Author Description

The use of fossil fuels depletes the world's limited supply of coal, oil and gas and releases stocked CO2 into the atmosphere. Biofuels, derived from biomass, are renewable and carbon neutral, because consumption merely releases CO2 that was taken from the atmosphere by the growing biomass a few years before. However, increasing the use of biofuels could also increase the pressure on ecosystems which must support the production of additional biomass. In this chapter, we review the sustainability of biofuels, discuss their production and economics and consider levels of government support for production and related geopolitical issues.