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Review article2017Peer reviewed

Is an increased use of biofuels the road to sustainability?

Johansson, Sheshti; Rydberg, Torbjon

Abstract

The global area of planted biofuel crops has been increasing rapidly, but the environmental and social consequences of widespread adoption of biofuel production remain largely unexplored. How do we measure efficiency and net energy of a complex system, such as the interaction between agriculture, human society and technology? This paper provides background and identifies assumptions in its overview of competing and overlapping methods. We emphasize that biofuels, as well as all other resources with their associated processes, should be analyzed as embedded in complex systems. The reason why society looks at biofuels favorably is because the methodological approaches used in the present scientific literature are narrow and far from holistic. What is excluded from the analysis has crucial implications on what is regarded as sustainable.

Published in

European Physical Journal Plus
2017, Volume: 132, number: 2, article number: 66Publisher: SPRINGER HEIDELBERG

      SLU Authors

      • Rydberg, Torbjörn

        • Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

      Sustainable Development Goals

      SDG7 Affordable and clean energy

      UKÄ Subject classification

      Bioenergy

      Publication identifier

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2017-11333-0

      Permanent link to this page (URI)

      https://res.slu.se/id/publ/94147