“The Clean Energy Scam,” TIME Magazine Talking Points

This article was heavily biased against biofuels. It drew foregone conclusions and failed to acknowledge or interview a representative sample of scientists or groups opposing the study on which this article was based – by Tim Searchinger on land use for biofuels.
Biodiesel has proven sustainability attributes. For every unit of energy it takes to make domestic biodiesel, 3.5 units are gained, or biodiesel has the highest energy balance of any liquid fuel.
Biodiesel has a 78% life cycle carbon dioxide reduction, which even takes into account growing soybeans - these studies were done on soy-biodiesel, as the historical majority of biodiesel in the U.S. has been made from soybean oil.
Grunwald incorrectly attributes rainforest destruction to biofuels. The article fails to mention that numerous factors contribute to deforestation, and many of these factors predate the emergence of commercial scale biofuel production. A UK Department of International Development study cited illegal logging as a major source of the problem, noting, “One of the biggest factors driving illegal logging has been the emergence of China as a major power. Between 1997 and 2005, China’s forest product imports more than tripled. The country now buys half of all international-traded tropical logs. One out of every two is illegally harvested….China is also having a big influence on the timber trade in Africa and Latin America.”
Biodiesel reduces EPA regulated emissions on average by 50 percent compared to petroleum diesel fuel.
In 2007 alone, biodiesel's contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions was the equivalent of removing 700,000 passenger vehicles from America's roadways.
There is in fact a surplus of soybean oil. According to U.S. Census data, we have more than 400 million gallons of soybean oil sitting in inventory. Plus, biodiesel is made from byproduct oils from growing soybeans or other crops, not the protein meal part of the oilseed crop. In soybeans, the protein is 80 percent of the bean. Further, no new acres have been introduced for cropland in the U.S. since 1959, according to the USDA. The U.S. is the largest exporter of soybeans.
Recently, a Merrill Lynch commodity strategist, Francisco Blanch, said that oil and gasoline prices would be about 15 percent higher if biofuel producers were not increasing their output. In addition, Fatih Birol of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, said that biofuels are playing a “critical role” in satisfying world demand, and without them, “it would be much more difficult to balance global oil markets.”
The tax incentive for biodiesel in the U.S. more than pays for itself with a net gain to the U.S. economy of $13.6 billion that would otherwise be spent on foreign oil. The biodiesel industry within the next several years will add more than 39,000 jobs.
As the demand for biodiesel continues to grow, the biodiesel industry is working to develop new feedstocks for biodiesel production. Algae, arid variety crops, waste greases, and other feedstocks have great potential to expand and diversify available material for biodiesel in a sustainable manner.
Formerly, a UN employee had called biofuels a “crime against humanity.” The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) quickly came out and said, "We regret that the report of the Special Rapporteur has taken a very complex issue, with many positive dimensions as well as negative ones, and characterized it as a 'crime against humanity,” said its spokesman. “FAO strongly feels that food security and environmental considerations must be fully addressed before making investments or policy decisions, and we are actively working to ensure this happens.” FAO has calculated that today 41,88 million km2 land are available for agriculture, although just 15,06 mill km2 are in use, and only 0,11 million km2 are used for biofuels production today, which is no more than 1 % of that area.



Nat'l Biodiesel Board
www.biodiesel.org