Friday, September 21, 2007

Question Mark Surrounding Biofuels

There's a great rush to develop biofuels as an alternative to burning fossil fuels, but the excitement may be tempered by reports like this one, which raises questions about the way biofuels affect the environment. A scientist, Nobel prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen, has recently shown that microbes responsible for the production of biofuels may create more nitrous oxide (N2O) from fertilizer than previously thought. Since N2O is greenhouse gas, the implication is that biofuels may actually contribute more to global warming. A scientist from Princeton disputes the findings.

Read the full story here.

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