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An unsustainable scam
Editorial, Guardian
Just in time for April Fool’s Day comes news of the latest scam in the biofuels industry. As we report today, cargo loads of biofuel are being shipped from Europe to the US where they are topped up, allowing traders to claim a subsidy from Washington, and then shipped back. Despite the dateline, this is no prank – it accounts for up to 10% of all biofuel exports from America to Europe – even though it makes a mockery of the notion of a green fuel.
The attraction of biofuels is obvious: they offer a simple solution to one of the thorniest problems of our times. …
The problem with biofuels is equally obvious: they are a simplistic solution to a problem too big to be tackled with mere shortcuts. They take up land and crops that might otherwise go towards feeding people, which is a big reason food prices have shot up. They typically require nitrogen fertilisers, which causes the soil to emit nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas. Biofuels also require ploughing, harvesting, and processing – all of which use energy, often supplied by burning fossil fuels. For a supposedly clean energy source, biofuels are often surprisingly mucky; some may not help tackle global warming but make it worse.
(1 April 2008)
Related:
Biofuel boondoggle: US subsidy aids Europe’s drivers (Christian Science Monitor)
U.S. Biofuels Subsidies: Not for Farmers, but for Europeans (WSJ blog)
Norway to use forests to double bioenergy output
Alister Doyle, Reuters
Norway will double production of bioenergy by 2020 by tapping its vast pine forests and seek to become an exporter of renewable energies to diversify from oil and gas, the government said on Tuesday.
… Norway, the world’s number five oil exporter, would double output of bioenergy from wood, other plant material and farm waste to total about 28 terawatt hours (TWh) a year.
(1 April 2008)
Specially-Designed Soils Could Help Combat Climate Change
SPX via Terra Daily
Could part of the answer to saving the Earth from global warming lie in the earth beneath our feet? A team from Newcastle University aims to design soils that can remove carbon from the atmosphere, permanently and cost-effectively. This has never previously been attempted anywhere in the world. The research is being funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
The concept underlying the initiative exploits the fact that plants, crops and trees naturally absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) during photosynthesis and then pump surplus carbon through their roots into the earth around them. In most soils, much of this carbon can escape back to the atmosphere or enters groundwater.
But in soils containing calcium-bearing silicates (natural or man-made), the team believe the carbon that oozes out of a plant’s roots may react with the calcium to form the harmless mineral calcium carbonate. The carbon then stays securely locked in the calcium carbonate, which simply remains in the soil, close to the plant’s roots, in the form of a coating on pebbles or as grains.
… “The process we’re exploring might be able to contribute around 5-10% of the UK’s carbon reduction targets in the future,” says Professor Manning. “We could potentially see applications in 2-3 years, including a number of ‘quick wins’ in the land restoration sector.”
(1 April 2008)
Perhaps some ecologists or soil scientist could comment on the long-term ramifications of such projects. Could this process continue indefinitely? -BA
World Bank Climate Profiteering
Daphne Wysham and Shakuntala Makhijani, Foreign Policy in Focus
The World Bank’s long-running identity crisis is proving hard to shake. When efforts to rebrand itself as a “knowledge bank” didn’t work, it devised a new identity as a “Green Bank.” Really? Yes, it’s true. Sure, the Bank continues to finance fossil fuel projects globally, but never mind. The World Bank has seized upon the immense challenges climate change poses to humanity and is now front and center in the complicated, international world of carbon finance. It can turn the dirtiest carbon credits into gold.
How exactly, does this work, you ask?
Quite simply: The Bank finances a fossil fuel project, involving oil, natural gas, or coal, in Poor Country A. Rich Country B asks the Bank to help arrange carbon credits so Country B can tell its carbon counters it’s taking serious action on climate change. The World Bank kindly obliges, offering carbon credits for a price far lower than Country B would have to pay if Country B made those cuts at home. Country A gets a share of the cash to invest in equipment to make fossil fuel project slightly more efficient, the World Bank takes its 13% cut, and everyone is happy.
Everyone, that is, who is cashing in on this deal. If you’re after a real solution to the climate crisis, these shenanigans can and should make you unhappy.
(31 March 2008)
