Biofuels are nowadays very controversial, even if they promise a lot. That is why Adam Wong – who helped me for the preparation of the interview and who filmed it – and I took the chance to talk to a very up-to-date researcher in the fields. At the World Resources Forum 2012 in Beijing, we interviewed Philippa Usher from the University of Leeds. The brilliant Ph.D student from the Energy Research Institute is specialized in low carbon technology and more specifically, in microalgae biofuels.
Her research, as she explains in the interview, focuses on Brazil where biofuels are already produced on a large scale. She explored the possibilities of developing microalgae production for biofuels in Brazil. She also drew attention to some of the problems surrounding such a development, e.g. looking at the Brazilian social and employment situation.
For a deeper view into biofuels, have a look at the video interview and at two articles that take the pro and cons of biofuels.
For more information on Adam’s and my discussion on the topic, you may be interested in the following articles:
Pro side: Adam Wong’s article.
Contra side: Fabian Aellig’s article.