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Getting biofuels on the green and narrow path: why we must get advanced biofuels started and started in the right way
Author(s) -
Greene Nathanael
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
biofuels, bioproducts and biorefining
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.931
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1932-1031
pISSN - 1932-104X
DOI - 10.1002/bbb.266
Subject(s) - sustainability , biofuel , certification , incentive , global warming , greenhouse gas , environmental economics , gallon (us) , business , economics , climate change , natural resource economics , engineering , management , waste management , ecology , biology , microeconomics
We need every tool we can get our hands on in the fight against global warming; a truly low‐carbon liquid fuel is clearly a tool we cannot give up lightly and arguably a tool we cannot do without. Unfortunately, our current policies do not require or reward broadly sustainably and truly low‐carbon biomass. What's more, the small policy steps forward are under atttack and the comprehensive policy solutions are not even being debated. As a result, any supply estimate that does not start by identifying the policies that would guide the market to choose sustainably managed feedstocks in sustainable quantities can be nothing more than a proof of concept, technical assessment. These estimates are misleadingly high in the current policy climate. Nevertheless to stop global warming we must try to get the right policies in place and with an aggressive package of policies, they might actually turn out to be low. A modest proposal for a billion gallon challenge with rich incentives and rigorous environmental requirements (perhaps building of voluntary sustainability certification standards such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels) is offered as a way to launch the advanced biofuels industry on the right track in a way will build public support.