Corn-based ethanol damages environment.

• Position: Biofuels

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Biofuels widely are considered one of the most promising sources of renewable energy by policy-makers and environmentalists alike. However, unless principles and standards for production are developed and implemented, certain biofuels will cause severe environmental impacts and reduce biodiversity--the very opposite of what is desired, according to a study published by the Society for Conservation Biology, Bothell, Wash., which qualitatively contrasts major potential sources of biofuels, including corn, grasses, fast-growing trees, and oil crops. It highlights their relative impacts on the environment in terms of water and fertilizer use and other criteria to calculate the environmental footprint of each crop.

Corn-based ethanol currently is the most widely used biofuel in the U.S., but it is the most environmentally damaging among crop-based energy sources. "The central goals of any biofuel policy must minimize risks to biodiversity and to our climate," maintains lead author Martha Groom of the University of Washington, Seattle. She recommends the further use of algae and fast-growing trees as biofuel sources because they yield...