Editorial: Robbing Peter To Pay Paul
The biofuels debate blazes on
By Lisa Jackson
Despite the crunch, news just announced predicts that for the first time in months the price of petrol and diesel may be going down by several pence a litre!
Nowadays, prices change like the weather without any apparent logical reason – though it’s probably more about city suits playing monopoly on the trading floor rather than being related to the actual cost of oil, but that’s just my humble opinion! But really, we must look at the bigger picture – whilst we all grumble about the cost of getting from A to B and feel a momentary stab of guilt as we board that plane for foreign climes, this is in fact just the tip of the iceberg of what is probably going to be the largest and most devastating dilemma of the 21st century.
With fossil fuels rapidly diminishing, populations increasing and global warming gathering pace from the western world’s rapid and incessant push towards industrialisation and consumerism, the battle is now on for the earth’s available agricultural land to grow crops for fuel as well as food.
The world’s governments, together with leading renewable and sustainable energy organisations, believe that the answer to our looming fuel crisis lies in the production of biofuels. Some people now already choose to run a modern diesel car on a combination of forecourt diesel and supermarket vegetable oil, but there are in fact serious pros and cons to growing, producing and burning biofuels.
There are two types of biofuel available – biodiesel comes from oil-rich crops such as soy, rape and palm, and bioethanol is produced from starchy crops like maize, wheat, sugar cane and beet. This is good news because it means that land which is not suitable for one type of crop is often perfect for something else. Not only this, but they are almost carbon neutral – ie. burning them returns to the atmosphere the same amount of carbon that is present in the grown plant. The downside of growing these crops on a massive scale to fuel cars, aeroplanes and industrial vehicles, however, may well be more damaging to the environment than our current reliance on fossil fuels.
Valuable rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia are being rapidly cleared to create thousands of hectares of palm oil producing land. Not only does deforestation release the greenhouse gas CO2 into the atmosphere, exacerbate extreme weather conditions, cause extinction to plant and animal species and desecrate the landscape, but it is predicted that around 60 million forest dwellers will be forced to live in poverty in urban slums.
Bioethanol sounds a more attractive prospect and in fact the UK’s largest bioethanol producing plant in Teeside will soon be operational. With huge government funding this refinery will produce about 400 million litres of fuel from one million tonnes of wheat every year. Sounds good doesn’t it, but with only three UK car manufacturers currently selling FFV (Flexible Fuel Cars) able to run on E85 – the fuel made from the correct mix of bioethanol and petrol – I’m starting to feel that there might be an elephant in the room! Ford, Volvo and Saab all produce FFVs but in fact last year Volvo only sold 170, Ford 150 and Volvo a rather ludicrous 34. Not surprising really, considering that E85 isn’t readily available on the UK forecourt – Morrisons is currently the only national selling it and only at 19 of its pumps countrywide. Unless E85 becomes more widely available, there can’t be any incentive for car manufacturers to make vehicles which run on it. In Scandinavia, Volvo’s sales of FFV’s outstrip regular cars, mainly because their foresighted government offers cash incentives, grants and favourable taxation rates to FFV purchasers. Maybe something Ruth Kelly should take on board!
One of the most salient environmental arguments against bioethanol is the heavily debated dilemma of using human and animal crops to grow fuel instead of food, causing hunger and poverty not only in developing countries but possibly even the western world. Climate change is producing more droughts, which should we become reliant on crops for fuel, could cause both food and fuel shortages. Valuable water is required to grow crops, and as rich and poor countries all jump on the bandwagon to make money from biofuels, the most productive land which should be set aside for food crops will no doubt be used for fuel. South America and Africa have already earned themselves a reputation as “the middle east of biofuels” as they start to depend on fuel crops for their economic survival.
Vegan organisations have long campaigned that giving up meat and animal products could be the answer to the world’s food shortages. The inefficiency of using land to grow animal feed instead of food for humans and the huge discrepancy between the amounts of food consumed by the animal in contrast to the meat it provides, is horrendously wasteful and should be viewed as a blueprint for the same happening with biofuels. They say that a carnivore riding a bicycle has the same carbon footprint as a vegan driving a 4×4, well maybe now the only solution is for us all to become vegan cycling enthusiasts!
So next time you’re filling up your car, stop and think about the real consequences of every journey you make and the enormous implications of our car and air journeys. How ludicrous it is to use valuable growing land to grow crops for fuel, whilst using huge quantities of the same stuff to import and export the crops themselves backwards and forwards across the globe in what is surely just another global money-making exercise, destined to make the rich richer and the poorer more ingrained in poverty and threatening the planet’s very survival.
Lisa Jackson co-ordinates Ethical Junction’s EJ PR an ad-hoc, budget press release service and she is also the founder of Eurydice PR.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:16 am
I have been involved with the renewable energy sector in two different ways over the past couple of years. Initially with a biodiesel equipment manufacturer called Eurofueltech and now via my own company Carbon Clear Solutions.
My first view on the above is that biofuel feedstock (or the lack of it) is a major issue in the industry. In my opinion 2nd generation feedstocks such as Algae and Jatropha are the answer, I don’t think there is currently one solution out there that can solve or replace the problems caused by the diminishing supply of “dirty” fossil fuels. It will take a number of renewable energy sources to replace and reduce our dependancy on fossil fuels. Unfortunately fuel from algae is a little way off and the funding for development comes mainly from the private sector. We really need governments to invest heavily into research into 2nd generation feedstocks. The biodiesel industry has had a harsh time of it in this country when it is clearly not to blame for the cutting down of the rainforests. Palm oil can’t really be used in this country due to our climate and the viscosity of Palm oil (it will gel as soon as the weather gets cold). The biodiesel industry (in general) accounts for a very small percentage of the use for Palm oil (over 96% is used for food and cosmetics). The UK biodiesel industry is also mainly founded on the transesterfication or conversion of Wate Vegetable Oil; although this won’t solve the demand for fuel it has taken a waste product and turned it into a product (which should be commended).
Carbon Clear Solutions works with companies to help them to reduce the carbon emmisions produced by a company at source (recycling, changing light bulbs etc) and to offset unavoidable emmisions such as travel, gas and electricity used. We do this by having partnered with a company called Trees4Good. Trees4Good allows companies to offset their footprint by planting Jatropha trees on wasteland in Borneo. The benefits of Jatropha is that the tree’s fruit yields inedible oil that can be used as biodiesel, it is very hardy and grows where other plants (e.g. food crops can’t), the roots are nitrogen fixing which regenerates the topsoil and allows the land owner to intercrop food crops (such as water melon) in between the Jatropha. Because the tree becomes a commodity it is valuable to the local community and prevents them from needing to log trees to earn money.
September 30th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Helping individuals and business’s to cut down there carbon emissions via education and practical advise is certainly a way forward. I would however stop short at promoting companies such as Trees4good, although the theory and business concept is very noble I simply believe companies like trees4good this are trying to earn a quick buck in a currently unregulated sector.
I think it is unfair on companies such as these selling this trees4good concept when there is no proof that they are doing so or even proof that it really benefiting the local community or economy.
We should be seriously looking at reducing our waste streams and using this waste safely to produce energy.