Are you still confused about the pros and cons of biofuels as fossil fuel replacements? Can't figure out which side to take in the debate over whether fermentation of corn and other crops to produce biofuels will lead to food shortages, and distruction of rainforests and other natural wilderness areas? Perhaps you could follow the lead of over 1000 climate change professionals from 105 countries. According to Helmut Burkhardt (Ryerson University, Science for Peace), experts in the field, when polled at the UN climate change conference last year, rejected the current generation of biofuels, placing them last among 18 possible technologies for reducing the greenhouse effect. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore, reportedly agreed with that sentiment in a meeting in December 2007. The negative effects of energy farming on climate change stem from the belief that more arable land will need to be cleared in order for food production to compete with biofuel crop supplies, despite development of new protein engineering techniques that allow for the use of non-food crops such as grasses. The number one most favoured technology voted on at the UN conference was solar energy.

_Sources:

Burkhardt, H. Crops for Fuel: Biofuels could generate extensive food shortages. The Toronto Star, Thursday January 24, 2008.