were more than twice those of similar analyses because the researchers looked beyond national temperature data to also incorporate the impacts of extreme weather and rainfall on more than 1,600 subnational regions over a 40-year period, The Guardian explained.
"Strong income reductions are projected for the majority of regions, including North America and Europe, with South Asia and Africa being most strongly affected," PIK scientist and first author Maximilian Kotz said in a statement. "These are caused by the impact of climate change on various aspects that are relevant for economic growth such as agricultural yields, labor productivity, or infrastructure."
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Unlike previous studies, the research predicted economic losses for most wealthier countries in the Global North, with the U.S. and German economies shrinking by 11% by mid-century, France's by 13%, and the U.K.'s by 7%. However, the countries set to suffer the most are countries closer to the equator that have lower incomes already and have historically done much less to contribute to the climate crisis. Iraq, for example, could see incomes drop by 30%, Botswana 25%, and Brazil 21%.
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Wenz told The Guardian that the results were "devastating."
"I am used to my work not having a nice societal outcome, but I was surprised by how big the damages were. The inequality dimension was really shocking," Wenz said.
Levermann said the paper presented society with a clear choice:
It is on us to decide: Structural change towards a renewable energy system is needed for our security and will save us money. Staying on the path we are currently on, will lead to catastrophic consequences. The temperature of the planet can only be stabilized if we stop burning oil, gas, and coal.
McKibben, meanwhile, argued that the findings should persuade major companies to embrace climate action for self-interested reasons. He noted that most corporate emissions come from how company money is invested by banks, particularly in the continued exploitation of fossil fuel resources.
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