Advantages: Biofuels are a renewable energy source in that they are created from plants that can be regrown each year. Biofuels also do not require many changes(if any) in cars and other places of use to be utilized. Some consider the use of biofuels as carbon neutral since the carbon produced when burning them is offset by the carbon consumed by the plants they came from. In the United States, biofuels can help reduce the dependence on foreign oils, which fluctuate in price rapidly. Biofuels may help to buffer against the change.
Disadvantages: While some consider their use "carbon neutral," the machinery required to farm the plants for biofuels do create carbon emissions, this machinery is also typically not powered by biofuels.Research suggests despite this fact, that biofuels help to reduce carbon emissions by 50-60%. One of the main detractors to the use of biofuels is that setting aside land for biofuel crops means less land for food production. Some foreign countries have said that it is unethical to use crops for biofuel when global hunger is an ever present problem.
Disadvantages: While some consider their use "carbon neutral," the machinery required to farm the plants for biofuels do create carbon emissions, this machinery is also typically not powered by biofuels.Research suggests despite this fact, that biofuels help to reduce carbon emissions by 50-60%. One of the main detractors to the use of biofuels is that setting aside land for biofuel crops means less land for food production. Some foreign countries have said that it is unethical to use crops for biofuel when global hunger is an ever present problem.