- Enabling Economic Recovery Through Innovation
- The Top 12 Science Progress Features of 2008
- Breaking: Physicist John Holdren Is Likely Pick for Science Advisor
- Looking for a Research Bailout
- Want to Work Together? The Impact of Multi-University Collabortion
- “The Single Most Effective Way to Prevent the Transmission of Disease”
- Chu Is Bringing Science Back
- National Research Council: Nanotech Safety Needs a Closer Look. Much Closer.
- Neuroscience Everywhere
- Change for America on Science and Tech Policy, Part 4: The Office of Science and Technology Policy
- CNN Decides It Can Cover Science Without Dedicated Science Reporters
- Stem Cell Recommendations for the New Administration
More Fuel for Debate: Biofuel Production Lowers the Cost of Oil
Worldwide biofuel production is increasing so rapidly, according to a new analysis from Merrill Lynch, while other fuel sources cannot keep up with demand, that without the rising production, oil prices would be higher than they already are. The Wall Street Journal reported on the analysis yesterday, which adds yet another variable to the already complex debate over biofuel policy:
Oil and gasoline prices would be about 15% higher if biofuel producers weren’t increasing their output. That would put oil at more than $115 a barrel, instead of the current price of around $102. U.S. gasoline prices would have surged to more than $3.70 a gallon, compared with an average of a little more than $3.25 today.
Kit Batten and Jake Caldwell at the Center for American Progress point out that while a sustainable biofuels policy must account for the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of feedstocks, as well as land use and food production, diversifying energy sources lowers energy costs.
Comments on this article
The Biofools are at it again, crops are finite, increased demand equals higher feedstock equals higher prices that know no limit. What the Ethanol crowd always fails to mention is that the energy consumed to make ethanol is more than energy gotten from ethanol. If you do not grow the excess feedstock and make the ethanol you would have that much more petroleum.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:33 pm