Sustainability of food, energy and environment with biofuels

Growing reliance on food-based biofuels has created considerable controversy about their impact on food prices and the environment and led to scepticism about their sustainability. This review describes the concept of sustainability in the context of biofuels and then discusses the factors affecting the economic viability of current and next-generation biofuels and their environmental and social sustainability. Cellulosic biofuels from dedicated energy crops offer considerable promise for reducing the competition for land and avoiding many of the negative environmental impacts associated with corn-ethanol. But the production of any type of biofuel is likely to involve trade-offs among the multi-dimensional aspects of sustainability. Technological innovation and policy incentives are needed to develop more sustainable biofuels and to guide the mix of feedstocks, their methods and locations of production.