Inter Press Service reports
Ten years of debate in the European Union over the detrimental effects of the demand for biofuels for transport on food prices, hunger, forest destruction, land consumption, and climate change have come to an end.
The European Parliament finally agreed [to] new E.U. laws on Apr. 28 [which will] limit the use of crop-based biofuels, setting a limit on the quantity of biofuels that can be used to meet E.U. energy targets.
With Europe the world's biggest user and importer of biodiesel--from crops such as palm oil, soy, and rapeseed--the vote is expected to have a major impact around the world, notably in the European Union's main international supplier countries Indonesia, Malaysia, and Argentina. It is likely to signal the end to the expanding use of food crops for transport fuel.
[...]With the vote, the European Union has agreed to put a limit on biofuels from agricultural crops at seven percent of E.U. transport energy--with an option for member states to go lower. Before the vote, the expected "business as usual" scenario was for biofuels to account for 8.6 percent of E.U. transport energy by 2020. Current usage (PDF) stands at 4.7 percent, having declined in 2013.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Magic Oddball on Thursday April 30 2015, @07:30AM
I learned the same when I took environmental (science) bio 19 years ago. I also recall reading a number of articles maybe a decade ago about how biofuel enthusiasts in Berkeley were buying local restaurants' left-over cooking grease & such to power their custom converted engines. The reporters & people they interviewed clearly didn't expect it to become an international phenomenon that might get the attention of big-name corporations.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday April 30 2015, @07:04PM
Simpsons did it!
Circa 1998 - Lard of the Dance [wikipedia.org]