Nearly all of the studies used to promote biofuels as
climate-friendly alternatives to petroleum fuels are flawed and need to be
redone. This conclusion is just one of the findings of my advanced review paper,
"The Liquid Carbon Challenge: Evolving Views on Transportation Fuels and
Climate," recently published online by Wiley Interdisciplinary
Reviews: Energy and Environment. The unhappy assessment is based on an in-depth
review of the literature published on the topic over the past two decades.
Once the erroneous carbon accounting methods are corrected, the results
will show that policies used to promote biofuels -- such as the U.S.
Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and California's Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) --
actually worsen the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere rather than
reducing emissions as promised.
