Biofuel under fire in new report

By TED SULLIVAN Chronicle Staff Writer

Paul House owns a biofuel company, powers his vehicle with vegetable oil and does whatever he can to help the environment. But House admits that even though biofuel is cleaner than gasoline, it isn’t the answer to the world’s energy problems.

DEIRDRE EITEL/CHRONICLE Paul House, owner of Bozeman Biodiesel, fills the tank on his pickup with the biodiesel he manufactures in his northside garage on Monday. “There is no fuel that can supply our habits,” the Bozeman Biofuels owner said. “In my mind, it’s a smarter fuel. We just can’t be using as much fuel as we’ve come accustomed to. We’re so unwilling to drive less or inflate our tires or drive fuel-efficient vehicles. It’s just crazy that there’s been no talk of conservation.”

Biofuel has come under fire lately, including in two reports published last week in the journal Science. Both reports state that clearing land to produce biofuels on a large scale will do more to increase greenhouse gas emissions and global warming than using gasoline. The studies, both with a number of authors from several universities, were published Friday.

One study concluded that the use of traditional corn-based ethanol would produce twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as regular gasoline over a 30-year period. The other study found that converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas or grasslands to produce biofuels will increase global warming.

The reason for the increased emissions is that when the land is torn up and changed to produce biofuels, it releases carbon being stored in the ground, according to one of the reports, titled, “Land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt.”

But the reports also state that producing biofuel on abandoned agricultural lands and converting organic waste products into biofuel are good alternatives.

House said he sees the logic in that conclusion.

“For one, you’re not clearing land and for two, you’re not taking food-production land out of the picture,” House said.

Alice Pilgeram, who works for Montana State University’s Biobased Institute, said research related to biofuels is contradicting, depending on how one looks at the numbers.

She said farmers in eastern Montana are growing camelina. They’re already farming the land, and producing biofuel that could help the region’s economy. Creating biofuel for personal or regional use is good, she said, arguing that it still takes less energy to produce biofuel than to produce gasoline.

“Biodiesel is phenomenal,” Pilgeram said. “The energy balance is positive.”

Scott Brown, owner of Desert Rose Biodiesel in Belgrade, said using agricultural lands to produce biofuel puts land to good use. He said driving biodiesel vehicles such as the two he owns is better for the environment than driving a gas-powered vehicle. He isn’t deterred by any criticism of biofuel.

“It’s a great fuel. I love it. I just wish I could get more people to burn it,” he said.

Ted Sullivan is at tsullivan@dailychronicle.com

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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