Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change Export

@article{citeulike:2352091, abstract = {Most prior studies have found that substituting biofuels for gasoline will reduce greenhouse gases because biofuels sequester carbon through the growth of the feedstock. These analyses have failed to count the carbon emissions that occur as farmers worldwide respond to higher prices and convert forest and grassland to new cropland to replace the grain (or cropland) diverted to biofuels. By using a worldwide agricultural model to estimate emissions from land-use change, we found that corn-based ethanol, instead of producing a 20\% savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years. Biofuels from switchgrass, if grown on U.S. corn lands, increase emissions by 50\%. This result raises concerns about large biofuel mandates and highlights the value of using waste products. 10.1126/science.1151861}, author = {Searchinger, T. and Heimlich, R. and Houghton, R. A. and Dong, F. and Elobeid, A. and Fabiosa, J. and Tokgoz, S. and Hayes, D. and Yu, T. H.}, citeulike-article-id = {2352091}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1151861}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.sciencemag.org/content/319/5867/1238.abstract}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www.sciencemag.org/content/319/5867/1238.full.pdf}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/319/5867/1238}, citeulike-linkout-4 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18258860}, citeulike-linkout-5 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=18258860}, day = {29}, doi = {10.1126/science.1151861}, issn = {0036-8075}, journal = {Science}, keywords = {bio, bio-ethanol, landuse}, month = {February}, number = {5867}, pages = {1238--1240}, posted-at = {2008-04-18 19:39:20}, priority = {0}, title = {Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1151861}, volume = {319}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2352091 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2352091 N2 - Most prior studies have found that substituting biofuels for gasoline will reduce greenhouse gases because biofuels sequester carbon through the growth of the feedstock. These analyses have failed to count the carbon emissions that occur as farmers worldwide respond to higher prices and convert forest and grassland to new cropland to replace the grain (or cropland) diverted to biofuels. By using a worldwide agricultural model to estimate emissions from land-use change, we found that corn-based ethanol, instead of producing a 20% savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gases for 167 years. Biofuels from switchgrass, if grown on U.S. corn lands, increase emissions by 50%. This result raises concerns about large biofuel mandates and highlights the value of using waste products. 10.1126/science.1151861 IS - 5867 JF - Science SN - 0036-8075 EP - 1240 TI - Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change VL - 319 SP - 1238 KW - bio KW - bio-ethanol KW - landuse AU - Searchinger, T AU - Heimlich, R AU - Houghton, RA AU - Dong, F AU - Elobeid, A AU - Fabiosa, J AU - Tokgoz, S AU - Hayes, D AU - Yu, TH PY - 2008/02/29/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1151861 ER -