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Biofuel Impact - OurFood-news
Biofuel impact on biodiversity and food crops
07.03.2011: Germany refuses E10 fuel fearing engine damage [1]
The German government introduced the E10 on petrol pumps. Car drivers, however do not accept the fuel fearing it may damage the engine and water turn lubrication oil change more frequent. About 50 per cent of the ethanol of German E10 is imported from Brazil. Germany uses sugar beet and maize to produce its ethanol. Germany's Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen heavily criticized the fuel industry for not properly advertising E10 at gas stations.
The surplus of E10 and the shortage of Super Plus have created economic problems that can't easily be resolved. Many refineries in Germany have now switched their production to E10, which can only be sold in the domestic market, since other countries use other chemical compositions in their fuel.
According to Al Gore speaking in Athens Nov 22, 2010, the support for corn-based ethanol was "not a good policy". The high U.S. ethanol subsidies reaching $7.7 billion in 2010 turns it profitable even when it is more expensive than petrol. According to Al Gore the energy conversion ratios are small and first generation ethanol was a mistake. He admitted to have made a mistake driven by a presidential campaign running against George W. Bush while focussing on farmers of Tennessee. Ethanol production consumes 41 per cent of the US corn crop corresponding 15 per cent of the global crop competing with fuel prices. Ethanol production in Brazil increases further the impact on food prices. Al Gore focuses now on second generation which do not compete with food crops.
The Indian government does not support ethanol of first generation and will allow only waste of treacle production or other agrarian waste to be fermented.
The United States should consider to invest the ethanol subsidies in solar energy and hydrogen as and alternative to fossil fuel.
[1] Petroleum industry fumes after being blamed for biofuel chaos
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14890740,00.html
06.11.2010: US destructive environmental politics [1]
HECO (Hawaiian Electric Company) was granted permission to burn 10 million litres palm oil in two power stations in Hawaii, with plans to become one of the biggest palm oil users in the Americas.
Palmoil as fuel means more deforestation and land-grabbing in South-east Asia and West-Africa and more climate change. Supplier will be Sime Darby which owns the largest palm oil plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia, expanding to West Africa. Sime Darby has been directly involved in the destruction of rainforests and peatlands, including orangutan habitat for palm oil violating people's rights and creating land conflicts in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Natural Resource Defense Council wrongly supports palmoil as fuel for Hawaii [2]
US conservation organisation Natural Resource Defense Council has allows HECO to class palm oil from Sime Darby as sustainable.
Rainforest Rescue says that more demand will, directly or indirectly, mean more plantation expansion and thus more deforestation, land conflicts and evictions. The group cites the Indonesian civil society organisation Sawit Watch which expressed "deep concern over the policies being adopted which promote the use and import of biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuel. Their disproportionate use is one of the new driving forces of large-scale and monoculture oil palm plantation expansion that contributes to global warming, social conflicts and rights abuses in producing countries, particularly Indonesia".
The cultivation of oil palms, like all other industrial monoculture plantations, is not and never will be sustainable. [3]
New alternatives to carbon based fuel
Hawaii should invest in their abundant solar, wind, and wave energy resources, as well as energy efficiency and conservation measures. Investment in these new technologies are nowadays affordable. Prices of photovoltaic and wind energy became competitive with fossil sources. Together with hydrogen technology a solid and stable system of carbon free eneregy may be established. Read more
[1] Palm oil for power stations in Hawaii threatens forests and communities. Rainforest Rescue. 28.10.2010.
[2] NRDC and HECO agree on biodiesel procurement policy. August 22, 2007.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ngreene/nrdc_heco_agree_on_biodiesel_p.html
[3] International Declaration Against the 'Greenwashing' of Palm Oil by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/docs/17-11-2008-ENGLISH-RSPOInternational-Declaration.pdf
German environment Minister Sigmael Gabriel and Ms Marina Silva
The 9th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (COP-9) (19 - 30 May 2008) started with the speech of German environment Minister Sigmael Gabriel.
In the first week of May 2008 Gabriel spoke with his Brazilian colleague Ms Marina Silva which assured that sugar cane plantations and soy seed would not harm the environment and there was no danger of more clearcut of the Amazonian forest.
Two weeks later she resigned as environment minister after the Amazon development project was taken away from her and given to the Harvard Professor Roberto Mangabeira Unger who wants to include the Amazon Region in one of the greatest agro-industry project ever seen. It will boost Brazilian ethanol production to replace 5% of crude oil by 20025. Download ACTION COP 9
OurFood called on all participants of COP 9 and all Governments to stop bio alcohol and support solar electricity and hydrogen as described by DESERTEC and the Arabian Desert Solar Energy Proposal.
Specifically the following persons are asked to support solar energy from the desert:
1.- German environment minister Sigmael Gabriel is informed in relation to an Arabian Desert Solar Energy Project which produces solar electricity and hydrogen and might reduce the pressure on alcohol and coal power plants.
2.- Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber CBE of the Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung, Professor Schellnhuber is the advisor of the German government concerning climate protection.
3.- A. Runge-Metzger von: European Commission, Directorate-General
Environment Directorate C -- Climate Change & Air, ENV.C.1-Climate Strategy, International Negotiation and monitoring of EU action. Runge-Metzger is the head of COP 9.
4.- All attendants of COP 9, specifically members of the Arabian states, such as Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait Jordan and Emirates.
Read more See the Details
Old logistic problems of the bucolic ethanol mills of the past decade are solved. The agro-business took over, with enormous problems for the environment, like the pre-harvest burn of leaves of the sugar cane seen here.
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Sugarcane in Brazil reviving the Vietnam War: [1]
Before harvesting the fields are sprayed with Herbicide 2,4 D, component of Agent Orange, which was used in the Vietnam War. Afterwards the fields are burnt, setting free huge clouds of dioxin that cause respiratory diseases of epidemic dimensions in the affected areas.
[1] A Seed Europe: Sugarcane in Brazil: working conditions like in the times http://www.aseed.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=426&Itemid=107of slavery.
http://www.aseed.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=426&Itemid=107
06.10.2010: U.S. military goes green in Afghanistan [1]
The New York Times reports that US armed forces are pushing to develop renewable energy to decrease its need to transport fossil fuels, as the supply route across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan is under attack of insurgents.
The use of equipment such as portable solar panels, energy-conserving lights, solar tent shields that provide shade and electricity, solar chargers for computers and communications equipment are now being introduced to decrease high costs of fossil fuels transportation.
These new types of renewable energy now account for only a small percentage of the power used by the armed forces, but military experts plan a new green offensive.
According to Ray Mabus, the Navy secretary, 50 percent of the power for the Navy and Marines are to come from renewable energy sources by 2020. That figure includes energy for bases as well as fuel for cars and ships. Fossil fuel accounts for 30 to 80 percent of the load in convoys into Afghanistan with costs of $400/gallon to get it there.
Col. Robert Charette Jr., managing energy issues, hopes that the new solar equipment will prove reliable and durable enough for military use, however, it will not diminish fuel transport . While the Congress is taking its time with debates on energy policy, and President Obama fails to move ahead on renewable politics, it is easy for the military to introduce renewable energy products because of the big budge of the armed forces.
Are there breakthroughs?
Last year, the Navy tested one hybrid amphibious assault ship which at speeds under 10 knots runs on electricity.
The Air Force plans to have the entire fleet to fly on biofuels by 2011. Some test-flights with a 50-50 mix of plant-based biofuel and jet fuel. The Navy looks at fuel made from algae.
Truck-based refineries transforming food crops of the enemy in fuel for tanks
Military experts say biofuels can in theory be produced wherever plants are available, even near battlefields. The army ponders if it is possible to conceive biofuel plants built on trucks which can use crops found at the battle zone. This would leave nothing as burned earth after an occupation of a country. Food supply of the affected population and feed for the remaining cattle will be gone when the occupant leaves the region.
How to power an aircraft carrier
Aircraft carriers are powered by nuclear energy, so are U.S. submarines also. This is not a clean way to handle environmental issues. Nuclear fuel rods end as radiating waste which is active for million of years. The United States do not possess a viable strategy to handle nuclear waste. There exist no safe repositories. Even Germany, leading in nuclear safety, has failed to provide a safe repository.
Biofuel from algae growing in a glass tank may give a green look to small Evinrude outboard engines of the navy, but will not power a destroyer in action.
Photovoltaic will certainly be an aid to power computers, cellphones and some cooling fans. However it is of no use when it comes to provide solar energy for high demand and to produce hydrogen as energy storage and as fuel under near-battlefield conditions. To meet such demands a high amount of arrays are necessary and a great area must be covered turning it highly vulnerable as a target for the enemy and cannot be kept on top of a truck. High solar power plants are suitable for civil peaceful projects in the deserts of our world but an not for war.
Analysing the rather immature U.S. military ideas concerning alternatives to fossil fuels, it seems that there is a connection to the coming primary election of the Iowa-Caucasus which paves the way for the next presidential election campaign. Iowa is a rural state which depends on bioalcohol from corn and biodiesel from oil plants. Any news related to green subjects generates votes which are needed to guarantee the ever growing budget of the armed forces.
[1] U.S. Military Orders Less Dependence on Fossil Fuels. The New York Times 4.10.2020.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/science/earth/05fossil.html?_r=1&hp