Global food - Waste not, want not | Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Feeding the 9 Billion: The tragedy of waste By 2075, the United Nations’ mid-range projection for global population growth predicts that human numbers will peak at about 9.5 billion people. This means that there could be an extra three billion mouths to feed by the end of the century, a period in which substantial changes are anticipated in the wealth, calorific intake and dietary preferences of people in developing countries across the world.
Such a projection presents mankind with wide-ranging social, economic, environmental and political issues that need to be addressed today to ensure a sustainable future for all. One key issue is how to produce more food in a world of finite resources. Today, we produce about four billion metric tonnes of food per annum. Yet due to poor practices in harvesting, storage and transportation, as well as market and consumer wastage, it is estimated that 30–50% (or 1.2–2 billion tonnes) of all food produced never reaches a human stomach. Developed Nations. Food versus Fuel: Toward a New Paradigm—The Need for a Holistic Approach. Lessons from first generation biofuels and implications for the sustainability appraisal of second generation biofuels | Alison Mohr.
Author's personal copy Thus we do not aim to map all the relevant sustainability challengesfor biofuels this has already been attempted by other authors(e.g., Markevi ĉ ius et al., 2010; Thornley and Gilbert, 2013). 3. Our analysis suggests that sustainability issues identi ed inrelation to 1G are potentially relevant to 2G, and may becomemore prominent should 2G technologies be commercialised. Cationof agriculture implicates the production of residues as well as thecrop).
Food vs. fuel con icts. 3.1. As earlyas 1991, Hall (1991: 733) noted that the food vs. fuel issueis far more complex than has been presented in the past and onewhich needs careful examination, since agricultural and exportpolicies and the politicisation of food availability are greater deter-mining factors . Eld Council on Bioethics (2011) notes that forevery reportorstatement of a causal link between the 2007-08 spikes and biofuels,others provide rebuttals.
Ict with food production. Ict. Ed free of con icts with food. 3.1.1. And. Publication: Technology Roadmap: Biofuels for Transport. Translations: Chinese Release Date: 20 April 2011 Overview The production of transport fuels from biomass, in either liquid or gaseous form, holds the promise of a low net fossil-energy requirement and low life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, there are many hurdles to the expansion of biofuels production, including competition for agricultural commodities and land, and impacts on water resources and biodiversity. The successful development of advanced biofuels technologies, using non-food biomass feedstocks, could help overcome most barriers and achieve sustainable, very low CO2, cost-effective biofuels. The IEA “Biofuels for Transport” roadmap describes the steps necessary to achieve the ambitious biofuel projections presented in the Energy Technology Perspectives 2010 Blue Map scenario.
Under this scenario, biofuel demand increases rapidly, reaching approximately 760 Mtoe (32 EJ) in 2050, a share of 27% of total transport fuel. Key Findings Related links: Microbial conversion of pyrolytic products to biofuels: a novel and sustainable approach toward second-generation biofuels. Sustainability criteria. Skip to main content Current language: en Energy Energy > European Commission > Energy > Topics > Renewable energy > Biofuels > Sustainability criteria Sustainability criteria Login The EU has defined a set of sustainability criteria to ensure that the use of biofuels (used in transport) and bioliquids (used for electricity and heating) is done in a way that guarantees real carbon savings and protects biodiversity.
The main criteria To be considered sustainable, biofuels must achieve greenhouse gas savings of at least 35% in comparison to fossil fuels. Annotated example of a GHG calculation Annotated example of a land carbon stock calculation Inventory of data sources and methodologies to help identify land status Application of the sustainability criteria to the harvest of 2010 Related legislation Share this page Follow us Contact Press releases and speechesNewsletters Subscribe to newsletter Other sites Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) Euratom Supply Agency (ESA)
Biofuels Issues and Trends. Release date: October 15, 2012 (updated October 18, 2012 for cellulosic production and October 23, 2012 for RSF2 volume clarification) Biofuels is a collective term for liquid fuels derived from renewable sources, including ethanol, biodiesel, and other renewable liquid fuels. This report focuses on ethanol and biodiesel, the most widely available biofuels. From 2009 to the middle of 2012, the U.S. biofuels industry increased its output and prepared to meet an expanded Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2),1 which requires increasing volumes of biofuels use.
In 2011, the biofuels industry transitioned away from tax incentives for non-cellulosic biofuels, which expired at the end of 2011. Annual ethanol and biodiesel consumption, production, imports, and exports during 2009-11 are summarized in Table 1. Highlights from the report include: Ethanol grew from 8 percent of U.S. gasoline consumption by volume in 2009 to nearly 10 percent in 2011 and in the first eight months of 2012.
Footnotes Contacts. Sugarcane expansion in Brazilian tropical soils—Effects of land use change on soil chemical attributes. A University of São Paulo, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science, 11 Pádua Dias Avenue, Piracicaba, SP 13418-900, Brazilb Shell Technology Centre Houston, 3333 Highway 6 South, Houston, TX 77082, USAc University of São Paulo, Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture, 303 Centenário Avenue, Piracicaba, SP 13400-970, Brazil Received 23 October 2014, Revised 2 June 2015, Accepted 9 June 2015, Available online 25 June 2015 Choose an option to locate/access this article: Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution Check access doi:10.1016/j.agee.2015.06.006 Get rights and content Highlights Land use change alters the nutrients dynamics in Brazilian tropical soils.
Extensive pasture land use acidifies the soil affecting the nutrients availability. Inputs of lime and fertilizer improve soil fertility in sugarcane fields. Sugarcane expansion replacing pasturelands partially recovers the soil chemical quality. Abstract Keywords. Biogas from Macroalgae: is it time to revisit the idea? The economic and environmental viability of dedicated terrestrial energy crops is in doubt.
The production of large scale biomass (macroalgae) for biofuels in the marine environment was first tested in the late 1960’s. The culture attempts failed due to the engineering challenges of farming offshore. However the energy conversion via anaerobic digestion was successful as the biochemical composition of macroalgae makes it an ideal feedstock. The technology for the mass production of macroalgae has developed principally in China and Asia over the last 50 years to such a degree that it is now the single largest product of aquaculture.
There has also been significant technology transfer and macroalgal cultivation is now well tried and tested in Europe and America. The inherent advantage of production of biofuel feedstock in the marine environment is that it does not compete with food production for land or fresh water. Keywords.