Energy:
Beneficial Biofuels—The Food, Energy, and Environment Trilemma
David Tilman,1,*
Robert Socolow,2
Jonathan A. Foley,3
Jason Hill,3
Eric Larson,4
Lee Lynd,5
Stephen Pacala,6
John Reilly,7
Tim Searchinger,8
Chris Somerville,9
Robert Williams4
Recent analyses of the energy and greenhouse-gas performance of alternative biofuels have ignited a controversy that may be best resolved by applying two simple principles. In a world seeking solutions to its energy, environmental, and food challenges, society cannot afford to miss out on the global greenhouse-gas emission reductions and the local environmental and societal benefits when biofuels are done right. However, society also cannot accept the undesirable impacts of biofuels done wrong.
1 Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
2 Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
3 Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
4 Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
5 Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
6 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
7 Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
8 Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
9 Energy Biosciences Institute, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed: tilman{at}umn.edu
