Peak phosphorus: is there enough?

Forget water or oil, we'll run out of phosphorus first, say some. Will that spell "doom" for biofuels as usual?

The world's oil supply, by some calculations, will begin to run out at the end of this century and the destabilizing asymmetries in who has how much left and where, and at what price, is the awful end game that causes so much consternation in defense policy circles around the globe when they look at how the long-term oil transition may work out in a worst case scenario.

But we may not have to wait until the end of the century to have a real good model for a completely destabilizing loss of a strategic and irreplaceable resource. Is it water? Breathable air? Nitrogen? Hydrogen? Insincerity in Washington? No, no, no, no and most definitely no.

It's phosphorus. Environmentalists and the scientific community have been warning for the past two years that global phosphorus stocks are being depleted dangerously fast. "The US has about 30 years of phosphorus left, at present rates of use," Jones added. "After that, you can't grow food. If we ramp up biofuels according to the existing plans, you might have 20.

http://www.lowcarboneconomy.com/profile/green_power_conferences/_news_and_press_releases/peak_phosphorus_is_there_enough/13452