Researchers are reporting that eliminating rainforests and grasslands in favor of growing biofuel-friendly crops may actually increase carbon emissions as opposed to reducing them.

These forests and grasslands are instrumental in storing carbon and preventing it from being released into the atmosphere, but are being destroyed to create room for corn, sugarcane and soybeans, which are used in the production of non-fossil fuels. The irony is of course, that these altnernative fuel options are meant to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released by regular petroleum sources. The significant increase in the demand for alternative fuels has led to farmers clearing space to grow more of the crops that are needed for them. Scientists are cautioning that destroying the rainforests and grasslands actually outweights the benefits of using alternative fuel, with the release in carbon being hundreds of times more than the annual savings from using biofuels. The biofuels than become known as 'carbon debt' for contributing to pollution rather than reducing it.

Jason Hill, the co-author of the study, believes the benefits of biofuels need to be closely examined to ensure they outweight the potential negative environmental impact.

Biofuels, whether made from prairie plants, corn or soybeans, lack the potential to satisfy U.S. fuel needs, Hill said.

"If we take every corn kernel we produce in this nation and convert it to ethanol, we would offset only 12 percent of our gasoline use," he said. "And that doesn't include the energy it took to produce that ethanol in the first place. None of these are solutions, but we better be sure we're not making the problem worse, and that's what's happening with the current generation of food-based biofuels," Hill said.

So let me make sure I understand this correctly. We've been hearing about a global food crisis based largely on the amount of crops being diverted for the use of biofuels. Food costs are going up, people are starving to death and we may be actually doing more harm in the end? This all seems to be one big vicious circle to me.

» Reuters Environment