Review of Environmental, Economic and Policy Aspects of Biofuels

Rajagopal, Deepak ; Zilberman, David

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ABSENCE OF OXYGEN;    ACCESS TO ENERGY;    AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES;    AGRICULTURAL RESIDUES;    AGRICULTURAL WASTES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4341
RP-ID  :  WPS4341

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The world is witnessing a sudden growthin production of biofuels, especially those suited forreplacing oil like ethanol and biodiesel. This papersynthesizes what the environmental, economic, and policyliterature predicts about the possible effects of thesetypes of biofuels. Another motivation is to identify gaps inunderstanding and recommend areas for future work. Theanalysis finds three key conclusions. First, the currentgeneration of biofuels, which is derived from food crops, isintensive in land, water, energy, and chemical inputs.Second, the environmental literature is dominated by adiscussion of net carbon offset and net energy gain, whileindicators relating to impact on human health, soil quality,biodiversity, water depletion, etc., have received much lessattention. Third, there is a fast expanding economic andpolicy literature that analyzes the various effects ofbiofuels from both micro and macro perspectives, but thereare several gaps. A bewildering array of policies -including energy, transportation, agricultural, trade, andenvironmental policies - is influencing the evolution ofbiofuels.But the policies and the level of subsidies donot reflect the marginal impact on welfare or theenvironment. In summary, all biofuels are not created equal.They exhibit considerable spatial and temporal heterogeneityin production. The impact of biofuels will also beheterogeneous, creating winners and losers. The findings ofthe paper suggest the importance of the role biomass playsin rural areas of developing countries. Furthermore, the useof biomass for producing fuel for cars can affect access toenergy and fodder and not just access to food.