Palm Oil Biodiesel - 2000% the Emissions of Fossil Fuels
Posted Oct 22 2009 10:01pm
Can we just all put palm oil biodiesel produced on deforested peatlands to rest already: A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme shows that biodiesel production under these conditions can result in greenhouse gas emissions 2000% higher than fossil fuels. Other biofuels fare much better however:
The devil is really in the details of how and where biofuels are produced, the report says. Though chopping down rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia and replacing them with plantations results in monumental increases in carbon emissions compared to petrol-diesel, not to mention massive biodiversity problems, in other circumstances biofuels really live up to their carbon neutral claims.
Can we just all put palm oil biodiesel produced on deforested peatlands to rest already: A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme shows that biodiesel production under these conditions can result in greenhouse gas emissions 2000% higher than fossil fuels. Other biofuels fare much better however:
The devil is really in the details of how and where biofuels are produced, the report says. Though chopping down rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia and replacing them with plantations results in monumental increases in carbon emissions compared to petrol-diesel, not to mention massive biodiversity problems, in other circumstances biofuels really live up to their carbon neutral claims.
Read More: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/10/palm-oil-biodiesel-2000-percent-emission