University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

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In summary, while biodiesel is causing lasting malignant environmental, social and
cultural impacts, it will not have a lasting benign economic impact on companies
(foreign or national), people or governments. Biodiesel will be forgotten faster than
thought as soon as environmentally more friendly practicable alternatives emerge
because nowadays people are willing to choose the most ecological, economically
viable option.
Bioliquids are cradle-to-grave types of biofuels. They do not reach the cradle-tocradle
level, because bioliquids cannot be used as a nutrient to the nature after usage,
on the contrary, they produce pollution. Bioliquids cannot be used in a closed-loop
cycle of production nor recovered or remanufactured. Bioliquids do have some
cradle-to-cradle aspects: they are designed to be healthy and restorative. Nevertheless,
when looking at the complete sustainable development system, this biofuel
dimension does not reach the level of cradle-to-cradle status.
Field Biomasses
The third biofuel category is field biomasses. They refer to ethanol produced from
different crops, which are farmed either on fields or in swamps. A good example of a
field biomass farmed on fields is barley ethanol. The field biomasses can be
produced into either solid or liquid fuel. Field biomass production is not yet common
in Finland where it is still being researched and tested, but for example in southern
parts of Sweden and in Central Europe field biomasses are important sources of
energy (Finbio 2005). The opinions of the interviewees on the environmental, social,
cultural and economic sustainability of field biomasses along their life cycle are
collected in table 3.