Biofuel users say it's still a good alternative

Given the surprising news about biofuels this week, one had to wonder whether Bret Boutet was making a big mistake Friday when he filled his Mercedes sedan with fuel derived from soybeans.

He didn't think so.

The Windsor car dealer called biodiesel a "fine fuel," one that he was willing to pay $3.79 a gallon for at a Sebastopol gas station where the tank reads, "Driving toward the future."

"It's a very sensible approach," Boutet said.

But two studies published this week in the journal Science cast biofuels in a much more negative light.

The studies, billed as the first comprehensive look at these energy sources, concluded that growing corn, soybeans, sugar cane and other crops to make biofuels is a source of major pollution the world over -- one that potentially negates any positive effects of using such fuels as alternatives to gasoline.

Such dour analysis is sure to be a point of discussion on the North Coast, where biofuels have steadily risen in popularity and are available at a growing number of outlets.

Advocates of the fuels said the studies do nothing to alter their opinion that biofuels are better for the environment than burning gasoline.

Using soybean-based biodiesel is "leaps and bounds better than petroleum," said Kumar Plocher, president of Yokayo Biofuels Inc. in Ukiah.

But ethanol, produced from corn, is a practice whose time has passed, according to Daniel Kammen, an energy professor at UC Berkeley and founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory.

Kammen said the reports released this week are another "nail in the coffin of ethanol."

But he said the government still promotes the fuel amid intense pressure from the agricultural lobby, which supports food-based biofuels as a way of boosting crop prices for farmers.

"We still have a massive corn lobby arrayed around biofuels, making arguments about why it's a good transition and should keep this going, as opposed to saying, 'Look, we've learned our lesson and that is that corn is a bad biofuel, and any biofuel that competes with land for food production or competes with nature, that's bad,' " Kammen said.

What the studies underscore is that not all biofuels are created equal. Many people use the term "biofuel" as a catch-all for anything other than gas, when in fact, it contains a diversity of sources.

Plocher, for instance, sells recycled vegetable oil as fuel to about 300 customers across Northern California.

The Science studies, on the other hand, honed in on the environmental cost of growing crops to make certain biofuels. The studies found that clearing forests and grasslands to grow the crops releases huge amounts of carbon into the air, forming dangerous greenhouse emissions.

Clearing an Indonesian peat land rain forest to make way for a biofuel plantation, for instance, releases so much carbon that it would take 423 years to start achieving a net reduction in emissions.

Another example: as U.S. farmers have replaced soybean fields in favor of corn for ethanol, farmers in Brazil are clearing rain forests to plant soybeans to meet the continuing demand.

To Plocher, the issue is one of sustainable agricultural practices.

"A lot of thought should be going into what is grown, where it is grown, and how it is grown, but companies are bypassing that thought process, largely because of government incentives and a rush of venture capital that encourages a divide-and-plunder approach," Plocher said.

It remains to be seen what effect, if any, the growing number of reports raising concerns about biofuels will have on their sale and use.

Steve White, chief financial officer for Rotten Robbie, said the chain will continue offering biodiesel at four Sonoma County locations so long as there is consumer demand for it.

"We want to sell what the consumer wants," White said. "Changes like this are market driven. If people stop buying biodiesel, we'll stop making it available."

Another alternative is for companies to start labeling where biofuels are produced and under what conditions so that consumers can feel confident they aren't contributing to deforestation halfway around the world.

"The idea of using plants for fuel is great," said Boutet at the Sebastopol station Friday. "Some of the methods are not. Clearing forests in Brazil to plant soybeans is not a good idea."

You can reach Staff Writer Derek J. Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemo

crat.com.