[PBN] Carbo Trust: Green oil by 2020?

From: Carbon Trust - 29/10/2008

The Carbon Trust is launching the Algae Biofuels Challenge seeking to commercialise the use of algae biofuel as an alternative to fossil based oil by 2020.

The Algae Biofuels Challenge is a multi-million pound UK R&D initiative that could see the Carbon Trust committing £3-6 million of funding in the initial stages. The Department for Transport recently announced it will also be contributing to the funding.

According to the Carbon Trust, algae-based biofuel has the potential to replace a significant proportion of fossil fuel used in road transport and aviation beyond 2020 creating an industry worth "tens of billions of pounds".

For example, initial forecasts suggest that algae-based biofuels could replace over 70 billion litres of fossil derived fuels used worldwide annually in road transport and aviation by 2030 (equivalent to 12% of annual global jet fuel consumption or 6% of road transport diesel). This would equate to a market value of over £15 billion, the Carbon Trust says.

Dr Mark Williamson, Innovations Director at the Carbon Trust, explains why public investment in algae as an alternative to fossil fuel based oil is vital: "We must find a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to oil for our cars and planes if we are to deliver the deep cuts in carbon emissions necessary to tackle climate change. Algae could provide a significant part of the answer and represents a multi billion pound opportunity."

The challenge now is to produce this second generation algae-based biofuel cost effectively at scale. If successful, algae could deliver 6 to 10 times more energy per hectare than conventional cropland biofuels, whilst reducing carbon emissions by up to 80% relative to fossil fuels. Also, unlike traditional biofuels, algae can be grown on non-arable land using seawater or wastewater. Therefore, using algae as a biofuel feedstock avoids many of the negative environmental, ecological and social impacts associated with first generation biofuels.

The Algae Biofuels Challenge will accelerate the commercialisation of microalgae bio-oil in two key phases. Phase one will provide grant funding for research across areas including selection of suitable microalgae algae strains for open pond production, maximising algae oil content and biomass yield, maximising solar conversion efficiency, sustained algae cultivation, and design and engineering of mass-culture systems.

Phase two is expected to see the construction of an open pond test and demonstration plant. This plant will provide the facilities necessary to continue the research conducted in phase one and demonstrate production at commercial scale in a manner that can be replicated. To avoid any unnecessary delays in eventual commercialisation the plant is likely to be constructed overseas. This is because the majority of commercial production of algae biofuels is likely to take place in tropical and sub-tropical climates that have plentiful sunlight and temperatures that do not drop too low or vary too much.

Source: http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/technology/directedresearch/algae.htm

[PBN] MARSHALLS COPRA GROWERS PRODUCE BUMPER CROP

From: Radio New Zealand International - 20/10/2008.

The Marshall Islands has had its third best copra-producing year ever, in the fiscal year just ended.

The country’s coconut processing facility reports that the 7,182 tons of dried coconut produced is only the third time since records began being kept in 1951 that Marshall Islands copra makers have passed the 7,000-ton mark.

Local officials say the combination of high world market prices coupled with improving outer island government shipping service generated the high production.

The two top-producing atolls are Arno and Ailinglaplap.

But the copra mill operator is concerned that it may be forced to reduce the price paid early next year, which could lead to lower production levels.

A year ago, Tobolar Copra Processing Authority was paying 15 cents a pound for copra, but that was increased to 22 cents earlier this year.

[PIR editor’s note: At 22 U.S. cents per pound, the 7,182 tons of copra produced in the Marshall Islands last fiscal year has a value of US$31.6 million. ]

The national government provided a US$1.2 million subsidy in 2008 to the copra mill to help keep prices high, but dropped the amount to half a million for the next fiscal year, which started at the beginning of October.

Source: http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2008/October/10-21-08.htm

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[PBN] Bangkok: Oil slump brings new threats

From: bangkok Post - 20/10/2008

Consumers fretting about the decline in share prices and retirement savings over the past few weeks can at least take heart from one fact - the sharp fall in oil prices is equivalent to a tax refund for motorists across the world.

Oil prices, which soared to a peak of more than $147 per barrel in mid-July, have since collapsed to just over $70. Goldman Sachs, which in May shocked the markets with a price target of $200 per barrel, last week recanted and said oil could fall to $50 due to lower demand as the world economy heads into a recession in 2009.

Thailand, a relatively inefficient user of energy, stands to benefit considerably from lower oil prices. Oil represents the single largest item in the country's import bill, and lower costs should help balance the trade account if export growth slows in 2009 as many anticipate.

But for policymakers and some motorists, the sharp decline in fuel prices raise questions about whether to continue with investments in alternative fuels even as the price benefits compared with petroleum have fallen sharply.

PTT Plc, the country's largest energy company, says demand for natural gas for vehicles (NGV) remains strong.

"Motorists continue to shift to NGV systems every day," said Nuttachat Charuchinda, senior executive vice-president of PTT's gas business group. But he agreed that the decline in petrol prices would reduce the incentives for some to convert to NGV.

"At mid-year, when petrol prices hit their peak, we saw 500 vehicles per day installing NGV kits. The rate has since fallen by half," Mr Nuttachat said.

Assuming crude prices remain at current levels, PTT estimates NGV usage to rise just 7% this year to 3,000 tonnes per day by the end of the year, compared with previous forecasts of 17% growth to 3,200 tonnes per day.

NGV-compatible vehicles are now estimated to reach 126,000 by the end of the year, compared with earlier forecasts of 134,000. About 115,800 vehicles are now using natural gas.

Mr Nuttachat said that already, complaints were being heard from garages that specialise in NGV installations, both for passenger cars as well as for transport trucks.

Heavily subsidised NGV prices have remained stable all year, at 8.50 baht per kg. Petrol prices meanwhile, have fallen from as high as 45 baht per litre in July to just 32 baht as of last week. Gasohol blends have fallen in price even faster, to just 24-25 baht per litre, on par with diesel.

According to PTT, even at today's prices, a shift to NGV still makes financial sense, as NGV still has a per-kilometre running cost of just one-third that of petrol and diesel.

But certainly the decline in oil prices means that recouping one's investment will take longer than when before. For some motorists, the inconvenience of NGV - lack of refilling stations, reduction in trunk space, slower acceleration and limited driving range - now outweighs the potential financial gains.

This has policymakers concerned. National NGV and biofuel strategies are predicated on the thought that Thailand needs to reduce its dependence on imported crude oil. Any falloff in demand for alternative fuel systems has massive implications across companies in the supply chain that have been preparing to ramp up investment to support state energy policies.

PTT, for instance, is already rethinking its expansion plans as demand targets now look to fall short. Authorities have been targeting NGV usage reaching 8,000 tonnes per day by 2012, or 20% of total fuel use by the transport sector.

"If crude prices stay like this, we will definitely need to revise our plans to expand our NGV stations and capacity," Mr Nuttachat said.

The Energy Policy and Planning Office, part of the Energy Ministry, acknowledges that the sharp correction in oil prices has undermined previous energy forecasts.

Viraphol Jirapraditkul, the EPPO director-general, said use of both LPG and NGV by motorists was likely to fall over the next few months.

"It was the sharp increase in petrol prices in the middle of the year that caused vehicle owners to switch to alternative energy," he said. "With prices now declining, the incentive has also declined."

But energy experts say that even with the decline in oil prices, the long-term trend for higher fossil-fuel prices remains unchanged, as supplies remain limited while demand will eventually recover with the world economy.

PTT president Prasert Bunsumpun said the government should take advantage of the current situation and revise its tax structures to maintain price incentives for alternative fuels.

The State Oil Fund currently charges levies of four baht per litre for premium petrol, compared with 0.85 baht to 1.35 baht for gasohol and 1.20 baht for diesel.

Outright subsidies for gasohol fuels or raising tariffs for petrol and diesel would help maintain market momentum for motorists to shift to alternative fuels.

Ethanol producers have also called for the government to revamp its tax strategies, particularly considering that ethanol benchmark prices have jumped sharply with the price of agricultural commodities.

Chalush Chinthammit, deputy general-secretary of Thai Sugar and Bio-Energy Producers Association, suggested the government should set a benchmark price based on domestic agriculture products, instead of using rates in Brazil, the world's biggest and most successful ethanol producer, as the benchmark.

The ethanol price for the quarter that began on Oct 1 was set at 22.11 baht per litre, and biofuel for mixing with diesel is 25.67 baht compared to a wholesale price averaging 18-19 baht for refined-oil products.

"If the government overlooks this issue, the surplus of ethanol will worsen. Producers with licences will be more reluctant to start investing," Mr Chalush said.

"And if crude oil prices turn upward, we will be back to the same problem. The government should try to continue the momentum toward alternative fuels."

Ethanol output this month is expected to stand at 800,000 litres a day, compared to full capacity of one million litres, with the additional 200,000 litres of capacity estimated to enter into the market by year-end.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/201008_Business/20Oct2008_biz23.php

[PBN] virgin coconut oil as a tool for sustainable development in outer islands.

From: Tony Weir - 14/10/2008

Interetsing article titled "Virgin coconut oil as a tool for sustainable development in outer islands " by Shashi Kad and Tony Weir.

The paper can be accessed from the following link < http://peb.anu.edu.au/pdf/PEB23_3-WEIR-et-al_WEB.pdf > The paper is positive about the future for virgin coconut oil, though stopping short of seeing it as the answer to every community's dreams.

[PBN] UN report calls for scrapping of biofuel targets

From: Business Daily - 10/10/2008

Calls to scrap biofuel targets to lower food prices are mounting with both the UN’s food agency and global businesses including Unilever urging governments this week to rethink their policies.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a report this week that the rush to biofuels had done more harm, pushing up food prices, than it has good by reducing greenhouse gases.

At the same time, the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC), the business arm of the group of 53 Commonwealth countries, called on member states finance ministers meeting in St Lucia to drop mandatory targets for biofuels.

Diversion of crops to producing biofuels, as well as rising demand for food in emerging economies, has put major pressure on stocks, pushing food prices to their highest level since the 1970s.

The effects are being felt around the world, including in Kenya, which imports rice and wheat.

FAO expects the global costs of importing food to increase 26 per cent this year to $1,035 billion.

Current targets set by the US, Europe and other governments, to boost biofuel production would increase maize prices by 26 per cent within the next decade, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute.

“Moving away from biofuels quotas is a simple step we can take to help alleviate high food prices,” said Dr Mohan Kaul, director general of the CBC.

The group wants the UK and India in particular to scrap their biofuel targets. In the UK, biofuels must make up 2.5 per cent of transport fuel since April, increasing to 5 per cent by 2010.

India agreed last month to meet 20 per cent of its diesel demand from fuel derived from plants by 2017. If these countries agreed to remove their targets, they could provide a powerful example to the rest of the world, said Dr Kaul.

The goal is ambitious. Though the UK is said to be reviewing its target, the EU has recently re-confirmed its 10 per cent quota for biofuels in petrol and diesel by 2020 while the US, which uses more than a third of its corn crop for biofuel and the world’s leading producer, has shown no sign of rethinking its targets.

Sentiment against biofuels is increasing however with recent studies suggesting that some are not as good for the environment as once thought. Crops like corn or sugar are renewable but more fuel is needed to grow and process them into fuel.

In some cases, forest is cleared to grow new crops, releasing more unwanted carbon dioxide into the air.

“In many cases, increased emissions from land-use change are likely to offset or even exceed the greenhouse gas savings obtained,” FAO said in its report.

With multinational Unilever and other CBC members such as steel group Arcelor Mittal now also taking a stand against biofuels, policy makers may come under more pressure to review targets.

Unilever wants the focus to shift to second and third generation biofuels, or those that use non-food crops such as jatropha or algae, rather than the first generation biofuels made with maize or sugar.

Source: http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10549&Itemid=5847

[PBN] Fiji: Ethanol team tours West

From: Fiji Times - 19/09/2008

CHINESE investors are touring the Western Division to look at the possibility of an ethanol plant.

Fiji's Ambassador to China James Ah Koy and an officer from the Agriculture Ministry are escorting a five-member Chinese delegation around the country to meet stakeholders and assess the potential of a local ethanol plant.

The delegation from the Guanxgi Province is among Chinese investors who have recently shown interest in setting up locally.

Yesterday the team visited sugar mills in the Western Division and will be in the Central Division tomorrow and fly to the Northern Division on Saturday.

The delegation wants to know what resources are available in Fiji and also meet stakeholders in the establishment of an ethanol plant.

The delegation will return to China on Monday.

The visit is a follow up to a tour of China by Viliame Vosarogo, director of Energy, Dr Richard Beyer, permanent secretary for agriculture, Joape Waqabaca and Viliame Yabakivou, chairman of the National Strategic Committee on Bio Fuel.

The Guanxgi Province has several ethanol plants which rely on imported cassava from Vietnam to meet the required tonnage.

Seasonal weather in China hinders the growth of cassava all-year round, while in Fiji the tropical weather provides the ideal environment.

Source: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?ref=archive&id=101114

[PBN] Clean and Green, but is biofuel a winner?

From: Times on Line - 07/08/2008

THE simple logic behind biofuels sounds appealing — a liquid motor fuel that is clean and made from a crop as renewable as next season's harvest.

Huge investments are chasing biofuel profits, but doubts are emerging about the sustainability of a business that is being promoted on its supposed green credentials.

Commodities that once were thought dull and obscure are being pursued by hedge funds and speculators. Last month, hedge funds piled into Malaysian palm oil futures, driving up the price after signals from Kuala Lumpur that it would set aside six million tonnes of palm oil each year — as much as 40 per cent of the nation's crop — to produce biodiesel.

Investors have noticed that Europe is setting ambitious targets, but simple arithmetic dictates that there is not enough farmland in the European Union to grow the rapeseed needed to fill all its cars with 5 per cent biodiesel. Sleepy Malaysian plantation businesses have gained a new life and companies are rushing to build biodiesel refineries.

So many applications were received that the Malaysian Government has been forced to cap the number at 30 plants.

Meanwhile, Indonesia says that it will invest heavily over the next five years to promote alternative fuels using palm oil. Last week the Energy Minister outlined ambitious plans.

Indonesia's crude oil reserves have dwindled; it is now an importer and the price is weighing heavily on an impoverished nation. By 2009-10, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, the Energy Minister, said, "we have plans for six million hectares of development, worth about $20 billion (£10.5 billion)".

This is of great interest to Genting Berhad, an Indonesian conglomerate, which has a large plantations business. It has asked the Government for a one million hectare allocation of land for palm oil and sugar cane production — and it will get it. "Indonesia is a large country and we have the land in Sumatra, in Kalimantan, in Papua, in other places," the minister said, "so we can handle a request for one million hectares."

The plans are ringing alarm bells at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the wildlife conservation lobbyist, which has raised concerns that biofuel production could be the death knell for the orang utan, already endangered as a result of slash-and-burn farming in Kalimantan, an annual toll of deforestation that every year creates a hideous smog stretching across South-East Asia.

WWF is not against biofuel development, but it wants it to be carefully controlled. Fitrian Ardiansyah, co-ordinator of WWF's forest programme in Indonesia, said that the risks are great if biofuel development is allowed unchecked in virgin forest.

"There is an increased risk of environmental disaster from fires and drought. We are facing fires in Kalimantan. There is also risk of conflict between communities over land resources and the risk of human-wildlife conflict," Mr Ardiansyah said.

He would like the Government to restrict development to abandoned land and to increase productivity on existing plantations. The conservation lobby wants the EU to impose mandatory certification of all biofuels used in Europe to ensure that they are genuinely sustainable.

Classifying all biofuels as "renewable" is counter-productive, says Dr Stephan Singer, head of the organisation's climate and energy policy unit.

Meanwhile, the risks are huge for food manufacturers, according to Mark Lynch, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, who reckons that the rapid expansion of biofuels is bad news for food processors: "We estimate that to achieve a 20-80 biofuels/fossil fuel mix would use at least 87 per cent of current crop land in the UK. Even a more modest 5.75 per cent target would use 26 per cent."

Last week, Unilever suffered a sharp fall in its share price as investors took fright at signs of profit-margin erosion. The cause of the squeezed margin was additional investment in advertising and promotion as the company tried to push sales forward. The underlying problem was rising costs, including sharp increases in prices for edible oil, which wiped out all the savings the company had made in running the business.

Alan Jope, vice-president of Unilever, finds a curious irony in the emerging crisis over biofuels, which is making the company new friends in unusual places. "We find ourselves on the same side of the fence with NGOs that have been our critics in the past. This is about ethics, it is about public health and it is about sustainable agriculture."

Crops for fuel bolster agribusiness

AGRIBUSINESS companies are rushing to invest in a new market that links crops and the soaring demand for energy. Biodiesel manufacturers are thought to have used a fifth of the European Union rapeseed crop in 2004, while ethanol production used 1 per cent of EU sugar beet.

British Sugar, part of Associated British Foods, is building a 55,000-tonne ethanol plant in Wissington, Suffolk, that will use sugar beet as a feed stock. Argent Energy operates Britain's first biodiesel plant at Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, making 45,000 tonnes of fuel from used cooking oil and tallow. On Teesside, Biofuels Corporation aims to make 250,000 tonnes of diesel from vegetable oils. Greenergy is building a plant at Immingham, Lincolnshire, with a capacity of 100,000 tonnes of biodiesel using rapeseed.

The United States Government also backs the industry. It offers huge subsidies for the production of ethanol from corn.

Source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article1073074.ece

[PBN] ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF BIOFUEL SUPPORT POLOCIES

From: IISD Reporting Services (Linkages) - 05/08/2008

This report by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) indicates that biofuel production and use in OECD countries is highly dependent on public funding and government support measures such as tax concessions, direct financial support, minimum blending requirements and import tariffs. It also shows that emission savings from current biofuels are limited, while suggesting that related policies will lead to increases in food prices, which are estimated to amount to five percent for wheat, seven percent for maize and 19 percent for vegetable oils. The report recommends, among other measures, that governments focus on: policies to encourage lower energy consumption; redirecting support towards more efficient biofuels; and research and development for second generation biofuels that do not require commodity feedstocks.

The report can be acessed from the following link - http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/19/62/41007840.pdf

Source: http://www.iisd.ca/publications_resources/sust_devt.htm#fuelling

[PBN] Sustainable Biofuels

From: The Climate Group - June 2008

Attached - Tony Blair's climate initiative briefing paper from the UK's Royal Society on sustainable biofuels.

The attached report is also available from:
http://www.theclimategroup.org/assets/resources/Sustainable_Biofuels.pdf

Additional news on Tony Blairs "Breaking the Climate Deadlock" can be seen from the following link: http://www.theclimategroup.org/index.php/special_projects/breaking_the_climate_deadlock/

[ PBN] IIED & FAO Report: Fuelling exclusion? The biofuels boom and poor people's access to land

From: IIED newsletter - 22/07/2008.

The report, published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that biofuel production can also allow poor groups to increase their access to land and improve their livelihoods if the right policies are in place. It points out that all biofuels are not equal and recommends policies that would increase the social benefits biofuels production can bring to the rural poor in developing countries. "Despite the highly polarised debate, biofuels are not all good or bad," says lead author Lorenzo Cotula of IIED. "Biofuels can either help or harm the world's poor depending on the choice of crop and cropping system, the business model, and the local context and policies." Biofuel production is set to expand in the coming years despite growing concerns about the role of biofuels in mitigating climate change, promoting deforestation and taking land formerly used to produce food. Land rights The report shows that that large-scale biofuel production is affecting poor people's access to land in African countries such as Mozambique and Tanzania), and in Asia and the Pacific, where farmers in India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea are suffering. It is also having a negative in countries such as Colombia in Latin America. Elsewhere, however, small-scale farmers have been able to increase their access to land to seize opportunities that the biofuels boom brings. "Biofuels can benefit poor producers but only if they have secure land rights," says Cotula. "In many places the rush to produce biofuels takes place where local land rights are insecure, which results in poorer people losing out. What are often lacking are both adequate land laws and the local people's capacity to claim and secure their rights." The report shows that large and small-scale biofuels producers can co-exist, if governments and the private sector have the right policies and practices. African smallholders Commenting on the issue, IIED president, Camilla Toulmin, said "We must avoid treating all biofuels as equal in their environmental, social and economic impacts. As always the devil is in the detail. Cutting down rainforest to plant oil palm for biodiesel makes no sense if you want to save carbon and protect the livelihoods of local forest dwellers. But Brazil’s ethanol derived from rainfed sugarcane in the far southeast of the country makes a lot more sense. "Does biofuel production offer opportunities for smallholders in Africa to improve incomes and get a better return on their land and labour? After decades of falling prices for most agricultural commodities, rising prices are welcomed by many. Yet most smallholders are net food purchasers so lose out from price rises along with other consumers. The key issue is whether smallholders will be able to access high-profit markets and hold on to their land — which becomes more valuable by the minute as revenues from farming rise. This highlights the ever-more pressing need to help strengthen local rights to land and water resources so that agricultural growth brings benefits to the many not the few." The full report: 'Fuelling exclusion? The biofuels boom and poor people's access to land' is available as a free download (PDF 1Mb) "http://www.iied.org/pubs/pdfs/12551IIED.pdf"

Source: http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=3342

[PBN] DIGICEL PNG TO USE COCONUT FUEL TO POWER NETWORKS

From: PNG Post-Courier - 11/07/2008

Papua New Guinea could be the first country in the world to have its mobile phone networks powered by coconut fuel. Irish company, Digicel, is carrying out trials on Bougainville amid growing concerns about soaring fuel prices and global warming threats.

[PIR editor's note: Digicel Pacific is a sister company to Digicel Group, an aggressive mobile phone company that has been operating in the Caribbean since 2001. Digicel Pacific began operations in Samoa in 2006, recently in Tonga, and currently has licenses to operate in Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands (Digicel Fij's license has not yet been granted). The company claims to have driven mobile rates down by up to 50 percent in the Caribbean.]

The trials are being carried out at one of Digicel's towers in Lontis on the far north of Buka Island.

[PIR editor's note: Buka Island is located just off the northern tip of the autonomous Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville. Buka is the second largest island in the province of Bougainville]

Digicel began operations on Bougainville in March this year and contracted a Buka-based engineering firm owned by businessman Matthias Horn, to carry out the trials. The pilot project is expected to run for about three months.

Source: http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2008/July/07-11-02.htm

[PBN]: World Bank report: biofuel caused food crisis

From: The Guardian - 4/07/2008

An interesting article on biofuel and its effect on global food prices

by Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian UK, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy

[PBN] Fiji: Coconut Oil for Island Growth

From: The Fiji Times - 30/06/2008

THE National Strategic Committee on Bio-fuel intends to install coconut oil plants in the outer islands of Fiji this year as a way to develop sustainable economies in the islands.

Committee chairman Viliame Yabakivou said 80 per cent of the production of coconut was in the province of Cakaudrove and 20 per cent in the outer islands including Rotuma. Oil plants have been installed at Cicia and Lakeba in the Lau Group, with another two to be installed in Gau and Rotuma later this year.

As part of the bio-fuel developments in the country, Mr Yabakivou said the committee was also working on projects in the islands.

He said coconuts were available in the islands which were being processed for copra which had not fully benefited islanders because of the irregular shipping services to the islands.

"Sometimes the boat doesn't come and the quality of copra deteriorates," he said.

"For oil we can keep it a longer time than copra. This is why we're going towards this market."

Mr Yabakivou said issues relating to copra were raised at the district and provincial council meetings.

"The committee has already approached Copra Millers to buy oil from them, but what is needed is government assistance in terms of subsidy or a stabilisation fund to raise the price of oil from $1.30 to $2 a litre.

"$1.30 is not good enough. The recommended price would be around $2 to make it profitable. If that can be done the flow of oil from the islands will improve.

"The problem now is the down-stream processing of oil so we can move to soap making and also edible oil.

"This addresses policies regarding imports and substitutes for imports because we have been importing all these.

"In the island a bar of soap is $5.50 but if we can produce oil in the island the price will be a lot cheaper and the money will remain in the islands."

Source: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=93638

[PBN] Fiji: Bio-fuel to assist rural market

From: Fiji Times Online - 26/06/2008

Fijis move towards procuring energy from alternative sources has been encouraged as this will provide labour and development to the rural sector, says an expert.

Vilimone Vosarogo, a Bio-Fuel Engineer at the Department of Energy, said the quest to produce bio-fuel from crops will have a multiple effect as it will not only address the fuel crisis but will "generate a rural labour market".

Mr Vosarogo said the experimentation into procuring bio-fuel from renewable natural sources would require the engagement of the private sector, as it would need massive funds.

Other benefits like, generation of rural labour market, which will support and drive a rural sector economy, and rural sector developments are spin-offs to such development.

A national program such as this, which will definitely demand massive injection of funds and large investments by private sectors, has to be thoroughly researched and systematically mapped out, to avoid causing unnecessary side issues, he said.

Mr Vosarogo said addressing the fuel price issue would have a multiple effect on the economy because it would also tackle the rising cost of goods and services, which are intertwined with the cost of fuel.

It also addresses climatic change factors and generates foreign exchange revenue for the national purse, he said.

Source: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=93270

[PBN] Biofuel production on abandoned lands could meet 20% of global oil demand

From: Mahogony.com - 23/06/2008

Using abandoned agricultural lands for biofuel production will meet only a small fraction of global energy needs without compromising food supplies or diminishing biologically-rich habitats, reports a new study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

Using historical land-use data, satellite imaging, and ecosystem models, a team of researchers estimate that 4.7 million square kilometers (1.8 million square miles) of abandoned agricultural lands could be available for producing up to 2.1 billion tons of biomass from energy crops. The biomass would yield an energy content of about 41 exajoules or roughly 7 billion barrels of oil ­ about 8 percent of current worldwide energy demand or 20 percent of annual oil consumption.

Forest cover versus palm oil production in Indonesia.

The researchers say that the United States, Brazil, and Australia have the most extensive areas of abandoned crop and pasture lands, but that Africa could see the biggest gains ­ up to 37 times current energy consumption ­ from adopting bioenergy production. Nevertheless the research suggests that biofuels are not the panacea that some policymakers had hoped for meeting future global energy demand.

"Eastern North America has the largest area of abandoned croplands, and the Midwest has the biggest expanse of abandoned pastureland. Even so, if 100% of these lands were used for bioenergy, they would still only yield enough for about 6% of our national energy needs," said Elliot Campbell, lead author of the study and a research at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University.

"The popular reaction to the recent biofuels papers in Science has been to say that we could still go big with biofuels but along a sustainable path," he told mongabay.com. "The results in this paper warn that this sustainable path leads to a small amount of energy."

"Our study shows that there is clearly a potential for developing sustainable bioenergy, and we've been able to identify areas where biomass can be grown for energy, without endangering food security or making climate change worse," added Christopher Field, director of the Department of Global Ecology and a co-author. "But we can't count on bioenergy to be a dominant contributor to the global energy system over the next few decades. Expanding beyond its sustainable limits would threaten food security and have serious environmental impacts."

Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0623-biofuels.html

[PBN] NZ: Oil Company Relief at Biofuel Respite But Parliament's Support Uncertain

From: NZ Herald.Com - 24/06/2008

Oil companies are relieved at a watering-down of a proposed biofuel sales obligation, but the Government has yet to be assured of enough political support for legislation reported back to Parliament yesterday.

Although the Green Party has pledged keen support for new "sustainability" clauses of the Biofuel Bill recommended by the local government and environment select committee, National says it contains serious flaws and is promising strong opposition. It said the obligation could impose $240 million of costs on consumers for small, if any, environmental benefits.

New Zealand First and the Maori Party have yet to consider their positions, raising uncertainty over whether the Government will be able to pass the legislation, which National environmental spokesman Nick Smith said last night would open the door to unsustainable biofuel imports. Energy Minister David Parker said biofuels were likely to reduce costs while starting to "free New Zealand from the tyranny of the international oil market".

Despite fear expressed by Dr Smith that imported bioethanol from Brazilian sugarcane would indirectly displace Amazon rainforest, Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said sustainability clauses proposed as additions to the bill would be "the strictest in the world".

These included stipulating no biofuels could be included in the proposed mandate unless they produced at least 35 per cent less carbon dioxide than petroleum fuels.

A majority report of the select committee has proposed that a biofuel obligation of 0.5 per cent of transport fuel sales by energy content be imposed on October 1, to be ramped up by 0.5 per cent a year until reaching 2.5 per cent in 2012. The bill's original draft proposed a regime starting at 0.53 per cent on July 1, and rising to 3.4 per cent.

BP Oil said that would have meant adding ethanol to 90 per cent of its petrol, and tallow or some similar biofuel feedstock to 30 per cent of diesel, at a potential extra cost of 7c a litre across its business.

The select committee report acknowledged one industry estimate that biodiesel could be 6c more expensive, but said it had also been told that a 10 per cent bioethanol blend could make petrol 4c cheaper on the basis of rising oil costs. Although that would not include infrastructure costs, it put these at between 0.2c and 0.4c a litre.

A minority report from National has picked a "mid-range" cost figure of 4c a litre as its assessment, which it says would amount to an annual cost of $240 million to the economy.

BP spokeswoman Diana Stretch, while welcoming the reduced target as being more practicable to achieve, said her company would have to recalculate its cost projections before commenting on these.

Sharon Buckland of Chevron (Caltex) said her company strongly supported moves to biofuels, but was concerned that the start of the proposed sales mandate in October would precede regulations setting sustainability standards by at least nine months. That would make it difficult to enter into long-term supply agreements.

The Biofuel Manufacturers' Association fears the oil industry may lock itself into supply chains of imports before a local industry has a proper chance of establishing itself.

Spokesman Dickon Posnett said the select committee had done "some good work" on ensuring any biofuels would be sustainable and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But he said a 42c a litre tax exemption on bioethanol, by not covering biodiesel made from domestic sources such as tallow, would encourage oil companies to bypass local producers and rely on imported fuel pending an excise review recommended by the committee for 2010.

Dr Smith said that meant importing Brazilian sugarcane, which he understood was displacing canola and pastoral farming, driving those land uses further into Amazonian rainforest.

He accused the Government and the Green Party of ignoring a plea by Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright to scrap the law before New Zealand's clean and green image was tarnished.

Dr Wright was unavailable for comment but Ms Fitzsimons said an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority-commissioned report had found that Brazilian sugarcane had no adverse effects on rainforest.

BIOFUEL TARGET
* Was 3.4% by 2012
* Now 2.5% by 2012

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10517964&pnum=0

[PBN]Fiji: Ethanol, food security linked

From: Fiji Times online - 22/08/2008

FOOD security is not only about production but affordability and accessibility, says national committee on bio-fuel deputy chairman, Aliki Turagakula.

Mr Turagakula said the establishment of an ethanol plant would provide an alternative to fresh cassava through cassava flour which is processed after starch is extracted from cassava tubers for ethanol.

He said affordability is when people have the purchasing power to buy the food they want.

"When they grow cassava they get $10,000 per hectare of cassava. So their purchasing power increases. They have the power to purchase whatever food they want," he said.

"It's also about accessibility. We have access to buy more food because of the income generated from ethanol.

"The product we produce at the factory after we extract the starch still has protein which is ground into cassava flour. So that is an addition and cheaper food source to supplement expansive flour made from wheat."

He said the committee was trying to address the importance of reducing costs on fossil fuels and the Kyoto Protocol.

Mr Turagakula said by 2015 Fiji must reduce its green house gas emission by 50 per cent.

He said the Government has put in place an energy policy.

"This year we are required to increase the proportion of use of bio fuel by 10 per cent and reduce the cost of fuel to 90 per cent. Next year it will be 80 to 20. So by 2015 it should be up to almost 40 per cent."

Source: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=92884

[PBN] Brussels: EU to assess impacts of biofuels on food supply

From: MNN - 21/08/2008

European Union (EU) leaders called on Friday (20/08/2008) to assess the impacts of using biofuels on soaring food prices.

There was a need to "rapidly assess possible impacts on agricultural products for food and to take action, if necessary, to address shortcomings," EU leaders said in a conclusion after seeking solutions to high food prices at a two-day summit.

With food crops like corn increasingly used for production of biofuels, the cleaner transport fuel has been widely blamed for the present food price hike, which ignited social unrest in some poor African and Asian countries.

"Further assessment should also be made of the environmental and social consequences of the production, and consumption of biofuels, both within the EU and outside," they said.

It was the first time that EU leaders decided to check their ambitious plan of promoting biofuels. They politically agreed one year ago to make biofuels account for 10 percent of EU's fuel consumption by 2020 in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emission and dependence on oil.

"It is important to ensure the sustainability of bio-fuel policies, by setting sustainability criteria for the production of first-generation bio-fuels and by encouraging the development of the second-generation bio-fuels made from by-products," they said.

Source: http://www.mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=595913

[PBN]New technologies promise biofuel 'plan B'

From: Issue 2661 of New Scientist magazine, 18/06/2008, page 30-31 - 18/06/2008

TEN years ago, running your car on biofuels meant covertly topping up your tank with chip fat. Now petrol is routinely mixed with ethanol made from corn, and diesel with squeezed rape, oil palm and soya. The current generation of biofuels was rushed onto the market in response to escalating concern in Europe about climate change, and in the US about energy security. But almost before the biofuels industry has got going, it has run into major problems. It has swiftly become a victim of its own success, gobbling up land and water in a way that has frightened the world.

The charge sheet grows by the month. Biofuels are crowding out conventional crops and raising food prices. The corn required to fill an SUV tank with bioethanol just once could feed someone in Africa for a year. What's more, the environmental benefits are uncertain. In theory the growing crops soak up as much carbon dioxide as is made burning them. But in practice, the cultivation and processing of corn in particular takes a large amount of energy, resulting in additional greenhouse gas emissions that can cancel out this benefit. Cultivating soya or oil palm can also add to global warming if the crops are grown on former rainforest land or drained peat bogs.

Thankfully though, we now have a plan B, in the form of second-generation biofuels made from inedible plant material that can be grown on unused land or, even better, from plant or organic waste such as corn straw, wood chips or the contents of landfill. The theory is that such material will not require cultivation and therefore will have low carbon emissions. In recent weeks work has begun on several pilot plants aimed at bringing these fuels to a forecourt near you.

The big money at the moment is going into cellulosic ethanol - ethanol made from the bits of plants we cannot eat. Edible starch, the stuff currently turned into bioethanol, makes up only a small proportion of the total biomass of plants. Most biomass is a woody, indigestible mixture of lignin and cellulose, bound up in plant cell walls. Lignin will burn, but has so far defied efforts to convert it into liquid fuel. But cellulose, like starch, is made up of long chains of glucose that can be fermented to make ethanol. The bad news is that separating cellulose from lignin and breaking it down into its component sugars is still far more difficult and expensive than doing the same to starch. The cost of producing cellulosic ethanol from corn, for instance, is currently 50 per cent higher than for making bioethanol from starch.

Finding ways to cut those costs is the number 1 priority for biofuels technologists, and hundreds of millions of dollars are being devoted to the task. In the US alone there are 30 projects in the pipeline to develop cellulosic ethanol "biorefineries", with half a dozen of these dipping into a government development fund worth $385 million. Essentially the job is to hydrolyse the cellulose, or break it down into its sugars using water. The task requires either a chemical catalyst like acid or a biological catalyst, usually an enzyme. The biomass is first treated to dissolve the lignin, and after hydrolysis, the resulting sugars are fermented with brewer's yeast to create ethanol.

Last month, the first biorefinery designed to demonstrate the technology opened in Jennings, Louisiana. It will process bagasse - what's left of sugar cane after the sugar has been squeezed out of it. The company behind the project, Verenium of Cambridge, Massachusetts, says it is processing the bagasse using its own proprietary enzymes and will build a commercial plant next year.

It may not be the first, though. Genencor, in Rochester, New York, makes industrial enzymes and, in April, the company announced plans with chemicals giant DuPont to build a similar plant using corn husks and bagasse as feedstock. Companies aiming to convert cellulose into ethanol using the chemical process are not far behind. This technology dates back to the 1920s, when German chemists developed the Fischer-Tropsch process, which turns coal into gas and then a liquid fuel by pyrolysis - heating in the absence of oxygen.

Now the process could get a new lease of life turning cellulose into biofuels. In April, Colorado-based Range Fuels announced plans to build a plant to pyrolyse logging waste and then pass the resulting "syngas" over a proprietary catalyst to convert it into ethanol. However, the costs remain high for both methods. The chemical process is energy intensive, while the enzymes used in the biological approach are costly and inefficient, slowly converting less than half of the available biomass to alcohol.

In a bid to reduce the cost of the biological process, Mascoma of Boston has hooked up with General Motors to build a pilot plant in Rome, New York, that will deploy microorganisms to both convert switchgrass cellulose into sugar and ferment it, in a single and therefore cheaper step. The technology is based on research into the use of cellulose-converting organisms, such as the bacterium Clostridium thermocellum, by Lee Lynd and Charles Wyman at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The plant is set to begin producing bioethanol later this year.

Meanwhile other companies are investigating the use of genetically engineered microbes to improve the efficiency of the process and bring down its cost. The Canadian biotech firm Iogen, a specialist enzyme manufacturer and long-time pioneer of cellulosic ethanol technologies, has been genetically engineering tropical fungus to make enzymes that will eat straw. Other researchers believe bacteria in the guts of termites, which have had millions of years of practice at eating wood, could fit the bill. And Craig Venter, the genome-sequencing pioneer, has been collecting marine microorganisms with the aim of building new bacteria from scratch to produce the perfect enzyme.

In parallel with these developing technologies, researchers are also engineering the crops themselves for better yield, easier processing and lower environmental impact. Some are busy trying to make plants with less lignin, others are working to create cellulose that can be broken down more easily. This research raises concerns for environmentalists. Many believe that all the talk of cutting the environmental impact of biofuels by processing waste biomass will wither away as crops designed for cellulosic ethanol manufacture come on stream, leaving us back where we started.

Technologists counter that much less energy should be burned up in making second-generation fuels. Also, some biofuel plants will burn the lignin left behind when the cellulose has been liberated, providing energy for the production process. The feedstock is also either farm waste or weeds, neither of which require the use of harmful pesticides or fertilisers.So which approach will win out? There may be no single winner, says Ross MacLachlan of Canadian company Lignol Energy, which wants to use Canada's forests to make ethanol. "There will be a lot of technologies out there. Any of them will be appropriate for different feedstocks and in different parts of the world."

Source: http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/mg19826616.100

[PBN] Biofuel and global biodiversity

From: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, April 2008

This paper, written by D. Keeney and C. Nanninga, analyzes how biofuels are changing land-use patterns in many regions around the world. The paper suggests that the impacts of biofuels are more symptomatic of inappropriate agricultural production systems and policies, and recommends protecting native ecosystems and indigenous lands, making sustainability a priority for all biofuel production, and taking advantage of this opportunity to redesign the agricultural and energy sectors.

The paper can be sourced from the following link: http://www.agobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=102584