Sustainability aspects of biofuels
(Rajagopal, Zilberman, 2007). Nevertheless, there are many uncertainties around the biofuels'
carbon neutrality. In the production process, biofuel require significant amounts of energy for
tillage, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation and for harvesting. Nitrogen oxide from fertilisers are
known to be particularly potent greenhouse gases with 300 times more potential than CO 2
and it has a harmful effect on the stratospheric ozone (Schaerlmann, Laurence, 2008). Also,
as in any other agricultural production, biofuels can cause erosion and eutrophication due to
fertilizer runoffs (Rajagopal, Zilberman, 2007). According to the International Energy
Agency Report (2007), the fossil energy balance for different biofuels varies greatly,
depending on the feedstock productivity, production and conversion technologies. For
Margit Tepner
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example, using coal in the production processes can worsen the GHG emissions significantly
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