Myths abound regarding the pros and cons of biofuels. Here is a scorecard to separate truth from fiction.
In the flood of media attention that biofuels have received, it is difficult to distinguish the facts from the fanfare. Generally made from corn, sugarcane, soy, and other crops, biofuels for powering automobile engines have been hailed as a panacea that will arrest global climate change, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, ensure energy security, and turbocharge agricultural economies. Yet biofuels have also been denounced by critics who claim they will do more harm than good to the environment and they are not economically sustainable absent government protection. To determine who is right, we spoke to dozens of experts in government, corporate, academic, and nonprofit organizations — people such as Prabhu Pingali, director of the agricultural and development economics division of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations; Miguel Pestana, vice president of global external affairs for Unilever PLC; venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures; and Greg Stephanopoulos, Bayer Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT — and reviewed studies on the growth and viability of the biofuels market. Based on this research, we explored the truth of prevalent assumptions regarding both biofuel’s promise and its impact on markets and the environment.
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