Resetting global expectations from agricultural biofuels

The agricultural ethics of biofuels: climate ethics and mitigation arguments

An environmental, climate mitigation rationale for research and development (R&D) on liquid transportation fuels derived from plants emerged among many scientists and engineers during the last decade. However, between 2006 and 2010, this climate ethic for pursuing biofuel became politically entangled and conceptually confused with rationales for encouraging greater use of plant-based ethanol th...

Do biofuels from microalgae beat biofuels from terrestrial plants?

Energy in algal oil 37.90 Energy in biogas from residual biomass 50.00 Estimated as 22.85 MJ kg 1 of urea and 2.94 MJ kg 1 of diammonium phosphate. Using sedimentation followed by continuous vacuum belt filters. Approximate only in view of the developmental nature of algal oil recovery processes. Estimated as 80.4 MJ m 2 of facility area divided by a 20 year working life and the mass of oil pro...

The Agricultural Ethics of Biofuels: The Food vs. Fuel Debate

Plant-based transportation fuels were the focus of extended criticism in the press, especially during 2008 when a portion of the blame for a spike in global food prices was associated with growth of the United States’ corn ethanol industry. The critique is based on an unsophisticated portrayal of the ethical issues at stake in the food security implications of biofuel. Three ethical critiques c...

Climate change, biofuels, and global food security

The Agricultural Ethics of Biofuels: a First Look

A noticeable push toward using agricultural crops for ethanol production and for undertaking research to expand the range of possible biofuels began to dominate discussions of agricultural science and policy in the United States around 2005. This paper proposes two complementary philosophical approaches to examining the philosophical questions that should be posed in connection with this turn o...