Biofuels – Sept 6

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Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage

Orangutans squeezed by biofuel boom
Chris Brummitt, Associated Press
Indonesia, conservationists have different views of palm oil plantations
—
TUMBANG KULING, Indonesia – Naingolan shunts the excavator into high gear and tears into a patch of smoldering forest on Borneo island, clearing the way for yet another palm oil plantation that Indonesia hopes will tap into a surge in global demand for biofuels.

Despite government claims pristine jungles are escaping the effects of the “green solution” to the energy crunch, the boom is threatening the survival of animals like the endangered orangutan and turning the country into a major global warming contributor, environmentalists say.

The fruits of Naingolan’s labor in one corner of Borneo are plain to see: a wasteland of churned up peat and trees stretching to the horizon with freshly dug-in palm plants dotting every meter. Behind him, smoke from illegal scrub-clearing fires clouds the sky.
(4 September 2007)

Are Switchgrass’ Days Numbered?
Jeremy Elton Jacquot, TreeHugger
Move over, switchgrass: there are some new grasses in town gunning for your biofuel crown. Researchers at the University of Northern Iowa’s Tallgrass Prairie Center (TPC) are looking at ways to use the state’s mixed prairie plantings as a source of renewable energy – as biomass to produce ethanol or to burn for electricity. “When you hear about biomass, you usually hear only about switchgrass, but we’re looking at using prairie plants including wildflowers,” said Dave Williams, manager of TPC’s Prairie Institute.

A study conducted this past year by David Tilman, an ecology professor at the University of Minnesota, had demonstrated the potential for polycultures of multiple grass, prairie and wildflower species to serve as an alternative to switchgrass in producing ethanol. Tilman and his colleagues found that, in addition to producing more than twice the biomass than single-species planting (not less than 238% more than switchgrass), multiple-species plantations restored biodiversity, grew on degraded land and – perhaps most importantly – could be carbon negative. Biofuels derived from this source could also store up to 51% more energy per acre than corn.
(3 September 2007)

The Inside Scoop from a Biodiesel Pioneer
Janaia Donaldson, Peak Moment via Global Public Media
Russ Teall has developed biodiesel production equipment since the industry was in its infancy. He discusses biodiesel’s advantages over petroleum diesel, and the land-for-food vs. fuel issue. His projects involve small scale refineries using multiple oil feedstocks, decentralized production facilities, and oil-rich plants grown on marginal lands. Episode 70.

Janaia Donaldson hosts Peak Moment, a television series emphasizing positive responses to energy decline and climate change through local community action. How can we thrive, build stronger communities, and help one another in the transition from a fossil fuel-based lifestyle?
(5 September 2007)

Poplar Mechanics
Clark Williams-Derry, Sightline
Oregon Public Broadcasting is reporting on the efforts of a WSU researcher to turn poplar trees into transportation fuel:

[P]oplars [are] an on demand fuel source. Trees can be chopped down year round, chipped up and then fermented to create ethanol.

According to the researcher, an acre of poplar could supply about one thousand gallons of ethanol per year — which is about three times the per-acre yield of corn ethanol, with a lot less plowing and fertilizer consumption. Cool!

Of course, inveterate skeptic that I am, I had to run the numbers…

…Here in the Northwest (British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho inclusive) we use about 6 billion gallons of gasoline per year. So if the poplar research is close to being right, it would take about 9.2 million acres of poplar plantations to satisfy our gasoline appetite.

That’s a lot of land — it’s area about 9 times the size of Washington’s Olympic National Park, or roughly the size of New Jersey and Connecticut combined. Quite a poplar plantation, I’d say.

Scaling up to meet the total gasoline demand of the US and Canada, you’d need a poplar plantation about the size of California plus Montana, with Mississippi thrown in for good measure, to satisfy the nations’ demand for gasoline. And that doesn’t even cover diesel or airplane fuel.

Needless to say, with numbers like these, it’d take a huge national effort, and a major disruption of forest ecosystems, for poplar-based ethanol to make a serious dent in our petroleum habit.
(5 September 2007)

Biodiesel Demand Grows Across Continents (Audio)
Michael Sullivan, Martin Kaste and Emily Harris, Weekend Edition (NPR)
The ultimate clean fuel, at least at first glance, is vegetable oil. Plants make it from sunlight, water, and a greenhouse gas – and they remove carbon dioxide from the air as they grow. The oil is easily converted into fuel for diesel engines.

Around the globe, there’s now a rush toward so-called “biodiesel.” Here’s a look at its consequences on three different continents:

Germany

Europe is the king of biodiesel; it makes an estimated 77 percent of all biodiesel, worldwide, and Germany alone makes half of this amount. Part of the secret to its success has been a tax break at the pump.

…George Monbiot, author of Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning, says agricultural land worldwide is already under stress from drought and urbanization.

“When you add the biofuels market to this mix, you see what could be a recipe for catastrophe. Already with far less than 1 percent of the world’s transport fuel coming from biofuel, we’ve seen a doubling in the price of corn, and near in price of wheat,” Monbiot says.

European Union officials contest this thought, saying that just a small proportion of the cost of food is related to the cost of the ingredients. But Monbiot and other critics want Europe to stop pushing biofuels until gasoline and diesel from corn stalks, straw, or even sewage are commercially available. That could happen in the next 15 years, according to some estimates.

There’s another difficulty: Europe can’t produce enough biodiesel to satisfy the expected demand, which means there will be imports from places like palm oil plantations in Indonesia.

The pressure is getting through in Europe. The European Union is drafting new rules for countries to use biofuel that is “sustainable.” And the industry is setting up its own sustainable certification program. Skeptics aren’t sure such certificates can be trusted.
(2 September 2007)
Bland. Does NPR make anyone else go to sleep?

-BA