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WASHINGTON, DC, US, June 14, 2006 (Refocus
Weekly)
The use of ethanol and biodiesel can
“significantly reduce global dependence on oil,” according to a
report from the Worldwatch Institute and the German Agencies for
Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and Renewable Resources (FNR).
Last year, daily global production of green fuels surpassed
670,000 barrels, equivalent to 1% of the world’s market for
transportation fuel, explains ‘Biofuels for Transportation: Global
Potential & Implications for Sustainable Agriculture & Energy in the
21st Century.’ Oil accounts for 96% of transport fuel, but
production of biofuels has doubled since 2001 and “is poised for
even stronger growth as the industry responds to higher fuel prices
and supportive government policies.”
“Coordinated action to expand biofuel markets and advance new
technologies could relieve pressure on oil prices while
strengthening agricultural economies and reducing climate-altering
emissions,” says Christopher Flavin of Worldwatch.
The report assesses the opportunities and risks associated with
large-scale development of biofuels, and includes information from
existing studies on biofuel use in Brazil, China, Germany, India and
Tanzania. Brazil is the world leader in green fuels, with half its
crop of sugar cane providing 40% of its non-diesel transport fuel.
In the United States, where 15% of the corn crop provides 2% of the
non-diesel transport fuel, ethanol production is growing even more
rapidly and this growth may allow the U.S. to overtake Brazil as the
world leader this year.
Both countries are producing ethanol at less than the current cost
of gasoline, and biofuels could provide 37% of U.S. transport fuel
within the next 25 years, and 75% if automobile fuel economy
doubles, the report explains. Biofuels could replace 20% to 30% of
the oil used in the European Union during the same time frame.
The large-scale use of biofuels carries significant agricultural and
ecological risks, and it is “essential that government incentives be
used to minimize competition between food and fuel crops and to
discourage expansion onto ecologically valuable lands,” explains
project manager Suzanne Hunt of Worldwatch. “The report also finds
that biofuels have the potential to increase energy security, create
new economic opportunities in rural areas, and reduce local
pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases.”
The long-term potential for green fuels is in non-food feedstock
that includes agricultural, municipal, and forestry wastes, as well
as fast-growing cellulose-rich energy crops such as switchgrass. The
combination of cellulosic biomass resources and ‘next-generation
biofuel conversion technologies’ will compete with conventional
gasoline and diesel fuel without subsidies in the medium term, the
report predicts.
The report recommends that biofuel policies should focus on market
development based on sound fiscal incentives and support for private
investment, infrastructure development, and the building of
transportation fleets that are able to use the new fuels. It is
critical to expedite the transition to the next generation of
biofuel feedstock and technologies, which will allow for
dramatically increased production at lower cost, while minimizing
environmental impacts.
Maintaining soil productivity, water quality and other ecosystem
services is essential, it cautions, and environmental sustainability
principles and certification systems are important for protecting
resources as well as maintaining public trust in the merits of
biofuels. Continued rapid growth of biofuels will require
development of a true international market in green fuels, which is
not impeded by trade restrictions.
The World Bank says biofuel industries require 100 times more
workers per unit of energy produced than the fossil fuel industry,
and the ethanol industry is credited with providing 200,000 jobs in
the U.S. and 500,000 direct jobs in Brazil. Energy crops have the
potential to reduce GHG emissions by more than 100% (relative to
petroleum fuels) because crops also sequester carbon in the soil as
they grow.
“Despite controversy about the energy balance of biofuels, there is
an emerging consensus that all common biofuels contain more useful
energy than is required to produce them,” the report explains. “Corn
ethanol has been particularly controversial, but its average energy
balance now clearly exceeds one, thanks to improved energy
efficiency in both agriculture and ethanol refining. In the future,
the type of processing energy used will be more relevant: a biofuel
plant that uses biomass energy will contribute far more to reducing
GHG emissions than one that uses coal energy.”
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