What is the impact of biofuels on the environment?
Global Warming. The combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas has increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere. The carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases allow solar energy to enter the Earth’s atmosphere, but reduce the amount of energy that can re-radiate back into space, trapping energy and causing global warming. One environmental benefit of replacing fossil fuels with biomass-based fuels is that the energy obtained from biomass does not add to global warming. All fuel combustion, including fuels produced from biomass, releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But, because plants use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to grow (photosynthesis), the carbon dioxide formed during combustion is balanced by that absorbed during the annual growth of the plants used as the biomass feedstock—unlike burning fossil fuels which releases carbon dioxide captured billions of years ago. You must also consider how much fossil energy is
