Side Event

Crops for Fuel? The Biofuel Debate: the physical-technical background

Organizer
Federation of German Scientists (Vereinigung Deutscher Wissenschaftler

Date and Time
14 May 2008 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (BS COP MOP 4)

Much of the crop fuel-debate neglects or underestimates basic facts. Plants in general are capable to convert only 1% of the energy which comes with the sunlight into biomass. For this reason any energy policy based on renewable sources has to concentrate mainly on use of wind and sun. Biomass can play an important role, if used appropriately in decentralised context and for heat and electricity. Speaker: Prof. Dr. Hartmut Graßl, former Director of the Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, former Chair of IPCC and WBGU, Germany