|
|
BIOFUELS: NO SILVER BULLET AGAINST FOSSIL FUELS
Vicente Paolo Yu III
OCTOBER 2007 (IPS) - While increasing the proportion of biofuels in the fuel mix for motor
vehicles is a step in the right direction, it is not the ''silver bullet'' that will break the world's dependence on fossil fuels, writes Vicente Paolo Yu III, coordinator of the Global Governance for Development Programme at the South Centre.
In this article, Yu writes that biofuels should be seen as a part of a
broader strategy of diversifying the energy mix that allows society to shift to more sustainable energy sources with minimal economic and social disruption. It is crucial that biofuel production does not compete directly with food production, especially in developing countries, and that the latter's poor not be made to vie for food with the livestock and automobiles of those in developed countries.
More research, development, and investment needs to be made in other
climate-friendly energy alternatives (i.e. biogas, solar, wind, tidal,
water, geothermal, hydrogen), for power generation, transportation, and daily consumer use, to expand the use of these alternatives as future replacements for fossil fuels.
/NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, NEW ZEALAND, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND, POLAND, UNITED STATES OR UNITED KINGDOM/ (END/2007)
|
|
|
|
|
What is RSS?
