Today in Biofuels Opinion: “If the land that went into urban “sprawl” had been used for biofuel, 1/2 of all US passenger vehicles could now be running on it.”

The Associated Press: “Cambridge Energy Research Associates said Tuesday that oil consumption started to slump four years ago as consumers bought more efficient vehicles and countries expanded their use of alternative fuels like ethanol. Vehicle ownership also has leveled off in the developed world, as has the number of women in the workplace, CERA said. The research report focuses on demand from 30 countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and make up 54 percent of the world’s oil demand. Demand for oil in the U.S. has fallen by 2 million barrels a day since 2005, according to the Energy Information Administration.”

Biofuels Digest Special correspondent Joelle Brink: “[The Science paper] is yet another exercise in shared bias and armchair pontification.  Rather than being the problem, many of the developing nations are ahead of us. India has strict and well enforced land use policies and has developed microcrops that significantly reduce agricultural GHGs when interplanted with biofuel and other crops. Brazil, which seems to be everyone’s target lately, would like to adopt the zero-waste sustainable Colombia Model but is stuck with an expensive and widely distributed “Gen 1″ infrastructure that is making it increasingly uncompetitive.

Rather than attempt to force change by treaties–which haven’t had much discernible impact on the agricultural practices of the international drug trade–it would be more effective to assist nations like Brazil in making their agriculture more efficient, sustainable and therefore more profitable. Slash and burn is no  longer the route to riches, and those who use slave labor to try  to keep it alive deserve prosecution, not treaties.”Advanced Biofuels USA: “If the amount of land converted to sprawling industrial, commercial and residential development from 1982 to 2003 was, instead, planted in energy crops, we would have already achieved significant energy independence. According to the USDA/NNRCS 2003 National Resource Inventory, the US has 367 million acres of cropland, 117 million acres of pastureland and 405 million acres of forests for a total of 890 million acres.

From Advanced Biofuels USA: “Using data from the USDA/DOE 2005 “Billion-Ton Supply” study and fuel economy numbers from recent changes to the CAFE (Corporate Annual Fuel Economy) standards, (25 mpg average or 500 gallons/year/vehicle and 150 million vehicles) approximately 60 million acres of land could provide fuel for every passenger vehicle (car/truck/SUV) in the US on a sustainable basis.

“So how much of our natural resources would be needed to do this? 60 million acres/890 acres = 7%. Seven percent of 890 million acres is manageable. Unfortunately if we don’t act quickly we won’t have those 890 million acres to start with and there may a problem further down the road.

“Between 1982 and 2003 (USDA/NRCS data) 62.9 million acres (7%) of US natural resources were removed from cultivation. That’s the same amount needed to provide the US with biofuel. About 28 million acres were placed into Conservation Reserve Protection (CRP) meaning this land could potentially be used for biofuel production if proper conservation practices were followed. However, 35 million acres of crop and pasture land were converted into residential, commercial and industrial development, or as it’s known, “suburban sprawl.”

“Simply put, if the land that went into “sprawl” from 1982-2003 instead had been used for biofuel crops, 1/2 of all US passenger vehicles could now be running on advanced biofuels without changing one acre of current agriculture.??”Finally, what would be the impact on worldwide greenhouse gases (GHGs) from a sustainable US biofuels industry? Even if 60 million acres of mature forest land was converted to a mixture of perennial grasses and fast growing Poplar “energy” trees, the difference in GHGs would be so small that it would be “statistically insignificant” over the 50 year period usually used to calculate forest CO2 production/capture.

“Therefore, the real issue is how will we prevent the loss of another 35 million acres of our natural resources that, combined with a prudent use of our Conservation Reserves, could stop our use of petroleum (imported and domestic) for our transportation needs while maintaining the same carbon footprint if those lands remained uncultivated.

“If we are going to worry about US land use change effects on greenhouse gas emissions, perhaps we should concentrate on preventing changes that really result in parking lots, pollution and increased vehicle miles traveled rather than on replacement sustainable agricultural practices that benefit carbon capture and recycling.”

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