A few key principles for managing environmental tradeoffs could make cellulosic biofuels—liquid energy derived from grasses and wood—better for the climate and economy.
“The climate benefit of cellulosic biofuels is actually much greater than was originally thought,” says Phil Robertson, professor of ecosystem science at Michigan State University and lead author of the study. “But that benefit depends crucially on several different factors, all of which we need to understand to get right.”
Although not yet a market force, cellulosic biofuels are routinely factored into future climate mitigation scenarios because of their potential to both displace petroleum use and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Those benefits, however, are complicated by the need for vast amounts of land to produce cellulosic biofuels on a large scale.