Biofuels: Think Outisde The Barrel

Rising oil prices have led to an increased interest in biofuels as an alternative energy source.

Bioenergy is produced from organic matter or biomass. Biomass produced in a sustainable manner becomes a renewable energy source. It stores chemical energy that can be used to produce power and heat. Biofuels are energy carriers derived from biomass. Some historic and conventional sources of bioenergy are fuel wood, charcoal and animal dung. There are two generations of biofuels; First generation biofuels and second generation biofuels.


First generation Biofuels:

First generation bio-fuels are derived from food crops. Most important among them are;

• Ethanol
• Biodiesel

Ethanol can be made form sugars (e.g. sugar beets, sugarcane); grains (maize and wheat), cellulose and waste products. Sugar from Brazil and Maize from USA comprise around 80% of global ethanol production. In energy terms, ethanol accounts for almost 90% of current total biofuel use. Biodiesel is made from vegetable oil or animal fats biodiesel mostly produced and used in Europe.


Second Generation Biofuels:

Second generation biofuels are derived from the residual non-food parts of crops, such as stem, leaves and husks that are left behind once the food crop has been extracted. Second generation biofuels also include other crops that are not used for food purpose such as Switch Grass. Second generation biofuels are not likely to increase food prices. Also they are more helpful in mitigating climate changes as compared to first generation biofuels.

Rising oil prices have led to increased interest in biofuels as an alternative energy source. By April 2008 crude petroleum prices were as much as $120. The following section will describe the potential benefits of Bioenergy.

The potential benefits of bioenergy development are as under:

• Its ability to compete with petroleum prices
• Its ability to mitigate climate changes
• Its capacity to reduce GHG emission
• Its ability to enhance farmer’s income
• Diversification of agriculture outputs
• Domestic energy supply
• Job creation in rural areas
• Development of infrastructures

It is projected that biofuels will meet 3.2% of world road-transport fuel demand by 2030. (Source: World Energy Outlook) The primary motives behind promoting the development of bioenergy is climate change mitigation, energy security and agricultural and rural development. But can biofuels reality deliver? There is also a negative facet of the story. There are several challenges posed by the increased usage of bioenergy.

• Growth of bioenergy sector may lead to:
• Food shortages,
• Water shortages,
• Malnutrition
• Rise in the food prices,
• Soil erosion,
• Deforestation
• and many other challenges that are still unknown to us.

In the following section of this article, we will try to have a clear view of challenges of bioenergy.


CHALLENGES OF BIOENERGY


(A)-Diversion of Food to Fuel and Rise in Food Prices:

Availability of food can be threatened to the extent that land, land, water and other productive resources are diverted from food production to biofuel production. According to a study, in 2008, 24% of US maize crop projected to go into ethanol production. In 2007, 54% of Brazil’s sugar-cane crop production was used to produce ethanol. In the European Union, about 47% of vegetable oil production was used in the production of biodiesel causing higher imports of vegetable oil to meet domestic consumption needs.

There is another risk that food and feed production will be consigned to less productive land, which may result in lower yields, while the most fertile lands with be cultivated for high-value fuel crops. Agrofuel plantations in Brazil and Southeast Asia are being created on the territories of indigenous people and local subsistence farmers, who are being forced to give up their land, way of life, and food self sufficiency to grow fuel crops for export. The increased biofuel demand have accounted for a substantial increase in food prices.

A rise in food prices will tend to result in reduced access to food of higher value. As prices continue to rise, poor people (who represent a majority of net buyers of food) will experience a worsening of dietary quality and micronutrient intake and extremely poor people will experience an additional decrease in food energy consumption.

Decreased food consumption in terms of calories, proteins, fats and micronutrients can lead to:

• Weight loss
• Impaired development
• Impaired mental and physical growth in children
• Reduction in physical ability to do work for adults

A study suggests that in East Asian setting a 50% increase in price of food (holding income constant) will lead to decline of iron intake by 30%. As a result, prevalence of micronutrient deficiency among women and children will increase by 25%.

Recently “The Economist” Magazine editorialized:

“Roughly a billion people live on $1 a day. If, on a conservative estimate, the cost of their food rises 20% (and in some places it has risen a lot more), 100 Million people could be forced back to absolute poverty.”

(B)-Increased GHG Emissions Connected with Biofuel Production:

Biofuel production can disturb GHG emissions balance through increased GHG emissions that may result from burning forests to clear land for crop cultivation, which causes less absorption of carbon dioxide and hence GHG concentration increases in the biosphere, which may result in more global warming.

Key sources of emissions from bioenergy development are:

• Land Conversion
• Mechanization
• Fertilizer use at feedstock production stage
• Use of non-renewable energy in processing and transport

(C)-Expanded Bioenergy Sector Poses a Challenge of Water Scarcity:

• Development of bioenergy sector may lead to water shortages.
• Use of sugarcane as a feedstock is particularly water intensive.
• Increased cultivation of biofuel crops could result into loss of availability of drinking water in many regions of Earth.
• Water scarcity in countries of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa is a cause of concern for agricultural productivity, health and sanitation.

More Challenges:

(D)-Water Pollution and Soil Erosion:

Biofuel Crops such as soybean and corn contribute to soil erosion and water pollution and require large amount of fertilizer, pesticides and fuel to grow, harvest and dry. Also poorly managed input use in bioenergy crop cultivation could pollute drinking water, adversely affecting human and animal health.


(E)-Threat to Biodiversity:

Planning for expanding bioenergy sector involve the creation of large scale mono-cropping plantation, which threaten some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the Earth. The threat to wild biodiversity from bioenergy growth is associated with land-use change. When areas such as natural forests are converted for feedstock production, the loss of biodiversity may be significant.


FAO High Level Conference:

At June 3-5, 2008 Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) High Level Conference on “World Food Security: The Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy” took place. The conversion of foodstuffs like maize, sugar and palm oil into biofuels was one of the most controversial issues in that High Level Conference. During the summit the biofuel giants, USA and Brazil remarked against countries that fear the harmful effects of bioenergy and under their pressure, the final declaration avoided negative language on this issue. US and Brazil states that bioenergy present “Challenges and Opportunities” and call for an “International Dialogue” on the matter.

On the other hand, 3 member states of FAO, Argentine, Cuba and Venezuela did not adopt the declaration on the grounds that rich and powerful states want to block true solutions to world hunger and condemned monopolies on agriculture.

In the conference, a lack of focus on the development of second generation biofuels seemed a surprising aspect, because first-generation biofuels compete with food crops. Also first-generation biofuels contribute to climate change which is a serious challenge to food security.


Managing Bioenergy - The Global Perspective:

The different viewpoints on managing bioenergy sector globally can be summarized under three main options:

1. Business as usual
2. Moratorium
3. Intergovernmental Consensus Building

The “Business as usual” option focuses continuing along the path taken so far. The “Moratorium” option denotes a temporary prohibition of production. Intergovernmental Consensus building on sustainable bioenergy sector assumes that policy making on sustainable biofuels is necessary but may not be sufficient for sustainable bioenergy development.

Bioenergy and Climate Change- The Challenge of Sustainable Development:
To develop the full potential of bioenergy so as to mitigate abrupt global climate changes, growth has to be managed in a sustainable way to meet requirements related to socio-economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. The emerging bioenergy market should build upon

following lessons to meet the above described challenges:
Proper management and appropriate policies can make bioenergy development more pro-poor and environmentally sustainable. Poor farmers might be able to grow energy crops on degraded lands, not suitable for food production. But appropriate fertilizer management, soil type and climatic conditions are to be considered in order to prevent soil erosion, environmental problems, GHG emissions and harmful climate changes.

Proper research and institutional arrangements can prevent a negative impact on food availability, climate and poverty. Bioenergy sector is labor intensive. Optimized production will open new vistas for employment (without disturbing ecosystems). A study shows that in 1997, in Brazil, the ethanol sector employed about 1 Million people.


Conclusion:

Taking all these factors into account, it is clear that International Community is facing difficulties in coping with the challenges posed by Climate change and Bioenergy. On one hand, climate changes and current bioenergy policies and practices run the risk of undermining food security and degrading ecosystems through deforestation and agrochemical pollution. On the other hand well-managed “second generation” biofuels can contribute to a more sustainable energy future and climate change adaptation. Thus it can be concluded that the challenges posed by Climate change and Bioenergy are grave, without any doubt, but research is underway to manage biofuels in a global perspective and it could help us in overcoming many problems including Climate Change Mitigation, if managed successfully.