Introduction to sustainability of biofuels toward sustainable development

Efficient biofuels production that meets the needs of the local, regional, national, and global population are affected by economic, environmental, socio-political, and thermodynamic factors, which have to be managed right in order to achieve sustainable development for the biofuel industry. Biofuels production has various impacts on certain activities such as food production, water quality, bio-diversity, etc. Thus, the choice of raw materials, plantation and harvesting technologies, production process designs, product delivery methods, etc., largely determine their sustainability. This chapter therefore elaborates on key issues pertaining to sustainability and sustainable development for the biofuel industry. Some initiatives, which spell out principles and criteria for sustainable biofuels production, are also discussed in this chapter. © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2013.