Nobel Peace Prize Winner Warns Against Biofuels

Another day and another warning about biofuels.
The world must take care when developing biofuels to avoid perverse environmental effects and higher food prices, Nobel Peace Prize winner and chair of the IPPC, Rajendra Pachauri said yesterday.
Speaking at the European Parliament, he questioned whether the United States’ policy of converting corn (maize) into ethanol for use as a transport fuel would reduce the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
“We should be very, very careful about coming up with biofuel solutions that have major impact on production of food grains and may have an implication for overall food security,” said Pachauri. “Questions do arise about what is being done in North America, for instance to convert corn into sugar then into biofuels, into ethanol,” he said.
The United States is the world’s biggest producer of biofuels, derived mostly from corn.”Several questions have arisen on even the emissions implication of that route, and the fact that this has clearly raised prices of corn,” said Pachauri,