Agricultural Policies and Biomass Fuels

Sugar-cane as an Energy Crop

“…Numerous studies have shown that alcohol is expensive to produce in comparison with the use of oil: in many systems more oil is consumed in the production of alcohol than is gained, and with current technology there is competition between the use of agricultural raw materials for fuel or food production (Brown, 1980;Flaim and Hertzmark, 1981;Levinson, 1982). Where such food/fuel competition exists it has been suggested that crops for fuel could be produced by clearing more land, or by using marginal land-eausing further concern about deforestation, desertification and other environmental issues, including worries about the effects of discharge of large volumes of stillage from the alcohol factories where suitable treatment is not available, or not economic.…”