This report from the Biofuels task force of the World Energy Council reviews the debate between supporters and opponents of Biofuels, against the backdrop of rapidly increasing energy demand. Skyrocketing prices of crude oil in the middle of the first decade of the 21st century accompanied by rising prices for food focused political and public attention on the role of biofuels.

There is rising skepticism about the potential positive environmental impacts of first generation biofuels. Growing biofuel crops could induce diversion of other crops dedicated to food and feed needs. The relocation of production could increase deforestation and bring significant new volumes of carbon into the atmosphere.

Mass planting of jatropha as a biofuel crop could benefit poor
areas as well as combating global warming, but only if a number of
scientific and production issues are properly addressed, a review has
warned.

This supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) has been prepared in response to an application submitted by Dominion Energy Kewaunee, Inc. (DEK) to renew the operating license for Kewaunee Power Station (KPS) for an additional 20 years.

This report is a survey on the technical potential of biomass from current agriculture and forestry in the regions; Europe incl. Russia and Ukraine, USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, China and India. The report provides projections for agricultural residue production assuming availability of fertilizers, plant protection and mechanization.

Over the past decade, biofuels production in the EU and US has boomed – much of this due to government mandates and subsidies. The US has now surpassed Brazil as the world’s leading
producer of ethanol. The economic and environmental impact of these biofuel programs has become an important question of public policy. Due to the complex intersectoral linkages

This paper investigates the direct and indirect impacts of ethanol production on land use, deforestation and food production. A partial equilibrium model of a national economy with two sectors and two regions, one of which includes a residual forest, is developed.