How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor

A thought provoking article related to how the recent craze for developing ethanol alternatives to gasoline places undo pressure on global foodstocks.

http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20070501faessay86305-p0/c-ford-runge-benjamin-senauer/how-biofuels-could-starve-the-poor.html

Commentary:

Although there is no doubt that ethanol is a viable alternative to gasoline, it is not the panacea that some folks would have you believe. For one thing, you can not co-mingle ethanol and petroleum within the existing petroleum distribution network. Ethanol is corrosive, and leads to pipeline degradation. Thus, it will require a massive secondary distribution network to provide supply to service stations. That's expensive.

As of now, ethanol is distributed by tanker truck and the "Bulk Transporter" website states that demand for tankers to carry ethanol has been robust:

http://bulktransporter.com/management/trends/economy_flattens_tank_fleets_rolling/

Additionally, ethanol contains fewer BTU/gal than gasoline, meaning you require more of it to perform the same amount of work (that's lower MPG for the laymen commuters out there)

So, why are we so intent on pushing the ethanol alternative? Votes, my friend.. Votes. Someone has to grow the sugar-rich crops used for making ethanol. And ethanol stands to make the nation's farmers very happy, and prosperous, indeed.

But is there an alternative to ethanol? An alternative that possesses comparable BTU/gal energy, can be transported in the existing petroleum supply network, and can be co-mingled easily with petroleum derived fuels?

Yes.. It's called bio-diesel. Some people also call it vegetable oil, peanut oil.. ;0)

But wait Scrutinizer!! Won't that just cause the price of my favorite jar of Skippy (I'm a JIF man myself) to go through the roof? Will my local pub stop giving away peanuts for free while I'm enjoying my brewskie? God forbid!!

But if you click on the link to the left, Oilgae, you'll find your answer. A potentially unlimited source of bio-diesel that does NOT impact the current food chain. A source of fuel that not only can operate diesel motor vehicles (with almost no modification required), but can also be used as winter fuel oil (I'll get to the importance of this in a second).

Here's a useful link I've often referenced in the past:

http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html

Now, I know we all love our gasoline power vehicles.. And boy.. those diesels are dirty and noisy.. But is this really the case? Has the technology advanced sufficiently to give diesels the kind of responsiveness we expect from gas powered engines?

Furthermore, as I mentioned it before, another plus factor is that diesel engine's disadvantages in terms of output and noise have been largely overcome, with the latest diesels offering a performance not markedly different from that of gasoline engines in this respect.

http://www.isuzu.co.jp/world/technology/randd/project2/03.html

The whole argument for bio-fuels lies in the belief that they are "carbon neutral". In other words, they maintain the balance of CO2 in the atmosphere, whereas fossil fuels release CO2 that has been sequestered for eons in the form of petroleum far underground. Since plants take in CO2 for transpiration (making food), and releasing, any CO2 that would be released by converting them to bio-fuels would maintain the CO2 balance.

Now, the Scrutinizer is not convinced of the "inconvenient truth" of global climate change due to CO2 increases. There are far more powerful greenhouse gases lurking out there, including Methane (up to 23x more potent than CO2) and common water vapor (think sauna). But who am I to argue with the these folks if it serves the purpose of making this country more energy independent and less dependent upon whacko suppliers in Venezuela and the Mid-East?

Furthermore, CO2 increases are a trailing indicator of global warming, not a leading indicator. And it's quite possible that there exist other factors that are responsible for higher CO2 levels in the atmosphere, including natural emissions (volcanic), deforestation, and changes within the oceans that decrease it's ability to sequester CO2 (lack of phytoplankton) which I might discuss in a future posting.

But there is one compelling argument for bio-diesels that directly impact each of our pocketbooks. We're all suffering under the recent soaring prices for gasoline in recent months. The primaries reasons for this are limited refining capacity within the US, as well as increasing global demand for refined petroleum products in China and other countries. All petroleum is a fungible international market and the price for fuels and crude oil is set on an international level (modified by currency exchange ratios as with the recent weakness in the US Dollar).

But the most severe impact on the price of gasoline is the limited refining capacity. Refineries have two primary markets they serve throughout the year. During the summer driving season, refineries emphasize the production of gasoline, while during the winter, they focus upon refining heating oil (diesel). In between these seasons, refineries are required to shut down operations in order to facilitate the processing changes required for switching between these two fuel. This normally occurs during the late winter, and early spring, depending upon the amount of reserve fuel in above ground storage as well as demand (harsh winters draw down available diesel stocks). And since there hasn't been a new refinery built in the US in 30 years, we're seeing a choke point in the production of refined fuels.

But were we to rely upon bio-diesels to provide the bulk of that winter demand, then refineries would not be required to switch to meet the demands of the two different markets. They could focus on producing gasoline, and eventually, be rendered obsolete as the majority of vehicles are converted to bio-diesel.

In sum, switching the American economy to an alternative fuel is a major undertaking and will create economic distortions. In order to decrease any negative impacts that might lead to the inflation of agricultural products, we must think carefully about the direction we wish to go with regard to replacing fossil fuel based energy. Thus, my preference is for bio-diesel (as well as hydrogen and electric). Ethanol is far too valuable for it's medicinal purposes (mixed with my favorite fruit based mixer) to be burned in an engine.

The Scrutinizer