Green value fades from biofuels

Re “Biofuel may raise carbon emissions,” Feb. 8

This article is a perfect illustration of why it is important to look before we leap and think before we act.

The rush to do something about global warming has led government to pass laws giving massive subsidies to biofuel producers and requiring consumers to buy expensive biofuels. Now we know that this is only making matters worse. On the same note, what have we gained, other than a frightening budget crisis, from all the funds poured into hydrogen highways and solar-roof initiatives? We need to learn some lessons and begin to look before we leap.

James M. Taylor

Senior Fellow

Environment Policy

The Heartland Institute

Chicago

Biofuels need to be matched to the regional climate. It makes sense for the high productivity of sugar cane in tropical regions but not for the much-lower productivity of corn in temperate regions, especially if it competes with food. However, it makes perfect sense to recycle used vegetable oils into biodiesel: two uses out of the same oil, and no competition with food. This may not cover all of our transportation fuel needs, but the wave of the future is to have multiple choices geared toward local conditions, and energy security through energy diversity.

Californians and the Southwest in sunny but arid regions can easily power their cars from residential solar panels. For the cloudier Midwest and Northeast, the market would probably allocate more of the country’s liquid biofuels, recycled from used oils. Finally, of course, land-use policy should not allow conversion from a highly productive system to one that is less productive.

Government would have a role in not providing the wrong tax incentives and possibly buying the patents for technologies that are for the public good.

Nancy Y. Kiang

Irvine

The writer is a biometeorological scientist who studies the interactions between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere.

Ethanol is a lousy fuel. The energy generated by burning a liter of ethanol is a third less than that gained from a liter of gasoline. It also absorbs water from the atmosphere, and unless mixed with some other fuel -- such as gasoline -- the resulting corrosion can wreck an engine’s seals in a few years. Truly green biofuels are still in development and may someday be produced with engineered enzymes or microbes.

Hans Schurig

Hollywood