Biomass & Bioenergy, Vol.35, No.10, 4485-4487, 2011
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
"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. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.