Des Moines Register
10-18-07
New tensions accompany promise of alternative fuels
Biofuels bring hope, but problems follow from the Amazon to Asia to Latin
America
By LYNN HICKS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
First came the boom. Now, the backlash.
Biofuels have gotten a bad name around the globe, despite their ability to reduce
oil use.
Whether the blame is fair or not, a negative image could limit the potential to
create more environmentally beneficial fuels, experts say.
Biofuels appear at the root of examples of environmental and humanitarian
abuses around the world:
- Scientist Jane Goodall says the rush to grow biofuels is threatening primate
habitat in Uganda and Indonesia.
- Brazil is trying to crack down on near-slave labor conditions that have helped
keep down the cost of ethanol production.
- Paramilitary groups are forcing peasants from their land in Colombia to make
room for palm oil plantations, raising the specter of "blood biofuels."
These problems and others mean the biofuels boom could lead to unrest and
uprising in some nations, one study says.
The dark side of biofuels could potentially overshadow their positive effects, said
Raya Widenoja, biofuels researcher with the Worldwatch Institute, an
environmental group. Benefits include cooling an overheating climate and
boosting developing economies.
"Biofuels do have the potential to herald in a brighter, more sustainable future - if
they are developed wisely," she said.
Widenoja and others worry the biofuels backlash could threaten that future if
public outcry persuades politicians to cut research money or projects. Funding is
critical to develop the next generation of biofuels. Ethanol from sources other
than corn and soybeans could address some of the negative aspects, Widenoja
said.
"It would be rather unfortunate if the public stopped supporting anything to do
with biofuels. It would mean we lose the chance to develop high potential and
sustainable energy sources," she said.
The problems aren't limited to Third World nations. Corn ethanol production
requires the burning of fossil fuels, and threatens water quality and availability,
according to a new study by the National Academy of Sciences.
"What we do here triggers impacts around the world," including raising the price
of grain, said Chad Hart, an agriculture economist at Iowa State University.
Widenoja said biofuels have intensified agricultural methods that rely on a single
crop and damage the environment through fertilizer and pesticide use. These
practices also perpetuate "social injustices that tend to keep rural areas poor,
agricultural laborers exploited and poor migrants flooding to cities in search of a
better life," she said.
She cited a list of problems, from deforestation in Asia to the growth of the fishery
dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, caused in part by nitrogen fertilizers that flow
from the Midwest down the Mississippi River.
"But these are all typical agriculture/commodity industry problems. ... Biofuel
producers and consumers haven't invented them, they just haven't solved them,"
she said.
A July study by Jane's Intelligence Review, a British analytical firm, said the
demand for biofuels could lead to tensions in Southeast Asia, Latin America and
other areas as armed groups compete for land and water resources.
The demand "could also expose governments to rising social unrest, as food
prices rise and poorer members of society reap few benefits from the new
'wondercrop'," wrote Anna Gilmour, an analyst for Jane's.
Blaming biofuels may be fashionable, but the issues aren't simple.
For example, the demand for palm and other vegetable oils has damaged
rainforests and other areas, Hart said. But biofuels are only one factor in that
demand. China, India and other rapidly growing nations are consuming more
vegetable oils in their diets, he said.
Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Program, has warned Brazil to
prevent ethanol demand from threatening the Amazon. U.S. and Brazilian
officials say it is a misconception that biofuels are destroying the rainforest.
Widenoja said expanding soybean production for feed and cattle ranching is
more to blame than biofuels for eating away the Cerrado savannah and the
edges of the Amazon.
Hart and Widenoja agreed that governments, biofuels producers and others can
foster better, more sustainable biofuels by encouraging:
New feedstocks: Most ethanol is made from two crops: corn and sugarcane.
Most biodiesel is made from soy or palm oil. Scientists are studying the energy
potential for plant life not considered a crop, such as algae.
Widenoja said policies should discourage the use of palm oil, because many
nations can't stop growers from destroying tropical rainforests. She called
cassava, which is used in some areas to produce biofuels, "a ridiculously low
potential oil crop."
New fuels: Other biofuels may hold greater promise than ethanol. DuPont and
BP plan to produce butanol from sugar beets in Great Britain. The fuel can be
transported by pipeline - reducing energy consumption - and can offer better fuel
economy than ethanol, the companies say.
"I hope people don't get hung up on ethanol and think that's the only biofuel you
can create," Hart said.
Cellulosic: Ethanol from biomass - switchgrass, cornstalks, wood waste and
other plant matter - would answer many critics' concerns about corn ethanol.
"The great thing about cellulosic ethanol is that it can be developed so that land
will remain valuable and farmers can profit from growing food or fuel - and the
fuel sources can be grown in a much more sustainable way than the food crops
have been grown traditionally," Widenoja said.
Subsistence farmers would increase incomes and improve farming practices, she
said, and land- and labor-rich developing countries could export biofuels and
boost economies.
Subsidies for sustainability: An ethanol plant fueled by coal gets the same
subsidy as one powered by a renewable source, such as methane. Hart said if
politicians want to encourage sustainability, they could base incentives on how
much a distiller reduces greenhouse gases.
Widenoja called for criteria to rate biofuels. One example: No subsidies would go
to biodiesel from a palm oil plantation that replaced rainforest and orangutan
habitat.
Executive Business Editor Lynn Hicks can be reached at (515) 284-8290 or
lhicks@dmreg.com