Richard Branson, Mayor Bloomberg slam biofuels

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Criticisms of biofuels just keep piling up. At a UN Assembly debate on Climate Change, New York Mayor Bloomberg framed the biofuel food vs. fuel debate starkly saying "people literally will starve to death in parts of the world, it always happens when food prices go up." At the same meeting, according to the BBC video above, billionaire Richard Branson, once a big proponent of biofuels (see links below) now says he regrets investing in ethanol for financial and environmental reasons.

All of that criticism comes just days after a Science magazine study says biofuels can be twice as harmful as gasoline (see video below). If you look closely at what the Science Magazine scientists, Richard Branson, Mayor Bloomberg and others have said about biofuels, they are not saying biofuels are all bad, they're just criticizing the way they are predominantly made today (see: corn ethanol in America). How do you support a fuel that can be worse than the gas you are trying to replace?

While the UN is trying several things, in a world where the U.S. can hardly tell what's in its toys, it's doubtful much can be done, in the short term, to assure the green production of the internationally. However, all of the market investment may not be for naught as if projects like Coskata get to market faster or if biofuels are given more research attention.

Related:

• Richard Branson promotes alternative fuel movement by driving a Saab 9-5 BioPower
• Soon at a pump near you: Virgin Fuels
• Boeing and Virgin Atlantic to work on biofuels for aircraft
• Branson looks towards Virgin territory: biofuel

[Source: Reuters, BBC, NBC Nightly News]