Biofpr Tackles Net Energy Issue

8 November 2008

The current issue [Volume 2 Issue 6 (November/December 2008)] of the journal Biofuels, Bioresources and Biorefining (Biofpr) features a set of papers arguing the case for and against the use of net energy as a metric to attempt to assess the sustainability and ability of alternative fuels to displace fossil fuel.

Journal editor Dr. Bruce Dale (Michigan State) calls for a more holistic approach which takes into consideration issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, petroleum displacement and economic growth, particularly in the developing world. In his lead article, he calls on the scientific community to come together to help establish parameters by which to calculate fuel efficiency by using not just one but several metrics that can be used in conjunction to give a fuller picture.

In a corresponding article, Dr. Franzi Poldy, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Australia, disagrees, arguing that in order for policymakers and governments to make decisions about which fuels are best, they need to have numbers to work with to establish a way of calculating the benefits of potential fuels and that net energy is the best way to do this.