UC Davis transportation fuels expert Daniel Sperling has launched an online discussion on biofuels and their global environmental and economic impacts.

The discussion is under way at the International Transport Forum's Web site, and lays the foundation for further talks at the May meeting of the Forum in Leipzig, Germany.

Sperling wrote the discussion's introductory statement -- a review of biofuels from corn and sugar cane; cellulosic plant materials such as grasses, woody material, municipal trash and crop residues; and biodiesel from animal fats, plant oils, even algae.