Also the vast amount of land needed to produce biofuels is a major problem. It would take 40% of the EU’s farmland just to meet its 10% target. And that would entail displacing trees and soils that hitherto had sucked up carbon.  The rush to convert land to meet demand is having land consequences.

                Biofuels are driving food inflation up as the demand for ethanol has increased.  For this is the main reason that food prices shot up by a third in 2007. The rising cost of maize has had a knock-on effect on all other staples, and on livestock too, since farmers are paying more for animal feed. In Europe and America this has had a limited effect but in poor countries the result is catastrophic. Soaring corn prices have sparked tortilla riots in Mexico City and there have been violent clashes in Pakistan,Cameroon and Burkina Faso. A UN food expert recently called biofuels a “crime against humanity”.

                There is a place for biofuels as a source of energy, especially for transport. Unlike fossil fuel deposits, and even some other renewable energy sources which have restricted locations, biofuel crops can be grown and produced nearly anywhere and quickly. As we develop second generation biofuels we will be able to use parts of plants we currently consider as waste. For biofuels to play a significant role as the green fuel of the future, new science and technology is needed to fully develop the second generation of biofuels. Rather than growing plants specifically for fuel production we will use the waste parts of plants which we do not or can not use for anything else.

                People argue that if strict standard in the production process are maintained, the green advantages of biofuels can be preserved. However the only way that biofuels will be significantly green, is when the second generation comes into action.