2008/02/07 by Joseph Fargione, Jason Hill, David Tilman +2 · 1 voice · 11 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Energy · Engineering · #Bioenergy crop production and management #Biofuel production and bioconversion #Global Energy and Sustainability Research
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1152747
openalex publication_date 2008/02/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/27
Increasing energy use, climate change, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels make switching to low-carbon fuels a high priority. Biofuels are a potential low-carbon energy source, but whether biofuels offer carbon savings depends on how they are produced. Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food crop-based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a "biofuel carbon debt" by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions that these biofuels would provide by displacing fossil fuels. In contrast, biofuels made from waste biomass or from biomass grown on degraded and abandoned agricultural lands planted with perennials incur little or no carbon debt and can offer immediate and sustained GHG advantages.