Comments on: More bad news for the poor http://www.carboncommentary.com/2008/02/27/78 A critical appraisal of issues in the move to a low-carbon economy Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:39:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Robert Palgrave http://www.carboncommentary.com/2008/02/27/78/comment-page-1#comment-433 Robert Palgrave Thu, 28 Feb 2008 23:44:36 +0000 http://www.carboncommentary.com/2008/02/27/78#comment-433 The Carboniferous period ended about 280 million years ago. In this 65 million year period, the remains of plants and animals were converted to oil, coal and gas. We started burning them in earnest only about 200 years ago. If we carry on using them at current rates, they might last 1000 years Effectively therefore, we burn many thousands of years’ worth of fossilised biomass every year. It’s madness to think we can grow anything more than a tiny fraction of our annual fuel needs. If growing them takes land out of food production or converts deep carbon sinks (forest) into shallow sinks (mechanised arable farmland) then the madness is compounded. How can anyone apply the term 'sustainable' to biofuels? The Carboniferous period ended about 280 million years ago. In this 65 million year period, the remains of plants and animals were converted to oil, coal and gas. We started burning them in earnest only about 200 years ago. If we carry on using them at current rates, they might last 1000 years

Effectively therefore, we burn many thousands of years’ worth of fossilised biomass every year. It’s madness to think we can grow anything more than a tiny fraction of our annual fuel needs. If growing them takes land out of food production or converts deep carbon sinks (forest) into shallow sinks (mechanised arable farmland) then the madness is compounded.

How can anyone apply the term ’sustainable’ to biofuels?

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