TOPIC 'Bioenergy' on Nov 03, 2008 (CET)
Be Careful of Ethanol and Large Corporations Hungry for Biofuels
Ethanol, at first thought to be the saving grace for petroleum-hungry vehicles, has now been proven to still be a part of the problem and not necessarily the solution as was once thought. Research introduced through such scientific journals as Science magazine, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, and the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science have all brought forth revelations that ethanol is not the “end all” answer some believed it was. Production of ethanol is still emitting greenhouse gas toxins and contaminating fertilizer. The rate of production may actually have increased the amount of greenhouse gases produced.
A conference was recently held in Mozambique regarding biofuels and their impacts on the farmers of southern Africa. Farmers in Africa have questions about the quotas the United States and other western countries have mandated for the production of ethanol. Biofuels, called agrofuels in Africa, incur a lot of complications some say. To small farmers in Africa, it can look like an excuse, or window dressing, to cover up yet another attempt by a large corporation to take advantage of a village and its workers, and make a profit off the “little guy” without giving anything back.
In one instance, a large company promised villages that if they raised and harvested sugarcane, processing it into ethanol that jobs, schools, housing, and infrastructure would be provided to the workers and the community. No contract was signed and no fulfillments of those promises have been seen. Many world corporations seem to be closing in on Africa for yet another natural resource. At first, it was diamonds, then copper, and then oil. Now, developers are seeking African lands suitable to manufacture ethanol. They are also looking in Brazil and Indonesia.
There is also the question of taking agricultural farm land out of production for growing food to use instead for ethanol production, especially in the still-developing countries, and what effects that would ultimately have on the world food crisis. Biofuels are important but not at the expense of: 1) the small African farmer trying to earn a living and feed his family; and 2) increasing greenhouse gases. Let’s look to biofuel sources other than ethanol, and let’s take the cellulose, the unused portion of a plant, and turn it into a biofuel. Let’s use, first, what we already have for the maximum potential.
Sherry Irvin
on behalf of the
BascoTec Internet Limited
Technologie Park 13
33100 Paderborn
Germany
