Bioenergy production from marginal lands

The conflicting interests related to biofuel production has been termed as "The food, energy and environment trilemma."  It looks like we might only have a dilemma between energy and environment now, if we can sustainably grow biofuel on marginal lands instead of agricultural land, as suggested by a recent Nature article.   Using long-term/20-year period data, this is "the first convincing study" of the impact of biofuel-production systems on climate change.

Special issue: Can We Break the Addiction to Fossil Energy?

Ecological modelling, Vol 223 (1), 2011.

Biofuel as invasive species

A CABI paper by Arne Witt (Link)

HT: S. Pagad via Aliens' list.

Friday post: Full cost accounting for energy

HT: Bob Costanza via GIEE list.

Drinking keeps you warm--a high-tech way

"A visit to the local pub will help Britons keep their homes warm and their stoves alight as the country's first commercial facility turning organic waste into biogas started sending gas to the grid on Friday (details).

Burning water: another challenge for biomass energy technologies

An Ambio paper written Gund fellows.

"...the most water-efficient, fossil-based technologies have an EROWI one to two orders of magnitude greater than the most water-efficient biomass technologies, implying that the development of biomass energy technologies in scale sufficient to be a significant source of energy may produce or exacerbate water shortages around the globe and be limited by the availability of fresh water."

Water: the real throttle on renewable energy

NYT article.

HT: Nate Hagens via GIEE list.

Peak oil = waste of energy?

A NYT piece and Nate Hagens' debunking at the Oil Drum

The best biofuel--The Food, Energy, and Environment Trilemma

"The search for beneficial biofuels should focus on sustainable biomass feedstocks that neither compete with food crops nor directly or indirectly cause land-clearing and that offer advantages in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Perennials grown on degraded formerly agricultural land, municipal and industrial sold waste, crop and forestry residues, and double or mixed crops offer great potential. The best biofuels make good substitutes for fossil energy. A recent analysis suggests that more than 500 million tons of such feedstocks could be produced annually in the United States (Science)"

Outdoor gyms generate electricity for local TVs in China

Very cool idea thought not sure how stable the energy inflows were (from TreeHugger)

Increasing corn for biofuel production reduces biocontrol services in agricultural landscapes

From PNAS

"Increased demand for corn grain as an ethanol feedstock is altering U.S. agricultural landscapes and the ecosystem services they provide. From 2006 to 2007, corn acreage increased 19% nationally, resulting in reduced crop diversity in many areas. Biological control of insects is an ecosystem service that is strongly influenced by local landscape structure. Here, we estimate the value of natural biological control of the soybean aphid, a major pest in agricultural landscapes, and the economic impacts of reduced biocontrol caused by increased corn production in 4 U.S. states (Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). For producers who use an integrated pest management strategy including insecticides as needed, natural suppression of soybean aphid in soybean is worth an average of $33 ha⁻¹. At 2007–2008 prices these services are worth at least $239 million y⁻¹ in these 4 states. Recent biofuel-driven growth in corn planting results in lower landscape diversity, altering the supply of aphid natural enemies to soybean fields and reducing biocontrol services by 24%. This loss of biocontrol services cost soybean producers in these states an estimated $58 million y⁻¹ in reduced yield and increased pesticide use. For producers who rely solely on biological control, the value of lost services is much greater..."

ESV: lessons from influential case studies

'Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Strategic Environmental Assessment. Lessons from Influential Case Studies' released by the Netherlands Commission on Environmental Assessment

The food miles mistake

An article summarized the importance of a holistic systematic approach in making your food choice. Local food is not always better, and organics are not always better either.

Recommendations: "Eat foods that are in season; eat minimally processed, packaged, and marketed food; use public transportation when grocery shopping; can and dry fruits and vegetables yourself; and plant a garden and grow as much of your own food as possible. In other words, spend more time and effort finding, growing, and preparing food at the expense of other productive or leisure activities."

My favorite sentence: "give your true love a bouquet of in-season root vegetables for Valentine's Day."

I wonder what my husband's face will look like when he gets a bunch of home-grown beets for Valentine's Day.

P.S. He hates beets.

The true cost of coal in China

"The report estimates the external costs to China of using coal. The term “external” incorporates air and water pollution, ecosystem degradation, damage to infrastructure, human injuries and loss of life, and takes into account the distortion of government regulations."

"...in 2007 alone, on average, each tonne of coal used in China caused environmental damages of RMB 150. The total external costs of coal use in 2007 reached RMB 1.7 trillion, equal to 7.1 per cent of China’s 2007 GDP."

HT: Samir Kiran Doshi via GIEE list.

Asian Longhorned Beetle’s Gut Fungus

is more effective in breaking down wood = potential in biofuel production (more from Treehugger).

Australian geothermal potential

"Barely one percent of Australia's untapped geothermal energy could produce 26,000 years worth of clean electricity", Reuters reported.

Could low-input high-diversity bioenergy systems save the bees?

BioPact asked.

Shenhua Energy Wins Australia Coal Exploration Permit

Bloomberg reported.

I guess the Chinese coal company can potentially make money by mining in Australia, even with much higher production & transportation costs and with an upcoming carbon tax? If this is true I feel scared.

One more service provided by switchgrass

Soil formation, in addition to biofuel production/carbon sequestration.

Gore's 100% renewable energy in 10 years challenge

Here is the transcript.

HT: Bob Herendeen via Gund list.

"I'm convinced that one reason we've seemed paralyzed in the face of these crises is our tendency to offer old solutions to each crisis separately - without taking the others into account. And these outdated proposals have not only been ineffective - they almost always make the other crises even worse.

Yet when we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at the same time, we can see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges - the economic, environmental and national security crises.

...

Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.

...

To those who say the costs are still too high: I ask them to consider whether the costs of oil and coal will ever stop increasing if we keep relying on quickly depleting energy sources to feed a rapidly growing demand all around the world. When demand for oil and coal increases, their price goes up. When demand for solar cells increases, the price often comes down.

...

Of course the greatest obstacle to meeting the challenge of 100 percent renewable electricity in 10 years may be the deep dysfunction of our politics and our self-governing system as it exists today.

...

We must now lift our nation to reach another goal that will change history. Our entire civilization depends upon us now embarking on a new journey of exploration and discovery. Our success depends on our willingness as a people to undertake this journey and to complete it within 10 years. Once again, we have an opportunity to take a giant leap for humankind. "