ABSTRACT
Agriculture is increasingly entering the headlines: soaring food prices, increasing hunger and food export limitations have become common elements of major news stories. They have also dominated major public and political debate, be it in industrialized or in developing nations, and with reason. Production and consumption of food and feed have been changing, while development of biofuels has soared following stimulating measures, mainly in the EU and the USA. The reasons for these supporting policies are diverse: the notion of limited fossil fuel availability in the future (peak oil), the wish to end the dependency on oil-exporting countries, or to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although biofuel production is not the only (or even the most important) reason for observed changes in crop availability or food prices, biofuels have taken a large share of the blame. While this might not be correct, it is understandable. Large-scale application of biofuels competes with food production and might enhance hunger and poverty through complex interactions of policy changes, investments and price changes. It might, further, lead to enhanced deforestation. Policies aiming at mandatory biofuel blending have had a large impact on
biomass production and utilization. Although not all changes in prices, land use and deforestation can be attributed to biofuels, they certainly have played a role, thus providing an important reason to study the rapid changes in biofuel production, the way it has been steered by policy and the impact (desired as well as undesired, intentional or unintentional) this has had. But the introduction of biofuels, although very important, should not be treated as an isolated issue. It is an element of a wider development, where fossil feedstocks are replaced on a larger scale, for more purposes and in more parts of our economy. This development might, therefore – in the long run – have larger implications on the way we live, consume and produce. The chapters in this book identify a number of replacement processes
that are occurring more or less in parallel. This book is devoted not to biofuels alone. It discusses a series of technologies that facilitate the replacement
of significant amounts of fossil fuels by biomass. Adoption and implementation of these technologies will alter the way we live. Together, they will allow us to produce, trade, transport and consume in amore sustainable way; that is, without massive use of fossil oil or gas. These technologies have many similarities, and their development is interlinked. Their combined implementation can have a large impact. It might change our fossil economy to a ‘biobased economy’. What are these technologies? Why are they important? What will be
their impact? This book will provide an answer to these questions. It will describe changes in biomass conversion and use that together have an impact larger than that of an isolated technological change. Driven by innovation, boosted by recent policies implemented in industrial countries, they might cause important changes in crop production and utilization. What is steering these policies, and why is it so difficult to assess their implications? What impacts might the technological changes have (on production processes, on food availability and on society as a whole)? How can we make sure that we move in the desired direction? All these questions will be discussed in this book.
