The world dedicates a Poland-sized space of land to liquid biofuels. Is there a extra environment friendly approach to generate power?
Electrical autos could be promoted as the important thing technological resolution for low-carbon transport right this moment, however they weren’t at all times the plain choice. Again within the early 2000s, it was biofuels.1 Somewhat than extracting and burning oil, we may develop crops like cereals and sugarcane, and switch them into viable fuels.
Whereas we’d count on biofuels to be an answer of the previous as a result of cost-competitiveness and rise of electrical vehicles, the world produces extra biofuels than ever. And this rise is anticipated to proceed.
On this article, we give a way of perspective on how a lot land is used to supply biofuels, and what the potential of that land might be if we used it for different types of power. We’ll deal with what would occur if we used that land for photo voltaic panels, after which what number of electrical autos might be powered consequently.
We’ll largely deal with street transport, as that’s the place 99% of biofuels are at present used. The world generates small quantities of “biojet gasoline” — utilized in aviation — however this accounts for only one% of the full.2 Whereas aviation biofuels will enhance within the coming years, within the near-to-medium-term, they’ll nonetheless be small in comparison with gasoline for vehicles and vans. By 2028, the IEA initiatives that aviation would possibly devour round 2% of worldwide biofuels.
To be clear: we’re not proposing that we must always substitute all biofuel land with photo voltaic panels. There are lots of methods we may utilise this land, whether or not for meals manufacturing, some biofuel manufacturing, or rewilding. Perhaps some mixture of all the above. However to make knowledgeable choices about tips on how to use our land successfully, we have to get a perspective on the potential of every choice. That’s what we goal to do right here for solar energy and electrified transport.
For this evaluation, we draw on a variety of sources and, at instances, produce our personal estimates. We’ve written a full methodological doc that explains our assumptions and guides you thru every calculation.
Earlier than we get into the calculations, it’s price a fast overview of the place biofuels are produced right this moment, and what their impacts are.
Some may think that biofuels have misplaced their relevance. However historic insurance policies supporting them are nonetheless in place. As proven within the chart under, the world produces extra biofuels than ever, and this pattern is anticipated to proceed. World manufacturing is targeted in a comparatively small variety of markets, with america, Brazil, and the European Union dominating. Since there are not any indicators of insurance policies altering in these areas, we’d not count on the rise of biofuels to finish.
Many of the world’s biofuels come from sugarcane (largely grown in Brazil), cereal crops akin to corn (largely grown in america and the European Union), and oil crops akin to soybean and palm oil (that are grown within the US, Brazil, and Indonesia).
Within the map under, you will get a view of the place the world’s biofuels are grown.
Collectively, these biofuels produce round 4% of the world’s power demand for transport. Whereas that does push some oil from the power combine, the local weather advantages of biofuels aren’t at all times as clear as individuals would possibly assume.
As soon as we contemplate the local weather impression of rising the meals and manufacturing the gasoline, the carbon financial savings relative to petrol may be small for some crops.3 However extra importantly, when the alternative prices of the land used to develop these crops are taken into consideration, they could be worse for the local weather.4 That’s as a result of agricultural land use shouldn’t be “free”. If we selected to not use it for agriculture, then it might be rewilded and reforested, which might sequester carbon from the ambiance.
From a local weather perspective, liberating up that cropland from biofuels could be one different. Nevertheless, another choice is to utilise it for one more type of power, which may provide a a lot higher local weather profit.
This ought to be straightforward to estimate. If you know the way a lot land in america (or another nation) is used for corn, and what fraction of corn is for biofuels, you possibly can calculate the quantity of land used for biofuels.
What makes issues difficult is that biofuels usually produce co-products which can be allotted to different makes use of, akin to animal feed. Not all the corn or soybeans flip into liquid that may be put in a automobile; some residues can then be fed to pigs and chickens. The way you regulate this land used for biofuels and their co-products can result in fairly completely different outcomes.
A current evaluation from researchers at Cerulogy estimated that biofuels are grown on 61 million hectares of land.5 However once they cut up this allocation between land for biofuels and land for animal feed, the land use for biofuels alone was 32 million hectares. The opposite 29 million hectares could be allotted for land use for animal feed.
There are a lot increased revealed figures. The Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Vegetation estimates that as a lot as 112 million hectares are “used to produce feedstock for biofuels”.6 By this definition, there isn’t a adjustment for twin use of that land or the land use of co-products. That’s one of the the reason why the figures are a lot increased. Even taking this into consideration, the numbers are nonetheless increased, and the sincere reply is that we don’t know why.
For this text, we’re going to imagine a internet land use of 32 million hectares. That is conservative, and that’s deliberate. As we’ll quickly see, the quantity of solar energy we may generate, or the variety of electrical autos we may energy on this land, is extraordinarily giant. And that’s with us being pretty ungenerous in regards to the quantity of land out there. Bigger land use figures is also credible; in that case, the potential could be even increased.
How giant is 32 million hectares? Think about an space just like the one within the field under: 640 kilometers throughout, and 500 kilometers excessive. For context, that’s about the scale of Germany, Poland, the Philippines, Finland, or Italy.
May we use these 32 million hectares of land otherwise to supply even extra power than we at present get from biofuels?
The reply is sure. If we put photo voltaic panels on that land, we may produce roughly 32,000 terawatt-hours of electrical energy every year.7 That’s 23 instances greater than the power that’s at present produced within the type of all liquid biofuels.8 You possibly can see this comparability within the chart.
32,000 terawatt-hours is an enormous quantity. The world generated 31,000 TWh of electrical energy in 2024. So, these new photo voltaic panels would produce sufficient to fulfill the world’s present electrical energy demand.
Once more, our proposal isn’t that we ought to cowl all of this land in photo voltaic panels, or that it may simply energy the world by itself. We don’t account for the truth that we’d want power storage and different choices to ensure that energy is offered the place and when it’s wanted (not simply when the solar is shining). We’re simply attempting to get a way of perspective for a way a lot electrical energy may be produced by utilizing that land in additional environment friendly methods.
If we put photo voltaic panels on that land, we may produce roughly 32,000 terawatt-hours of electrical energy every year.
These comparisons may appear shocking at first. However they are often defined by the truth that rising crops is a really inefficient course of. Vegetation convert lower than 1% of daylight into biomass by way of photosynthesis.9 Much more power is then misplaced after we flip these vegetation into liquid fuels. Crops akin to sugarcane are likely to carry out higher than others, like maize or soybeans, however even they’re nonetheless inefficient.
By comparability, photo voltaic panels convert 15% to twenty% of daylight into electrical energy, with some current designs reaching as a lot as 25%.10 Meaning changing crops with photo voltaic panels will generate much more power.
Now, you would possibly suppose that we’re evaluating very various things right here: power from liquid biofuels meant to decarbonize transport, and photo voltaic, which may decarbonize electrical energy. However with the rise of inexpensive and high-quality electrical autos, solar energy could be a approach to decarbonize transport, too.
Run the numbers, and we discover that you possibly can energy all of the world’s vehicles and vans on this photo voltaic power if transport had been electrified.
In fact, these autos would have to be electrified within the first place. That is occurring — electrical automobile gross sales are rising, and electrical vans are actually beginning to get some consideration — however it would take time for many autos on the street to be electrical. For now, we’ll think about that they’re.
We estimate that the full electrical energy wanted to energy all vehicles and vans is round 7,000 TWh per 12 months, comprising 3,500 TWh for vehicles and an identical quantity for vans. We’ve added this comparability to the chart.
You can energy all the world’s vehicles and vans on this photo voltaic power if transport had been electrified.
That’s lower than one-quarter of the 32,000 TWh that photo voltaic panels may produce on biofuel land. Contemplate these choices. The world may meet 3% or 4% of transport demand with biofuels. Or it may meet all street transport demand on simply one-quarter of that land. The opposite three-quarters might be used for different issues, akin to meals manufacturing, biofuels for aviation, or it might be left alone to rewild.
It’s price noting that on this state of affairs — in contrast to utilizing photo voltaic for bulk electrical energy wants — we would wish a lot much less extra power storage options, as a result of each automobile and truck is actually an enormous battery in itself.
The explanation these comparisons are much more stark than biofuels versus photo voltaic is that many of the power consumed in a petroleum automobile is wasted; both as warmth (in the event you put your hand over the bonnet, you’ll usually discover that it’s extraordinarily heat after driving) or from friction when braking. An electrical automobile is rather more environment friendly with out a combustion engine, and due to regenerative braking (which makes use of braking power to recharge the battery). That signifies that driving one mile in an electrical automobile makes use of simply one-third of the power of driving one mile in a combustion engine automobile.
Put these two efficiencies collectively, and we discover that you possibly can drive 70 instances as many miles in a solar-powered electrical automobile as you possibly can in a single operating on biofuels from the identical quantity of land.
Our level right here is not that we must always cowl all of our biofuel land in photo voltaic panels. There are the reason why the comparisons above are less complicated than the actual world, and why dedicating all of that land to solar energy wouldn’t be ideally suited.11
The world may meet 3% or 4% of transport demand with biofuels. Or it may meet all street transport demand on simply one-quarter of that land.
What we do need to problem is how we expect and discuss land use. Individuals rightly query the impression of photo voltaic or wind farms on landscapes, however hardly ever contemplate the land use of present biofuel crops, which do little or no to decarbonize our power provides. Whether or not we’ll run out of land for photo voltaic or wind is a standard concern, however after we run the numbers, it’s clear that there is greater than sufficient; we’re simply utilizing it for different issues. Stacking up the comparative advantages of these different issues permits us to make higher decisions, in the event that they’re out there.
On this article, we wished to run the numbers and get some perspective on how we may use that Germany- or Poland-sized space of land in essentially the most environment friendly approach. What’s clear is that we may produce an enormous quantity of electrical energy from photo voltaic on only a fraction of that land. We may energy a whole world electrical automobile and truck fleet on simply one-quarter of it.
Land use comes at a price: for the local weather, ecosystems, and different species we share the planet with. Meaning we must always think twice about tips on how to use it nicely. Which may imply a mixture of biofuels for aviation, and solar energy for street transport and electrical energy grids. It’d imply going all-in on photo voltaic. Or it may imply utilizing a few of it for solar energy, and leaving the remainder alone. Typically, essentially the most considerate choice shouldn’t be utilizing land in any respect and letting it return to nature.
Acknowledgments
We want to thank Max Roser and Edouard Mathieu for editorial suggestions and feedback on this text. We additionally thank Marwa Boukarim for assist and assist with the visualizations.
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Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Rosado (2026) - “Placing photo voltaic panels on land used for biofuels would produce sufficient electrical energy for all vehicles and vans to go electrical” Printed on-line at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260112-091056/biofuel-land-solar-electric-vehicles.html' [Online Resource] (archived on January 12, 2026).BibTeX quotation
@article{owid-biofuel-land-solar-electric-vehicles,
creator = {Hannah Ritchie and Pablo Rosado},
title = {Placing photo voltaic panels on land used for biofuels would produce sufficient electrical energy for all vehicles and vans to go electrical},
journal = {Our World in Knowledge},
12 months = {2026},
be aware = {https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260112-091056/biofuel-land-solar-electric-vehicles.html}
}
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