The Latin America regional office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has recommended that Chile incorporate bioenergy into its energy mix. FAO acknowledged that Chile has a limited amount of agricultural raw materials and arable land available for the cultivation of biofuel crops, but maintains that there are new opportunities for bioenergy expansion through alternative raw materials.

Ecologist Juan Pablo Orrego told Tierramérica that the range of uses of biomass for energy production is very wide and that “it should be kept in mind that in nature, nothing is lost.”

However, he added, there are some alternatives that are particularly ecologically sound and efficient, such as the production of biogas from manure.

On the other hand, he said, “we believe that the utilization of biofuels, by using land to grow crops to produce fuel, is rather complicated.”