Biofuels may harm more than help

OECD report says that Ethanol and Biodiesel aren’t the holy grail that Gov. Rendell thinks they are:

“When acidification, fertilizer use, biodiversity loss and toxicity of agricultural pesticides are taken into account, the overall environmental impacts of ethanol and biodiesel can very easily exceed those of petrol and mineral diesel,” it added.

The OECD therefore called on governments to cut their subsidies for the sector and instead encourage research into technologies that would avoid competing for land use with food production.

“Governments should cease to create new mandates for biofuels and investigate ways to phase them out,” it said.