Conclusion 6a514k

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ADB Economics Working Paper Series No. 399

M. Biofuels Biofuels raise severe climate, water, and land concerns but only moderately contribute to air pollution. As noted previously, the widespread use of biofuel crops can contribute to habitat destruction and deforestation.88 Biofuel production, like that for oil and gas, also involves a large amount of water. Furthermore, some GHGs such as nitrogen oxide, methane, and CO2 are emitted from nitrification and de-nitrification through the use of fertilizers, soil transformation, poorly drained soils, and motorized equipment; however, life-cycle GHG emissions are much lower for sugarcane ethanol than for gasoline with ethanol releasing 0.6 kilograms of CO2 per liter compared to 1 kilogram for gasoline.89 One significant benefit, however, is air pollution. Although the combustion of ethanol in automobile engines is not benign—ethanol is a significant source of aldehyde emissions (similar to formaldehyde from gasoline) and peroxyacetyl nitrate pollution (an irritant to plants)—every kilometer fueled by ethanol releases less particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, lead, Benzene (a carcinogen), 1-3 butadiene, sulfur oxide, and carbon monoxide than gasoline.90 VII. CONCLUSIONS 1.

No energy source is free of some type of environmental impact, though energy efficiency practices properly implemented are the most environmentally friendly. While renewable energy sources such as wind and solar have clear environmental benefits compared to conventional sources, they are not free of consequences. Even with the use of renewable resources, every kilowatt-hour of electricity generated, every barrel of oil produced, every ton of uranium mined or cubic foot of natural gas manufactured produces a laundry list of environmental damage that may include radioactive waste and abandoned uranium mines and mills, acid rain and its damage to fisheries and crops, water degradation and excessive consumption, particulate pollution, and cumulative environmental damage to ecosystems and biodiversity through species loss and habitat destruction. In monetary , the social and environmental damage from just one type of energy—worldwide electricity generation—amounted to roughly $2.6 trillion in 2010.91 This means that continuing along the business-as-usual path could result in an increased cost burden to governments as they become saddled with heavy public health-care and environmental costs and the negative effects on economic competitiveness through loss of workforce productivity.92 Put another way, if the increasing energy demands for the Asian Century scenario are met by the traditional mix of energy supply with current technologies, then the implications for the environment in of GHG emissions, green growth, global warming, and prices of fossil fuels would not be sustainable.

2. Policy makers must incorporate the cost of some of these negative environmental consequences of energy production and use into prices. At a bare minimum they should place a price on carbon and preferably other things like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, and water. A preponderance of evidence suggests that pricing energy more accurately will greatly improve the efficiency of the electricity industry, provide customers with proper price signals, reduce wasteful energy use, and most importantly, improve household incomes since they no longer have to waste as much time and money dealing with debilitating health issues caused by pollution.93 88 89

Mahapatra and Mitchell 1999 de Cerqueira Leite et al 2009.

90

Goldemberg, Coelho, and Guardabassi 2008

91

Brown and Sovacool 2011. Buckeridge et al 2002, von Klot et al 2002. Sovacool 2009.

92 93

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3. If policy makers desire to truly promote cleaner forms of energy, feed-in tariffs seem the best method to rapidly accelerate their adoption. One study analyzed renewable portfolio standards, green power programs, public research and development expenditures, system benefit charges, investment tax credits, production tax credits, tendering, and feed-in tariffs, and found that only feed-in tariffs met the criteria for a truly effective policy tool.94 In the end, we must accept that current patterns of energy production and use have widespread and widely known negative impacts on the environment. As President Jimmy Carter once remarked when addressing the US Congress in 1976, to avoid a cycle of energy and climate crises: “We must face the prospect of changing our basic ways of living. This change will either be made on our own initiative in a planned way or forced on us with chaos and suffering by the inexorable laws of nature.” It would be far better to implement carbon taxes, to incorporate the cost of negative environmental consequences into energy prices, to feed-in tariffs, and to harness the powers of energy efficiency now in a proactive way rather than a few decades from now when forced to by crises.

94

Sovacool 2010.

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Reference

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