Finding the balance between food and biofuels

Young, Alvin L.

doi:10.1007/s11356-009-0106-8

Cited by 18 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The challenge for governments is to find approaches that can accommodate the competing demands of the food and biofuel sectors. One possible future option is to make biofuels from a cellulosic feedstock which does not compete with food production [22]. Another approach is to encourage a shift to a diet with less meat intake [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of changes in diet on the availability of land, energy demand, and greenhouse gas emissions of agriculture

Fazeni

Steinmüller

2011

Energ Sustain Soc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Recent scientific investigations have revealed a correlation between nutrition habits and the environmental impacts of agriculture. So, it is obviously worthwhile to study what effects a change in diet has on land use patterns, energy demand, and greenhouse gas emissions of agricultural production. This study calculates the amount of energy and emission savings as well as changes in land use that would result from different scenarios underlying a change in diet. Methods: Based on the healthy eating recommendations of the German Nutrition Society, meat consumption in Austria should decrease by about 60%, and consumption of fruits and vegetables has to increase strongly.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of changes in diet on the availability of land, energy demand, and greenhouse gas emissions of agriculture

Fazeni

Steinmüller

2011

Energ Sustain Soc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The future of biofuels will depend on their ability to mitigate negative impacts on food availability and security. Scientific breakthroughs and agricultural productivity gains similar to those realized during the last 50 years could free enough farmland for DEC production and, at the same time, feed a population of 9 billion people in 2050 (Lal 2009;Young 2009); therefore, future investments in research on food crops and DECs should be viewed as a policy to enhance food security.…”

Section: Balancing Food and Biofuel Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similar to food crops, the economic sustainability of biofuels depends on the cost of production, the market price they command, existing policies, tariffs, and mandates (IFPRI 2007;Young 2009). In particular, the long-term sustainability of corn ethanol depends on its ability to deal with volatility in fossil fuel and corn prices; whereas, that of cellulosic ethanol depends on the cost of growing DECs, and the development of a commercially viable conversion and production technology.…”

Section: Economic Sustainability Of Biofuelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Crops to Combat Climate Change

Jaradat

2011

Crop Adaptation to Climate Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…For instance, the production of bioethanol is derived from sugarcane in Brazil whereas in the United States (US), corn is being used [1]. Although firstgeneration biofuel sources have the advantage to be easily converted toward ethanol and biodiesel, they are in direct competition with food and feed production [5]. In addition, sugar and starch crops require the use of fertilizers and pesticides, and therefore, the production of bioethanol from corn provides only a limited reduction in green house gas (GHG) emission [6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cell Wall Engineering by Heterologous Expression of Cell Wall-Degrading Enzymes for Better Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass into Biofuels

Turumtay

2015

Bioenerg. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Huge energy demand with increasing population is addressing renewable and sustainable energy sources. A solution to energy demand problem is to replace our current fossil fuel-based economy with alternative strategies that do not emit carbon dioxide. Plant biomass is one of the best candidates for this issue. Plants use solar power to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars, which can be used in fermentation reactions to produce both energy and materials. However, the desired sugars are trapped in the highly recalcitrant cell wall as building blocks of cellulose chains. Moreover, the complexity of the plant cell wall structure hinders the hydrolysis of cellulose into fermentable sugar monomers. Although pretreatments are used to change the physical and chemical properties of the lignocellulosic biomass and improve hydrolysis rates, these pretreatments often use harsh and polluting chemicals and severely increase the cost of biofuel production. The goal of the review is to summarize recent researches, which describe generating plants with a modified cell wall and improve hydrolysis of cellulose without applying any or less pretreatment methods. Since pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is the most cost effective step in biofuel production, generating autodigestible plants could reduce the production cost of biofuels and bio-based biomaterials. One of the strategies to improve biomass conversion efficiency is the modification of the cell wall by heterologous expression of cell wall-modifying proteins. These cell wall-modifying proteins could alter the cell wall structure and reduce cell wall recalcitrance. The use of such transgenic technologies would consume less energy and chemicals when cellulose is more accessible for enzymatic hydrolysis.

show abstract

Finding the balance between food and biofuels

Cited by 18 publications

References 14 publications

Impact of changes in diet on the availability of land, energy demand, and greenhouse gas emissions of agriculture

Impact of changes in diet on the availability of land, energy demand, and greenhouse gas emissions of agriculture

Energy Crops to Combat Climate Change

Cell Wall Engineering by Heterologous Expression of Cell Wall-Degrading Enzymes for Better Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass into Biofuels

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About