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Cellulosic Ethanol: Running Cars On Lawn Cuttings
Big Gav, Peak Energy: Australia
Its been over a year since I last did a roundup of cellulosic ethanol news – time for another one.
Wired has a good introductory article on the subject (albeit one viewing the subject through rose coloured glasses) – “One Molecule Could Cure Our Addiction to Oil” which looks at some of the companies pioneering the underlying technology – Mascoma, Novozymes and Verenium. In the sidebar there are 4 Alternative Technologies On The Brink, courtesy of Dave Roberts – Energy storage with ultracapacitors, geothermal power, thin film solar and synfuel. While the article thinks biofuels are a better bet than transitioning electric powered vehicles in the medium term, I’d have to say that this seems both incorrect and a far less than optimal way to proceed.
(2 October 2007)
Biofuel Bandwagon Slows as Feedstock Prices Surge
Nigel Hunt, Reuters via PlanetArk
LONDON – The biofuels bandwagon may be running out of gas with soaring costs for feedstocks like wheat and palm oil prompting producers to shelve planned plants and cut output at existing facilities.
“There are lots of plans (for new plants) now but whether these are going to materialise we simply don’t know,” Robert Vierhout, Secretary General of the European Bioethanol Fuel Association, told a conference this week.
“In the present circumstances of very high raw material prices it is understandable if some producers say well it seems to me we need to wait a couple of years until things stabilise.”
Biofuels, mainly produced from agricultural crops such as maize, sugarcane and vegetable oils, are seen by many as a way to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and to boost energy security at a time when oil output may be at or near its peak.
Malaysia took the lead in the development of Asia’s biodiesel industry but is expected to produce less than 100,000 tonnes of palm oil-based biofuel in 2008 as most producers delay plans due to rising feedstock prices.
(5 October 2007)
Will biofuel leave the poor hungry?
Maggie Ayre, BBC Radio 4’s Costing the Earth
It is one of the most hotly debated environmental topics of the year – whether the drive to produce alternative so-called green fuels will take food from the mouths of the hungry.
Wheat grains in farmer’s hands
Is it ethical to burn food while people starve?
For environmental groups like Friends of the Earth, it’s a no brainer.
“If you start to fuel cars with crops,” says Ed Matthew, “you are instantly putting the world’s one billion starving people in competition with the world’s one billion motorists. It’s as simple as that.”
Green groups and aid agencies cite biofuels as forming part of the “perfect storm” of poor harvests, rising oil prices and a surge in demand for food from China and India that are all pushing up the price of everything from pasta to a loaf of bread.
In fact, the first flashpoint in the food versus fuel conflict has already happened.
…However, a look at the bigger picture reveals that an apparent straight case of fuel taking precedence over food is misleading.
(3 October 2007)
Green fuels will save the earth – or not
Nao Nakanishi, Reuters
HONG KONG – The earth is too small to accommodate all the biofuels projects envisioned for the globe, and this raises doubts whether green fuels will ever play a big role in weaning the world off crude oil.
The idea of producing an endless supply of inexpensive fuel from what sprouts from the soil seemed almost too good to be true for a world worried about global warming, caused in part by the burning of fossil fuels.
And perhaps it is. It has become increasingly clear that it will not be possible to grow enough crops to cover global demand for food and fuel, especially as water is becoming scarce and pressure is mounting from the environmental lobby to conserve tropical rainforests and wildlife.
Over the past year, a biofuel boom worldwide has already sharply boosted agricultural prices, sparking worries over food supply as the world’s population continues to grow.
(5 October 2007)
