A long-term roadmap for biofuels recently released by the International Energy Agency shows that biofuels have the potential to comprise 27 percent of the global transport fuels market by 2050, an impressive increase over the industry’s current 2 percent share. The report, “Technology Roadmap: Biofuels for Transport,” is one of a series of roadmaps being prepared by the IEA aimed at advancing global development and uptake of key technologies to reach a 50 percent CO2 equivalent emissions reduction by 2050 over 2005 levels. The roadmaps will be made available for governments, industries and their financial partners to identify steps needed to advance and implement technologies, such as those developed currently for advanced biofuels.

Sustainability was a major focus of the IEA’s biofuels report, which stated that there are three pillars of sustainability that must be considered: environment, economic and social. Current trends of energy supply and use are unsustainable in all three areas, according to the report. The IEA found that biofuels, if developed and expanded thoughtfully, can contribute to a sustainable energy future. “Through careful management and appropriate project choice and design, negative impacts can be minimized or avoided, and biofuel projects can in fact have positive impacts,” the agency stated in its report. An example of this type of project, according to the report, could be perennial energy crops grown on marginal lands, which would reduce erosion, increase carbon stocks and water retention, and provide additional income for rural economies.

Read the full article at EthanolProducer.com.