ABSTRACT
There are several global issues that, at first glance, seem unrelated. These issues include: higher incidences of catastrophic forest fires, global climate change, the need for increased energy sources, the global peaking of oil and gas supplies, the need to develop substitutes for fossil fuel energies, developing sustainable rural economies, widespread poverty, and the loss of productive lands (Azar and Rodhe 1997; Demirbas 2001; IPCC 2003; Jagadish 2003; Sayer and Campbell 2003; de Oliveira et al. 2005; FAO 2006; California Energy Commission 2005; Stokstad 2005; Vogt et al. 2005; Alanne and Saari 2006; Farrell et al. 2006; Jefferson 2006; Richards et al. 2006; Ragauskas et al. 2006; Schindler et al. 2006; Varun and Singal 2007). In the past, each of these issues was treated as a separate problem in which solutions were derived by focusing on only one individual issue at a time. Today these global issues are being formally linked because the combustion of fossil fuels to produce energy, the main ingredient fueling industrialization, is now causally linked to climate change and the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Fossil fuel combustion is a major contributor to CO2 emissions and these levels are increasing as more countries become industrialized. It is therefore logical to develop strategies that shift our reliance from fossil fuels to alternative energy resources that are carbon neutral and can help to reduce our total emissions of CO2 (Gustavsson and Svenningsson 1996; Vogt et al. 2005; Schindler et al. 2006). Mitigating climate change is driving the development of technologies to convert renewable resources into biofuels that can be substituted for fossil fuels.
