permaculture

["IPCP" <florar@terra.com.br>]

Hi All

Maybe a few figures in this one, from Brasil - the future supplier of 
biodeisel for USA !!!!!! (or so Lula thinks).

Our Illustriaous president ses Bushes 20% biofuel use by 2017 as a great 
money making venture. He thinks that Brasil could possibly supply up to half 
what USA needs, by 2017.

Only the numbers are difficult. Given current production rates, and the 
conversion rates into biodeisel we will have to convert 36% of thye 
brasilian landmass into one big soybean farm!!!!!

Or maybe a big cane filed to make alcohol. (sugarcane is an insidious crop - 
severe contamination of water, air and the exploitation of men working under 
conditions of semi-slavery).

And to get all those hectares of soy, or cane we would have to cut down a 
few forrests. Think of this - cut and burn a hectare of amazonian forest = 
release approx 500-600 tonnes carbon into the atmosphere. Then we bring in 
tractors, agrotoxics, harvestors, trucks, processing plants = release of 
10 - 15 tonnes of carbon per hectare. Then wesend it to USA, where they burn 
it, thus reducing THEIR carbon emmisions by 10 tonnes for each hectare that 
Brasil cut and burnt.   Creating 500-600+ tonnes of carbon emissions in 
Brasil to save 10 in USA isn´t all that smart.

And of course, where will the Brasilians grow food to feed themselves!!!

Biofuels is political sidestep that has nothing to do with climate change - 
its a simplistic solution to try to maintain a system that doesn´t work.

Skye

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <lbsaltzman@aol.com>
To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 3:44 PM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] BBC NEWS | Europe | Denmark seeks biofuel 
solutions


> I think biofuels will play a role in the job of reducing greenhouse gas 
> emissions.  But I fear that people are living in a state of delusion on 
> techno fixes, especially where cars are concerned.  I will be utterly 
> amazed if a sustainable replacement for gasoline and diesel can be produced 
> in the quantities necesary to keep cars on the road in the numbers we now 
> have, or to drive the miles we now do - assuming it is even a good if we 
> could.  However, if we can produce enough biofuels to keep rail, public 
> transportation, ambulances, fire trucks and police on the road that would 
> be a substantial achievement. Hopefully there will remain the possibility 
> of limited personal driving in a sustainable way, but I am not a total 
> optimist on that.
>
> My fear is that we will end up destroying valuable farm and wildland in 
> pursuit of bio-fuels. I hope I am wrong.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lfl@intrex.net
> To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Sent: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:15 AM
> Subject: [permaculture] BBC NEWS | Europe | Denmark seeks biofuel 
> solutions
>
>
>
> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6539379.stm>
>
> Last Updated: Wednesday, 11 April 2007, 14:52 GMT 15:52 UK
> Denmark seeks biofuel solutions
> By Alix Kroeger
> BBC News, Copenhagen
>
> Haybale being used for biomass
> The Danes turn hay and wood into biofuel for power
> The European Union has committed itself to increase the share of biofuels 
> used
> in transport to 10% by 2020.
>
> It is one of a package of measures to cut emissions of greenhouse gases 
> like
> carbon dioxide (CO2).
>
> The aim is to reduce the impact of climate change, as well as Europe's
> dependence on fossil fuels. But will it work?
>
> In a laboratory on the outskirts of Copenhagen, a technician measures out
> beakers of a foamy brown liquid, seals them
> and writes out the label.
>
> The beakers contain enzymes which could help break down wood and straw 
> into
> biofuel that can be used in cars: what is
> known as second-generation biofuel.
>
> It is one of the most important areas of research if the EU is to meet its 
> 2020
> binding target.
>
> 'Reduce oil dependency'
>
> The chief executive of Novozymes, Steen Riisgaard, says second-generation
> biofuels will offer an 85% cut in carbon
> emissions, including the energy needed to produce them.
>
> "We don't claim that this is the silver bullet that will save the world 
> and the
> climate," he cautions. "This is one of
> many technologies we can bring to bear to reduce CO2 emissions and also 
> our
> dependency on oil."
>
>
> Amager power station in Denmark
> Amager power station burns straw and wood pellets
>
> Quick guide: biofuels
>
> Novozymes estimate it will be four to five years before the 
> second-generation
> fuels are on the market.
>
> In the past few years, interest in biofuels has soared, thanks to the
> combination of high oil prices and concern about
> climate change.
>
> But not all biofuels have the same carbon profile. The first generation 
> are made
> from food crops, such as maize,
> rapeseed, palm oil and sugarcane.
>
> The Danish government is among those who say first-generation biofuels are 
> not
> sustainable.
>
> Although it exempts first-generation fuels from the 3-eurocent-per-litre 
> carbon
> tax on petrol and diesel, only research
> into the second generation qualifies for tax breaks.
>
> "We think the CO2 account is not sufficiently good," says Hans Jorgen 
> Koch, the
> Danish deputy state secretary for
> energy. "There's only a reduction of 10 to 15% if we use the 
> first-generation
> technologies.
>
> "And also, it requires a big effort of energy to convert (the raw 
> materials) to
> first-generation biofuels."
>
> Forests and food
>
> There are other costs, too. A recent UN report warned that large sections 
> of
> Indonesian forest were being cleared, often
> illegally, to make way for palm oil plantations. The forests soak up CO2, 
> which
> would otherwise increase global warming.
>
> In Mexico, there were riots in February after the price of maize 
> quadrupled,
> pushed up by the demand for biofuels.
>
> In Europe, more farmers are switching to biofuel crops, encouraged by 
> rising
> prices and cuts in subsidies for food
> production. The Green Party in the European Parliament warns that this 
> will put
> pressure on global food prices at the
> expense of the poor.
>
> Denmark is already a leader in green energy. Much of Copenhagen gets its 
> heat
> and electricity from biomass: wood and
> straw which is converted into pellets before being burnt in a specially 
> adapted
> power station.
>
> On his farm at Tureby, in central Denmark, Torben Lange uses a small 
> tractor
> with two giant forks attached to the front
> to load bales of straw onto one of his lorries.
>
> Each bale weighs more than 500kg (1,100 pounds). In all, he sends 16,500 
> tonnes
> of straw, most of it bought from
> neighbouring farmers, to a plant in nearby Koge, where it is made into 
> pellets.
>
> Dan Belusa of Greenpeace
> Dan Belusa of Greenpeace says biofuels have their own problems
>
> "It's good for our business," Mr Lange says, "because straw prices have 
> been
> very low for the past five or six years. So
> when they use the straw (for biopellets), the price will probably go up."
>
> Ships take the pellets to the power station at Amager, on the coast near
> Copenhagen - the least environmentally damaging
> way of transporting them.
>
> The environmental pressure group Greenpeace says Denmark simply does not 
> have
> enough wood and straw both to supply the
> power station and to make second-generation biofuels.
>
> "We already have a very efficient use of our available biomass. Nearly 90% 
> of
> the energy is actually benefiting in the
> form of heat or power. If we take the same biomass and turn it into 
> biofuels, we
> only have half that energy value," says
> Dan Belusa from Greenpeace.
>
> And the petrol which would be replaced by biofuels has a much less 
> damaging
> greenhouse effect than the coal which would
> be burned instead of biomass, he adds.
>
> 'Bio' petrol
>
> At the Statoil filling station in Lyngby, motorists filling up with petrol 
> are
> already putting a percentage of biofuel
> in their tanks.
>
> Statoil is the only company in Denmark to market "bio" petrol. It began 
> selling
> it at this petrol station 10 months ago
> and now offer it at two-thirds of their 300-odd stations.
>
> The biofuel comes from a pool in Rotterdam, about 85% of which is produced 
> in
> Europe. It is first-generation, but
> Statoil say it is sustainable, that the fuel takes less carbon to produce 
> and
> transport than it generates when it is used.
>
> "We have made some calculations, together with the Danish Ministry of the
> Environment, and that shows that Danish cars
> save about 120kg of carbon dioxide per year (from using the "bio" 
> petrol)," says
> Statoil spokesman Per Brinch.
>
> It will be another four or five years before second-generation biofuels 
> are on
> the market.
>
> Meanwhile, companies like Statoil are responding to consumer concerns 
> about
> climate change and environmental sustainability.
>
> The arguments around biofuels are complex. Environmentalists say the "bio"
> prefix misleads people into believing such
> fuels must be environmentally friendly.
>
> But isn't there a risk that such criticisms leave consumers feeling 
> powerless
> and unwilling to change their behaviour if
> it is unlikely to make a difference?
>
> "It is very important that the individual acts on addressing climate 
> change,"
> says Dan Belusa from Greenpeace. "But it's
> also important that the politicians put the subsidies in the direction 
> where
> they're going to make a difference."
>
> SEE ALSO
> EU fuel push 'may damage forests'
> 02 Apr 07 |  UK
> Biofuels: Green energy or grim reaper?
> 22 Sep 06 |  Science/Nature
> Growing demand for non-food crops
> 18 Apr 06 |  Science/Nature
> Biofuel raises global dilemmas
> 17 Jan 06 |  Business
>
> RELATED BBC LINKS
> Fuelling the Future
>
> RELATED INTERNET LINKS
> UN report on biofuels
> Novozymes biomass
> The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
>
>
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