Biofuels not responsible for food crisis?

[Karl]

2008-04-26, 07:55:00

NEW DELHI: Speculative buying rather than diversion of food crops and oil seeds for biofuels has resulted in skyrocketing commodity prices, according to an analytical firm. F O Licht opined that reports blaming increased biofuels production for the present food grain crisis are exaggerated and the share of oil seeds and grains in the total global usage for biofuels is limited.

In 2007, 4.5% of global grain usage was to make fuel alcohol and 3.3% in 2006. However, once animal feed biofuel co-products are factored in, those figures fall to 3% for 2007 and 2.2% for 2006, F.O. Licht said.

The price increases in wheat, corn and oil seeds over the past year could be due to speculative buying and higher energy costs for agricultural production. Increases in prices were also due to “the often-repeated assumption that the expanding biofuels sector was boosting these markets,” F.O. Licht said. However, the report added the influence of biodiesel on the global vegetable oil market was more significant, with some 5.9% of total supplies used to make biodiesel, up from 3.7% in 2006.

Source: Biofuels not responsible for food crisis: report

[Karl]

Ethanol Producer Magazine – April 2008 Issue

Data compiled and recently released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that the United States increased its imports of fuel ethanol in January. Imports dipped from 985,000 barrels in October 2007 to 380,000 barrels in November, to the year’s lowest figures – 198,000 barrels in December. However, imports rebounded to 495,000 barrels, nearly 21 million gallons, in January.

The majority of the imported fuel came from countries in the Caribbean and Central America. According to the EIA, Jamaica led with exports totaling 204,000 barrels, followed by Costa Rica exporting 128,000 barrels. Trinidad & Tobago exported 97,000 barrels, El Salvador exported 63,000 barrels, followed by Canada with 2,000 barrels and Brazil with 1,000 barrels.

ConocoPhillips, which brought in 128,000 barrels from Costa Rica, had the highest import ethanol figure among companies. Shell, which imported two shipments of ethanol from Jamaica, was second with a total of 109,000 barrels; Cargill imported 95,000 barrels from Jamaica; Vitol SA Inc. imported its 63,000 barrels from El Salvador; and CHS Inc., purchased all of the ethanol reportedly exported into the United States from Canada.

Source: Ethanol Producer Magazine

[Karl]

Fri May 2, 2008 9:27pm IST

(Read Full Article: ANALYSIS-Ethanol loses halo but still has U.S. support | Markets | Reuters)

Soaring food prices have shaken U.S. politicians' love affair with ethanol, but lawmakers are unlikely to adjust mandates for a five-fold boost in biofuel until after the November presidential election.

Renewable fuels made from corn and other crops were once seen as the panacea for an impending U.S. energy crunch, both in Congress and the White House. But cattle, hog and chicken farmers who have seen feed prices skyrocket, as well as grocery store chains and restaurants, have sought to cast the fuel as the political boogeyman for soaring prices at the supermarket.

Some U.S. politicians are now calling for Congress to rethink legislation it passed last year that would require U.S. gasoline supply to include 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022. At least one U.S. senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), is seeking to freeze the mandate at 2008 levels of 9 billion gallons. That's after the governor of Texas -- whose state is the biggest U.S. cattle producer -- asked the federal government to waive half of its mandated ethanol requirement for 2008.

[Karl]

Sat, 03 May 2008 14:13:43

(Read Full Article: Press TV - Bush defends ethanol as energy source)

US President George W. Bush has defended his emphasis on ethanol despite the corn-based biofuel's contribution to increasing food prices. Bush made the comment at a question-and-answer session with employees of a high-tech manufacturer on Friday saying, "As you know, I'm an ethanol person. It makes sense for America to be growing energy."

Bush has been promoting the use of ethanol, which is largely made from corn, to alleviate the nation's shortage of domestically produced energy; however, critics have focused on the new demand for corn as a factor in driving up food prices. He acknowledged that ethanol has contributed to higher food prices, but said it was not the main reason.

Bush also blamed Congress for blocking efforts to allow Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling saying, 'If Congress is truly interested in helping relieve the price of gasoline,' it would recognize that the country needs to drill for oil and gas in areas that have been off-limits mostly for environmental reasons and would encourage the construction of oil refineries.

[Karl]

AFP, 2 June 2008 –

With its prodigious farm exports and its major industry making ethanol from sugarcane, Brazil is seeking to show that in the food versus biofuel debate at least in its case the two can co-exist. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has challenged critics who claim biofuel production is contributing to high food prices and demand, arguing the problem lies instead in poor agricultural and distribution models.

"It is not ethanol that is causing food prices to rise, because Brazil, which produces more biofuel also produces more food," he has said. That view has support among government analysts. The food crisis "is a problem of wealth distribution, a political problem," said Giselle Ferreira de Araujo, who works for the state National Council for Scientific and Technological Development.

Renato Maluf, the head of the government's food safety agency, said the demand driving up food prices is largely coming from China, India and other emerging economies. But the high price of gas, which has raised transportation costs, as well as poor harvests in some parts of the world, and "speculation on food products" were also to blame, he said. The United States had helped trigger the fears of biofuel production affecting food output by "confusing public opinion to suggest there is no difference between ethanol from sugarcane and from corn," argued Rubens Ricupero, a former head of the UN Conference on Trade and Development. Brazil's use of sugarcane for biofuel does not replace food crops, its supporters argue, whereas the US use of corn to make its ethanol does.

Biofuel has also won backing from some environmental groups, including the WWF, which sees the carburant as a renewable energy source that can address growing worldwide demand for power. The WWF estimates that demand for ethanol will reach 100 billion liters by 2012, and that the United States, the biggest producer, will provide 42% of that. The WWF did note, however, that sugarcane fields tended to occupy areas once given over to cattle-raising, and even though it rated that factor as insignificant, it did warn that some ancillary effect of displaced ranchers moving into the Amazon, contributing to deforestation, could occur.

Full Article: World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

Related: Its2hot.in - Discuss hot to handle topixx !!!.............................

[Karl]

Some of the explanations offered by the authorities of Brazil regarding the lack of impact of Brazilian biofuels on food prices, biodiversity and related issues (based on recent news reports), include:

1) "Relative stability of sugar prices"

2) "Sugar cane plantations 2000 km away from rainforests"

It is easy to accept explanations that US corn-derived bio-ethanol having a much larger effect on food prices than sugar cane, in the present shorter-term scenario. But at what scale does this remain true? Increased demands over time for bioethanol from current sources will inevitable have an effect on sugar, further to which increased demand for sugar cane plantations will also increase the competition for additional land resources (still under forest cover). But then again, the shrinking or receding boundaries of where the forest "begins" may very well be the reason for the plantations remaining spatially remote from the forest...

Related: Don't blame Brazilian biofuels - guardian.co.uk - World of Renewables

[rvanderlely]

Biofuels seem like an insanity to me. If we had already exhaused all other possible sources of energy generation then perhaps looking at food-capable producing land as a source of fuel might be the way forward. But in reality we have vast areas of otherwise useless surface that could be converted into solar collectors such as rooves and deserts.

The decline in the availability of fossil fuels will also have a major impact on food prices in the short and medium term. All our major production is geared around fossil fuel energy and this needs to be addressed immediately by changing our power sources to renewable energy. The price of fossil fuels will then be removed from the equation of food pricing.

Biofuel definitely has its place such as for individual farms supplementing their fuel supply. ON the whole though it cannot compare with the promise of clean energy from sources such as solar and wind power.

Roger from Solar Power Facts - Information For A Brighter Future

[Karl]

Originally Posted by rvanderlely

Biofuels seem like an insanity to me. If we had already exhaused all other possible sources of energy generation then perhaps looking at food-capable producing land as a source of fuel might be the way forward.

...

Biofuel definitely has its place such as for individual farms supplementing their fuel supply. ON the whole though it cannot compare with the promise of clean energy from sources such as solar and wind power.

The problem is not so much the idea of biofuels in itself, but more the source of the material…

Related:

Ethanol Production: Not Just a Corn Thing

Integrated Food–Energy Systems (IFES)

Biomass Energy – Sustainable Solution to Livestock Wastes?

LoveFM News and Music Power - Belize News Source and Radio Station

Biomass Magazine

[Karl]

EU to look at how biofuels affect food output

International Herald Tribune – June 20, 2008

European Union leaders planned Friday to call for study on how Europe's use of more biofuels might affect global food production. Food crops such as wheat are being increasingly used to make biofuels as Europe and the United States turn to cleaner transport fuel to cut greenhouse gas emissions and their growing dependence on imported oil. But this trend has helped bread and tortilla prices soar around the world.

The EU's 27 nations said in a draft statement they will approve Friday that they needed to assess "the environmental and social consequences of the production and consumption of biofuels both within the Union and outside." There is also a need to rapidly assess possible impacts on agricultural products for food and to take action, if necessary, to address shortcomings," they said.

Development campaigners warn that the biofuel boom may encourage farmers in poorer nations to use their land for more lucrative energy crops instead of producing food. A U.N. report warned last year that high commodity prices could last throughout the decade as more maize, wheat, rapeseed and sugar is turned into fuel. EU leaders will also call for environmental standards for the current wave of biofuels — such as biodiesel made from palm oil and bioethanol from sugarcane. Environmentalists say producing some of these biofuels requires a lot of energy — generating more carbon dioxide overall than they save when burned in car engines. They also worry that high prices for the crops will see virgin rainforest turned over to farmland.

This is the first time that EU nations have tackled criticisms of their goal to replace 10% of its transport fuel with biofuels by 2020. That target depends heavily on the biofuel industry introducing second-generation fuels, such as ethanol made from wood chips or straw. Still in development, these fuels should emit far less CO2 and cost less because they are based on cheap raw materials instead of valuable food crops such as wheat or corn.

Source: EU to look at how biofuels affect food output - International Herald Tribune

Related:

Biofuels drive up food prices: Bodman and Scafer (The Big Biofuels Blog)

allAfrica.com: South Africa: Govt Rules Out Maize as a Source for Biofuels (Page 1 of 1)

Business Feed Article | Business |

[rvanderlely]

It still baffles me that we have sufficient technology to supply energy globally without biofuels, oil or coal and we are not doing so.

Of course, the dollar is reason, and our selfish desires.

I guess they are what really baffles me. I only hope that we have a kind of awakening. Maybe $3 per litre for petrol will help that, or perhaps running out of it all together. Both of these are not unlikely in the near future.

Roger from Green Planet Solar Energy