Page 79 - Big Ideas Year 10 sciPAD 2025

PHOTOCOPYING PROHIBITED
© Silverback Academic Media 79
SCIPAD - BIG IDEAS - BOOK 2
FUELS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
1. Explain why biofuels are considered by some people to be “carbon-neutral”. 




2. State whether biofuels should be classified as a renewable or non-renewable sources of
fuels. Justify your answer.


3. In groups or on your own, complete the table below by outlining the costs (negative) and/
or benefits (positive) of producing and using biofuels.
Benefit Cost
Reliance on fossil fuels
Irrigation (water) demand
Fertiliser use
Area of land available for
food crops
Cost of food for human
consumption
Pesticide use
Deforestation required to
make space for crops
Renewable form of energy
Are Biofuels the Answer?
Ethanol can be used to fuel vehicles and for heating. It can be manufactured by fermenting plant
material. Plants remove CO2 from the atmosphere and it is released again when the ethanol is
combusted. In theory, this should result in no nett increase in atmospheric CO2 (i.e. biofuels should
be carbon-neutral).
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
Photosynthesis Combustion
Fermentation
Unchecked Sample Pages
For Review Purposes Only - Photocopying Prohibited
www.scipad.co.nz