Thread: Fuel addiction and the ethics of ethanol

Fuel addiction and the ethics of ethanol


by Ciaran Walsh
Global Research, February 8, 2009
Russia Today


The scarcity of fossil fuels and the threat to our climate from carbon emissions have focused attention on alternative energy sources. In recent years, biofuels have led the way. But in the rush to embrace this new solution, have we made a huge mistake?

It is already a huge business. The United States plans to provide 15 per cent of its fuel requirements with biofuel by 2012, while the European Union wants ethanol to make up 10 per cent of each litre of gasoline sold by 2020. The World Economic Forum in Davos has recommended that 515 billion dollars a year should be spent globally on clean energy development - like ethanol - between now and 2030.

However, some believe that the turn to biofuels will prove to be an unmitigated disaster. They claim it will result in the destruction of tropical rain forests, the proliferation of genetically modified monocultural crops across the planet, and therefore accelerate any impending ecological disaster rather than stopping it.

Supporters of biofuels accuse the naysayers of using old data and making unfair or outdated assumptions on what factors to include in their analysis.

So just how ethical is ethanol? And what are the boundaries or measurements we should use to decide whether the agrofuel route is indeed the greenest and cleanest? Peter Nuurbier is the Associate Professor of International Business Management at Holland’s Wageningen University; he also advises the Dutch government on their ethanol dealings with Brazil.

“There are three basic ethical dilemmas with ethanol. One, climate change – does it have a negative impact on global warming? Two, the food versus fuel debate, is it ethical to put arable land aside for fuel and in effect link the two markets together? And three, does it actually help re-distribute wealth?â€

Perhaps it’s time to become more efficient as a species rather than trying to find new and efficient sources of power.

Wrong answer. What is needed is a comprehensive energy plan that addresses short, mid-term and long term issues. More efficient use of power is one part of a total plan, but it is not the solution because no matter how efficient we get we will one day run out. Unfortunately, we have never had such a plan, and probably will never get one. So, everyone runs around trying to come up with partial solutions that may in fact worsen the problem, or create others. Such as biofuels. Such as mandatory use of fluorescent bulbs vice incandescent. A comprehensive energy plan should not be like the Comprehensive Immigration bill; it should be something that actually solves the problems.