Food versus fuel: An updated and expanded evidence

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. What do prices tell us?" Energy Policy 38, pp. 445-451. We confirm the findings of the original paper that there was only a weak relationship between ethanol and food commodities in the period between March 1989 and July 2008. In addition, we extend that study and examine the cointegration relationship between biofuels and related commodities for a considerably enlarged dataset (3 vs. 1 market, 26 vs. 8 commodities, analysis up till 2017 vs. 2008, weekly vs. monthly data frequency). Focusing on the biofuel markets of Brazil, the EU and the USA in the three separate periods before, during, and after the food crisis of 2007 and 2008, we show that studying the time variation of the relationships plays an essential role in their proper understanding. Our results help to clarify the wide extensive discussion about the role of biofuels prices in food shortages manifested particularly during the food crises. In agreement with the original study, we confirm that price series data do not support strong statements about biofuels uniformly serving as main leading source of high food prices and consequently the food shortages. Terms of use: Documents in

A review on chemical mechanism of microalgae flocculation via polymers

“…Several types of biomass feedstocks have been studied to produce clean biofuel. However, the choice of food vs fuels is still a crucial concern for the production of biofuel when considering agricultural crops as the source of biofuel [ 2 , 3 ]. The developments of microalgal biomass harvest has been keep growing, since harvesting plays a major role in the economical point of algal biotechnology towards consideration of the mass biomass production, thus, vital for the cost-effective process construction.…”

Xylose assimilation enhances the production of isobutanol in engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae

“…Current commercial biofuel production focuses mainly on the bioconversion of hexose sugars, such as those in corn starch and sugarcane, into ethanol (Bordonal et al, ; Marques, Moreno, Ballesteros, & Gírio, ). However, these feedstocks also participate in the food supply and therefore ignite the food versus fuel debate: Heavy utilization of human‐edible biomass may potentially increase food prices and exacerbate food insecurity (Filip, Janda, Kristoufek, & Zilbermam, ). To bypass this debate, the bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass has been proposed.…”

The Future of Biofuels in an Electrifying Global Transportation Sector: Imperative, Prospects and Challenges

“…Several studies have used time series data and cointegration methods to investigate the extent to which food crop prices were affected by ethanol prices. These studies show that the relationship varied over time and that the impact was short-term and higher during the food crisis period (Serra and Zilberman 2013;Zilberman et al 2013;Filip et al 2017). Similarly, studies analyzing Brazilian sugar, ethanol, and oil data found that the linkage between these prices has varied over time (Serra, Zilberman, and Gil 2011;Filip et al 2017).…”