Business | Opinion
Promise of ethanol getting lost amid global food crisis
Instead of pumping a limited supply of fossil fuel out of the ground, the raw materials could be farmed [to produce ethanol].
- By Leah Bower, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 23:39 April 21, 2008
With all the brouhaha over ethanol, its impact on food production and the near-record price of oil, the question I'm hearing the most these days is "what on earth are we going to use for fuel, then?"
How are consumers, investors and companies supposed to decide what to do when the best green fuel option has browned?
I don't want to pump a dry well, but the problems with oil right now are pretty obvious - prices are staying ridiculously high despite that there is enough black gold on the market and reserves are rising. We know it is a finite resource and concern is also growing that we will soon reach peak oil.
So, whatever happened to the promise of ethanol? Unlike petrol, ethanol was once touted as the far more environmentally conscious option. Instead of pumping a limited supply of fossil fuel out of the ground, the raw materials could be farmed. Even taking into account the production process, ethanol produces far fewer pollutants, such as carbon dioxide, than petrol does.
But now, as basic foodstuffs are increasingly becoming out of reach in parts of the world, there is increasing talk of cutting back on regulations from Europe to North America that would have required an increasing number of vehicles use the biofuel.
Here is the problem: Oil is expensive and a finite resource. Ethanol can produced anywhere there is farmland, but at the cost of decreasing food crops. And last, but most certainly not least, we don't have any other good biofuel options coming on line in the near future.
Sure, biodiesel can be used in most diesel engines after a few simple modifications. But, since it solidifies in colder weather, use is limited to warm sections of the world. You can't exactly miss work in Norway because your fuel has sludged up thanks to a cold snap. Biodiesel also produces just as much particulate pollution as its fossil fuel cousin.
Bright future
The future looks bright - Dubai Group paid $49.5 million for a 30 per cent stake in Malaysian biodiesel firm GBD Investment Ltd earlier this month - but the industry isn't going to provide true competition for oil right now.
Biomass gasification, which uses a high-temperature process to convert grass or wood pulp into fuels, is also promising but the technology for large-scale production is even farther off than biodiesel.
That leads us back to ethanol.
Already an increasing number of fuel stations in the United States are selling ethanol, and in Brazil there are 29,000 filling stations the offer the biofuel. Ever day, new flex-fuel cars equipped to burn both ethanol and petrol roll of assembly lines. And, there is little question it produces less pollution. But there is more driving up the cost of food than just ethanol.
Farmland is often poorly used and some countries have courted disaster by subsidising basic foodstuffs and depending heavily on foreign imports. High oil prices are adding euro upon euro the cost of moving wheat and rice from one part of the world to another, a factor which ethanol might actually work to minimise.
Smart countries and companies will continue to push forward with research into alternative fuels other than ethanol. The big payoff may be years away, but oil won't last forever.
Meanwhile rich countries need to help the poorer develop and implement farming techniques that could boost food production, because I just don't see how we can afford to abandon ethanol as long as oil prices remain at record levels.
- The writer is a freelance journalist based in Alaska, USA.
Share this article
More from Business Opinion
More from Business
Popular in Business
-
General
Precious jump
Gold prices at new high as India's central bank buys $6.7b worth of gold
Business Editor's choice
-
Sweet life in the Middle East
A sweet look at the confectionary industry in the UAE and Middle East
-
Passion for pets can be expensive
Responsibility and time spent add to costs for furry friends
-
Facebook farm game under cloud
Mobile phone contracts can be used to buy virtual money
