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June 8, 2007 at 10:24:54
The five myths of the transition towards biofuels by Siv O'Neall Page 1 of 3 page(s) |
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Summary in English of article from Le Monde Diplomatique: 'Les cinq mythes de la transition vers les agrocarburants' by Eric Holtz-Giménez - summary and translation by Siv O'Neall Biofuels… The word already evokes the image of clean and inexhaustible renewable energy, confidence in technology and a power of progress compatible with the lasting protection of the environment. It allows the industry and politicians, the World Bank, the United Nations and even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to present the fuels made from corn, sugar cane, soya and other cultures as the next step in a smooth transition from the peak of oil production to an energy economy based on renewable resources, which yet has to be defined. The programs are already ambitious. It is anticipated that the fuel coming from biomass will cover 5.75 % of the needs of transportation fuels in 2010 and 20 % in 2020. The United States are aiming at thirty-five billion gallons a year. These goals are vastly higher than the production capacities of the industrialized countries of the Northern hemisphere. Europe would have to mobilize 70 % of its arable lands to cover its deal of the bargain; the totality of the harvests of corn and soya in the United States would have to be converted to biofuel and biodiesel. A conversion of that order would completely turn upside down the food systems of the nations in the North. That is why the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is interested in the Southern hemisphere to cover their needs. …
The big oil, cereal and automobile industries and genetic engineering groups are powerful partners in this rapidly increasing mobilization of capital and the stupefying growth of the biofuel industry.
One more reason to spread light on the underlying myths of the transition to biofuels before jumping on the already speeding train.
The five myths
1. Biofuels are clean and protect the environment
2. Biofuels do not cause deforestation
3. Biofuels allow for rural development
4. Biofuels do not cause starvation
5. Biofuels of "the second generation" are within reach
Biofuels are clean and protect the environment
Since the photosynthesis that takes place in this culture removes greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and since biofuels can reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, they are said to protect the environment. When one analyses their impact 'from cradle to tomb' – from the land clearing until their use in road transportation – the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are canceled out by the much more important ones due to deforestation, to fires, to the drainage of humid zones, to cultivating practices and to the loss of carbon in the ground.
…
The ethanol produced from sugar cane cultivated on land cleared from tropical forests emits half as much again of greenhouse gases as the production of an equivalent quantity of gasoline.
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http://www.sugarcitycane.com
Hi my name is Dominic Jermano...I am the CEO of ACET/ SugarCityCane. We grow SugarCane on the Ocean....hydroponically. Hey I agree with you on your article, but it does not mean biofuels are not the answer. Doing it on the Ocean will provide enough fuel for the entire world, not just the United States. Doing it on the Ocean gives Ethanol its own individual commodity status, thereby not affecting food prices. Check out my website and see the real answer to our liquid fuel energy future. Dominic Jermano CEO: Charcoal Ethanol Organization/ Chairman of Energy Oceanography/ by Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 930 comments) on Friday, Jun 8, 2007 at 7:38:51 PM  (0+)
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http://www.sugarcitycane.com
Hi my name is Dominic Jermano...I am the CEO of ACET/ SugarCityCane. We grow SugarCane on the Ocean....hydroponically. Hey I agree with you on your article, but it does not mean biofuels are not the answer. Doing it on the Ocean will provide enough fuel for the entire world, not just the United States. Doing it on the Ocean gives Ethanol its own individual commodity status, thereby not affecting food prices. Dominic Jermano CEO: Charcoal Ethanol Organization/ Chairman of Energy Oceanography/ by Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 930 comments) on Friday, Jun 8, 2007 at 7:41:47 PM (0+)
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The five myths of the transition towards biofuels
I am glad to hear that there might be a solution to the enormous problem of agrofuels colliding with the world wide need for food, the urgency of staving off world hunger. I truly hope there is a future in what you are working on. Siv O'Neall by Siv O'Neall (30 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 43 comments [1 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Jun 9, 2007 at 4:45:11 AM (0+)
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http://www.sugarcitycane.com
Oh there is a future in it. check out this website: www.biorock.net Here you will meet Professor Wolf Hilbertz who discovered the Electro Accretion Process. Basically he found a way to make a material that is stronger than concrete from seawater. I plan to use the process in making my Aquatic rafts. He is making and rebuilding coral reefs throughout the world, but he also has his eyes on building an Ocean City. There will probably be many ocean cities, but mine has a purpose in growing sugarcane for our non-polluting liquid fuel needs. The technology in using hybrid cars, or hydrogen cell cars, do not put clean or new Oxygen into the air, nor do they gobble up CO2 emissions. They are what I call dead technologies. They use, but don't give back. So I am not hip to them. They also don't create many jobs for the people in the world, and we need green jobs for the people. Right now I have sugarcane growing in 2 buckets hydroponically, I am excited because I have nice roots coming and stalks are climbing up. I think it will be a successful experiment. You can not find any information on how to grow sugarcane hydroponically on the web. So I am a first. I am also doing an experiment with the electro accretion. I went to the ocean last weekend and brought back a 5 gallon jug of ocean water. I hooked up a wire screen to a negative wire and a steel nail as my anode to the positive, and dropped them in. I am waiting to see the results. Problem is that the water is motionless, not like in the real ocean, and I fear my ph will drop quickly. So I will eventually go out to the beach for a few weeks to run my experiment. I don't know if you are aware of this, but the problem is where actually to begin building SugarCityCane. I have done some research and found my answer. The place is on the Kiribati Islands in the S. Pacific. The people there have been abandoned so to speak by the world, and live in real poverty conditions. In the 1800's Britain and the US mined the Islands for Guano, commonly known as bird sh*t phosphorus, they raped the Islands, and gave nothing to the people who lived there. Then America used the place to detonate and test 36 Atomic Bombs. Really we didn't give a crap about the people then, and why should we care today, when encroaching waters are predicted to swallow the Kiribati Islands before 2050 due to Global Warming. You know I think we owe it to them, to help them..and what better way than to build SugarCityCane to grow Ethanol on the Equator and to use Professor Wolf Hilbertzs process of Electro Accretion in rebuilding the Islands reefs, and very likely new Islands on some of the many atolls that are there. Really....America dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan...to end WWII and in this day and time they have the 2nd largest economy in the world. GO EAT SNAKE Turds. Terrible...yet the Kiribati People who started no War, received 36 Atomic Bomb blasts, and are left in servil destitute. Something is radically wrong with this picture. No politicians talk about this, and it has been going on for over 47 years, nearly 50 years. In all reality the USA did not win the COLD WAR...It was the Kiribati People. I wish people were more aware of stuff happening in the world. Instead of helping people we wage false wars, killing over 800 thousand innocent Iraqis, and over 3,000 US troops for Oil. Its a resource that is in decline in the world and causes Global Warming. How does that help anyone? Oil should be reserved for what we have left of it, for space exploration. BioEnergy is never ending. It will last forever..So why the inability to find reason in this equation. Certainly I think building up the BioFuel industry is essential, but it needs to be done on the Ocean, not on the land. If you are ever interested I wrote an Article called Ethanol Has Its Own Commodity Status...that will explain how we separate growing fuel production from food production, so neither commodity affects the price of the other. Just let me know! I will email to you. I have been doing this work on my own. Some think I am crazy, or it is impossible, but I fully disagree. I shall go forward as the saying goes..come hell or high water.. Global Warming needs to be stopped. by Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 930 comments) on Saturday, Jun 9, 2007 at 7:39:53 AM (0+)
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ingenuity not ignorance
Biofuel does not have to come solely from crops. I have a friend who runs a microbiology lab that has a recent break through with symbiotic microbes that produce ethanol. Don't believe it can't be done in an environmentally safe way, that's just oil company bs. by Tina O'Leary (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments) on Friday, Jun 15, 2007 at 6:12:38 PM (0+)
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