Comment on "Indirect land use change for biofuels: Testing predictions and improving analytical methodologies" by Kim and Dale: Statistical reliability and the definition of the indirect land use change (iLUC) issue

Michael O'Hare, Mark Delucchi, Robert Edwards, Uwe Fritsche, Holly Gibbs, Thomas Hertel, Jason Hill, Daniel Kammen, David Laborde, Luisa Marelli, Declan Mulligan, Richard Plevin, Wallace Tyner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

"Indirect land use change for biofuels: Testing predictions and improving analytical methodologies" by S. Kim and B. Dale [1], presents a principal inference not supported by its results, that rests on a fundamental conceptual error, and that has no place in the current discussion of biofuels' climate effects. The paper takes correlation between two variables in a system with many interacting factors to indicate (or contraindicate) causation, and draws a completely incorrect inference from observed sample statistics and their significance levels.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)4485-4487
Number of pages3
JournalBiomass and Bioenergy
Volume35
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 15 2011

Keywords

  • Agricultural markets
  • Biofuels
  • Corn ethanol
  • Global warming
  • Indirect land use change

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