Jeremy Woods work is concerned with the evaluation of the interface between the development of the bioenergy sector, sustainable land use and technology development. While his geographic focus is primarily on the UK and southern Africa, Dr. Woods has interests in India, China and the south Pacific. His research has played a major role in the development of a ‘whole-systems’ perspective for bioenergy production chains. Dr. Woods’ science focus is concerned with a detailed evaluation of leading and novel bioenergy crops including, sugarcane, wheat, sweet sorghum and Jatropha including agronomic trials....Read More

In this months's Comment Visions, we discuss the hot topic of whether biofuels are an ecologically-sound solution to the world's increasing energy needs, or a potentially disastrous cause of deforestation and food shortages.

Supporters of biofuels say that they are preferable to fossil fuels because only the CO2 absorbed by the plants is released back into the atmosphere, making them less harmful, and many governments are putting a lot of money and resources into developing biofuel production.

However, there is concern that this is leading to more forests being cleared to make room for agriculture, as well as farmers using fields for producing biofuel crops rather than food, which could have a devastating impact in the Third World.

Dr Jeremy Woods, Lecturer in Biofuels at Imperial College London, believes that there are many challenges facing the world when it comes to energy in years to come, and also that biofuels will be a major factor in dealing with them, if it is managed properly.

Can bioethanol and biodiesel power the world of the future? Comment Visions meets Dr Woods at the British Sugar factory in Wissington, Norfolk, to find out.

Monday: 05:15, 07:45, 15:45
Tuesday: 22:45*, 03:15
Wednesday: 11:15, 14:15, 18:45
Thursday: 05:15, 15:15, 17:45, 19:45
Friday: 11:45, 17:15, 04:15
Saturday: 09:15, 15:45, 18:45
Sunday: 09:15, 13:45, 23:15

*Starts Tuesday 22:45, all times CET.

Only broadcast in the first week of each month.