Biofuels Rockstar/Archive
From BioenergyWiki
BioenergyWiki > User blogs > Biofuels Rockstar > Biofuels Rockstar/Archive
Note: These are older postings from the "Biofuels Rockstar" blog. For the most recent entries, click here.
Contents |
February 2008
21 February 2008
Public consciousness of biofuels in Costa Rica
For five days in December and January, I interviewed 100 drivers at gas stations in Turrialba, a central valley town where CATIE is based, to determine the public consciousness of biofuels. I asked general questions like, "What have you heard about biofuels?" and "Do you believe it would be safe to use biofuels in your car without modifying it first?" The impetus behind doing this survey was seeing the results of a yearlong biofuels pilot program in the Pacific northwest of Costa Rica, where the use of regular fuel that contained ethanol went down by 33% and the use of super that did not contain ethanol shot up 100%. Clearly people did not suddenly care about putting premium fuel in their cars; instead, they were hesitant about using biofuels. But first, I had to show this using fresh data. Turrialba is a good test case because it's a small, rural town that is only two hours from the capital and should therefore be relatively versed in national news. The country is planning on blending all its gasoline and diesel with biofuels in October, increasing to a goal of 10% ethanol and 20% biodiesel by 2010.
The initial results are telling. 72% of respondents have heard about biofuels, yet 71% of them believe (incorrectly) that their cars will be damaged by its use. 61% of those who had heard about biofuels believe they must adapt their cars before using biofuels when, in fact, all they might have to do is change their filters (9% of all respondents knew this) since ethanol, as an effluent, will dislodge lots of crud built up in engines. A CATIE statistician is helping me do more complex analysis, such as seeing if there is a correlation between age, sex, vehicle type, fuel type, and car year and knowledge of biofuels. After this analysis is complete, we are going to publish an article on CATIE's site, issue press releases to the press, and later write a more formal academic article. The results reveal that there is a great deal of misinformation surrounding biofuels in the country that could be addressed through more effective educational campaigns like the one I am testing in Turrialba's high schools.
14 February 2008
Biofuels on the beach
I spent this past weekend on the beach in Puerto Viejo near the Panama border with a community group looking to promote biofuels locally. CoopeTalamancaSos, part of a larger group, Adela,
The idea of producing biofuels like KAF from organic waste products, or so-called "second generation" biofuels as opposed to "first generation" biofuels from crops like corn, is an exciting one, particularly in light of warnings from the scientific community that biofuels from crops actually create more greenhouse gas emissions than they eliminate when accounting for land displacement. While it's debated as to whether biofuels make sense in the long run -- why, for example, are we working within the existing hydrocarbon framework instead of pushing for more substantive reforms like electric cars? -- biofuels made from organic wastes have the potential to turn unwanted products into valuable fuel and truly reduce greenhouse emissions.
6 February 2008
Talking in schools about biofuels
One of my projects down here is to get high school students informed about biofuels. In talks with people at Recope, and in light of an unsuccessful pilot program in the Pacific Northwest in which the use of non-ethanol super blend has gone up 100% and the use of ethanol-blended regular has gone down 33%, I realized that I could directly contribute to the biofuels process by raising public awareness here in Turrialba. It's hard to know how to best be effective when you're in a country for a relatively short period of time (in my case, less than a year) and want to have a real impact.
Speaking in schools seemed like a good combination of being relevant to my biofuels work as well as addressing another concern -- outreach to soon-to-be-drivers -- that has been completely ignored to date. Plus, perhaps more to the point, I can't really lobby government types to get the ball rolling on biofuels down here, both because I'm unqualified to do so and don't have the time or patience for bureaucracy. I wanted to be doing things that would have the greatest amount of impact while facing the least amount of red tape. Moreover, I needed to be doing things that weren't financially dependent on anything (hence why the intended ethanol pilot programs with CATIE never took off the ground). So the schools seem like an untapped resource to me, both in terms of experimenting information dissemination on biofuels as well as providing a forum for potentially expanding to other schools on a national model. Basically, I want to be the Al Gore of Costa Rica.
My plan in the schools is to do something interactive. Adults can barely pay attention for an hour. Now picture high school students listening to a gringo who must sound ridiculous to them trying to speak Spanish. So, I've been thinking of ways to make the process interesting. First, I talk for about 15-20 minutes to lay the scene about biofuels, explain why I'm there, and what I'm doing in Costa Rica. Second, a sock toss game where the kids say something they've heard about biofuels and then throw the bundled sock to someone else. Third, a student debate on biofuels where I split the kids into a pro side and a con side after having given them 10 minutes to read some literature on biofuels.
Yesterday, Tuesday, I spoke before about 40 school principals and personnel in Turrialba explaining what I want to accomplish in the schools. The teachers got into it, especially when we played the sock toss game of biofuels facts, and some talked about wanting to incorporate my talk into student projects on biofuels and renewable energy. Two of the schools in Turrialba are bilingual supposedly, and the directors there were interested in my delivering the talks in English. At least that would make me look (a little) less ridiculous! I'm going to get the materials from Energias Biodegradables hopefully tomorrow, tweak the presentation a bit, and then be ready to start talking in the schools next week.
1 February 2008
Bayer, ADM, and Daimler team up to explore jatropha; EU bans corn ethanol
Two interesting articles of late in the biofuels world.
First, Bayer, Archer Daniels Midland, and Daimler AG have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the potential for a biodiesel industry based on jatropha, according to a Bayer CropScience press release. Jatropha is a fast-growing shrub that produces a high vegetable oil yield and can be planted on marginal land. Better yet,animals don't consume jatropha, the food vs. fuel dilemma that afflicts corn, soy, and other crop-based biofuels is altogether circumvented. This is both a boost to the crop's production as well as a potential blow to small-scale producers who current plant and press jatropha seeds. As with large-scale ethanol projects, the involvement of such heavy hitters has the potential to crowd out the jatropha-based biodiesel market.
Next, the European Union, announced strict criteria in its use of biofuels that exclude ethanol from corn and biodiesel from soy and rapeseed. This represents a boon to ethanol made from other materials, such as sugarcane, and sends signals to the biofuels market that one of its major buyers is pushing for biomass-derived biofuels. Under the new criteria, the biofuels used must cut emissions by 35 percent.
January 2008
24 January 2008
CFL pilot program at Aquiares
The future of renewable energy solutions can best be described as a twist on an old metaphor, according to a University of Minnesota dean, Robert Elde (pdf). There will be no silver bullets in the race to produce clean energy; instead it will be more a matter of silver buckshot. In other words, no one solution will do. Progress will be incremental and will have to harness the manifold of renewable energy technologies simultaneously.
Biofuels, while one step in combating oil use in transportation, has little use in the realm of electricity, which eclipses transportation in terms of energy use worldwide. One innovative way to cut back on energy use is to switch from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which produce the same wattage using less electricity.
To introduce CFL technology on the rural level, the Natural Resources Defense Council is teaming up with a coffee town in Costa Rica to implement a voluntary CFL pilot program.
Rainforest Alliance for nearly a decade.
Last November, 377 households (98 percent) exchanged their normal light bulbs for CFLs. Instead of receiving the newer light bulbs as gifts, which would be unsustainable in the long run, households have a vested interest in the success of the project by paying for the light bulbs upfront, albeit at a subsidized price of $1 per bulb. Over the course of the project, NRDC will track energy usage and user opinion to determine how this model might function on a country-wide level.
The launch date of the project also witnessed a meeting of representatives at Aquiares from the NRDC, Prize Capital, and Costa Rica’s state electricity companies ICE and JASEC to discuss future options for CFLs in the country.
16 January 2008
Critique of corn-based ethanol by the Ecological Society of America
The Ecological Society of America, a professional society of 10,000 American ecological scientists, released a statement on Thursday criticizing corn-based ethanol. It warns of the environmental degradation that could accompany a widespread investment in corn ethanol and advocates a complete systems analysis that examines how much energy is produced versus how much energy is required to produce the fuel.
In an excerpt from the ESA: "Current grain-based ethanol production systems damage soil and water resources in the U.S. and are only profitable in the context of tax breaks and tariffs. Future systems based on a combination of cellulosic materials and grain could be equally degrading to the environment, with potentially little carbon savings, unless steps are taken now that incorporate principles of ecological sustainability."
The statement then outlines three necessary steps to ensure that biofuels are developed with an eye towards the environment:
1) SYSTEMS THINKING: Looking at the complete picture of how much energy is produced versus how much is consumed by extracting and transporting the crops used for biofuels. A systems approach seeks to avoid or minimize undesirable production side effects such as soil erosion and contamination of groundwater. Consistent monitoring is critical to ensure that biofuel production is sustainable.
2) CONSERVATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES: Maximizing crop yield without regard to negative side effects is easy. On the other hand, growing crops and retaining the other services provided by the land is far more challenging, but very much worth the effort. For example, lower yields from an unfertilized native prairie may be acceptable in light of the other benefits, such as minimized flooding, fewer pests, groundwater recharge, and improved water quality because no fertilizer is needed.
3) SCALE ALIGNMENT: How agriculture is managed matters at the individual farm, regional, and global level. Policies must provide incentives for managing land in a sustainable way. They should also encourage the development of biofuels from various sources.
This professional criticism of corn ethanol makes sugarcane-based ethanol appear a more viable option. Sugarcane ethanol achieves 8.3 times more efficiency than corn-based ethanol. This also helps put a scientific check on what ESA describes as biofuels' "cult-like status" amidst the rush to plant corn. Already, corn comprises one third of Iowa's land surface.
ESA will hold a conference, 'Ecological Dimensions of Biofuels' on March 10, 2008 in Washington, DC which will bring together a wide variety of experts in the biofuels arena. The conference will cover the various sources of biofuels -- agriculture and grasslands, rangelands, and forests -- and will encompass the private sector and socioeconomic perspectives. Jose Goldemberg, Global Energy Assessment Council and Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil, will give the keynote address.
4 January 2008
Agronomic engineers conference on biofuels: food vs. fuel
Well, it's been awhile, but, hey, it's Semana Santa in Costa Rica -- they take this stuff seriously...when I'm back in Costa Rica and have my laptop, I will add photos to this post.
At the end of November I attended the two-day Colegio de Ingenieros Agronomos’ conference, “Agriculture for food or for biofuels: a debate to resolve in Costa Rica.” There were about 60 participants and most were, unsurprisingly, agronomic engineers, maybe 50/50 ICE, MAG, etc./private. Two biofuels companies, Energias Biodegradables and Central Biodiesel, were there, complete with tanks and oil samples. There were 6-7 power point presentations both days, each followed by an opportunity to ask questions. MINAE’s Vice Minister Matamoros presented, as did the MAG minister, and Marco Chavez (DIECA) closed the talk.
While the first day consisted of repetitive presentations that gave an overview of Costa Rica’s biofuels layout, there were riveting debates after the presentations the second day, which featured speakers arguing that biofuels were a threat to food crops. As most of the people there were agricultural, there was overwhelming support for biofuels coming from food crops. There is a sense that biofuels are the answer to CR’s agricultural woes and that it will jumpstart the industry. During informal coffee chats after the presentations, which provided a good forum to digest ideas brought up, a lot of talk was said about the need for pilot programs testing out new varieties of 2nd generation plants.
On the other hand, there was also much frustration that despite all the talk about biofuels, there has been little concrete progress in their implementation. At one point, someone questioned why Costa Rica is the only Central American country without a national biofuels plan, and drew much applause.
I mentioned in passing to Marco Chavez my observation that Costa Ricans seem to talk more about biofuels and do less, whereas Americans seem to talk less and do more. (Chavez later gave me a shoutout regarding this converstaion at the beginning of his talk, which made me feel like a biofuels rockstar.) Not sure which is more important right now, as in the US is the world’s largest producer of ethanol, but with corn, which is a bad idea.
December 2007
4 December 2007
Sugarcane: Costa Rica's Great White Hope?
During my time down here, I've been able to tag along on a number of giras with LAICA, the sugarcane cooperative. Giras translates as trips, but they're in reality sugarcane producer appreciation days, complete with tours of plants, transportation, food, and souvenirs. Can you imagine ADM doing this for their employees in the US? Then again, perhaps this is why they can boast such steady profits...
The first gira I went on was on September 9. I left Turrialba in a bus with some 50 producers to tour three LAICA plants: El Coyol, El Roble, and Punta Morales. El Coyol, in Alajuela, is a processing plant/refinery; El Roble, about 50 km from Puntarenas, is a storage and packaging facility; and Punta Morales, in Puntarenas, is an alcohol dehydration, storage, and shipping facility.
The second trip, on October 10, consisted of a trip to sugarcane refineries at Atirro and a tour in Turrialba to view new crop varieties that LAICA's research wing, DIECA, is developing.
The interest of LAICA in this story is of course its control of sugarcane. Ever since Brazil's ethanol program created near energy independence in transportation last year through utilizing sugar crops and its own oil deposits, similar excitement has rippled throughout Latin American sugar-producing nations. Costa Rica is one of them. The difference, however, is that Brazil started investing substantially in its ethanol program, complete with government subsidies for the ethanol industry, in the 1970s following the 1973 oil shock, whereas Costa Rica is really just testing the waters. There was talk of starting ethanol production in the 1980s, but an early oil glut diverted public interest.
Sugarcane is also an enticing crop for ethanol because of its efficiency. Ethanol production from sugarcane in Brazil is 8 times more efficient than ethanol production from corn in the United States. In terms of land use, an acre of sugarcane yields 650 gallons while an acre of corn yields 400 gallons.
Because LAICA controls all sugarcane production and sales, any large scale development of ethanol production would inevitably involve them. The problem is that right now cane production is limited by an antiquated quota system. Nearly all the producers I spoke with were producing near quota and excited at the thought of ethanol production since it could theoretically be accompanied by an increased quota. LAICA has not said anything yet officially about increasing the quota anytime soon, but in a typical chicken or egg problem, investors looking to set up ethanol plants won't want to do this until they can be ensured of a steady supply of cane.
Three sites are producing ethanol in Costa Rica, although only one, Punta Morales, is producing fuel-grade ethanol. Punta Morales currently receives Brazilian ethanol at an average of 93.6% (called hydrous ethanol) and distills it to an average of 99.7% (called anhydrous ethanol) for shipment mostly to the western US (through an arrangement with ConocoPhillips) and partially to Europe. The difference between fuel-grade and food-grade ethanol (as in alcoholic beverages) is a matter of 6 degrees of distillation, not separation. However, the amount of energy it takes to refine alcohol in this last leg of the process takes a disproportionate amount of time and energy. This is analogous to the 80-20 rule used by management consultants, where 80% of the work takes 20% of the time. But those last degrees are important: cars can't run on ethanol unless it's anhydrous.
Punta Morales has a capacity production of 430,000 L/day (113,593.982 gallons/day), according to the head engineer with whom I spoke, and is the only sugarcane refinery with a dehydration tower (needed to achieve anhydrous). The LAICA plant currently has seven alcohol storage tanks with an eighth expected to be ready this month. That would boost capacity to a projected 560,000 L/day (147,936.349 gallons/day).
There is a great deal of disagreement as to how much ethanol Costa Rica is currently producing. In terms of strict, anhydrous ethanol, according to 2005-2006 LAICA statistics (the most recent year available), LAICA exported 5.45 million gallons (20,626,693.8 L) of anhydrous ethanol. That would give roughly 48 days of production at full capacity at Punta Morales (the only place in the LAICA system where anhydrous ethanol is produced), which seems a bit low, as I was told that there are around 4.5 months, or 135 days, of production. So either the LAICA figures are off, a lot of ethanol is used domestically (seems unlikely due to high prices the US and Europe are willing to pay), Punta Morales does not normally produce at capacity, or some combination of the three. If you have a better idea of Punta Morales' actual production (not just exportation), please do let me know.
When ethanol is discussed more generally, encompassing both food-grade and fuel-grade alcohols, people generally cite three plants as ethanol-producing: Taboga and CATSA in addition to Punta Morales. According to a presentation given by the president of Taboga at a scenario planning workshop in September, Punta Morales produces 158 million L/yr, CATSA 87.6 million L/yr, and Taboga 54.7 million L/yr. Again, CATSA and Taboga are not producing fuel-grade ethanol and lack dehydration towers (although apparently Taboga is thinking about building one). If you were to sum all this production, you'd get 300 million L/yr, nearly double what PanAm biofuels cites as a figure of 189 million L/yr for Costa Rica's annual ethanol production.
Someone must know the real story here. Whatever it is, Costa Rica's ethanol production is minute compared to the United States' 4.86 billion gallons and Brazil's 4.23 billion gallons in 2006.
Costa Rica currently enjoys tax-free ethanol exports to the United States through the Caribbean Basin Initiative, a clause that was maintained in the recently CR-approved free trade agreement with the states, CAFTA. Costa Rica, as well as its neighbors in the Caribbean, enjoys these duty free exports as long as they are kept below 7% of US ethanol production. Since this figure is based on current US production, and Costa Rica's is not growing at anywhere near that of the US, there's enough growing room for Costa Rica to increase its production and exportation without being penalized. As a point of comparison, Brazil is slammed with a $0.54 cent/gallon protectionist tariff in the United States.
Besides CBI/CAFTA providing an opportunity for greater ethanol production, if a planned national 7.5% ethanol blending mandate comes through in the second semester of 2008, Costa Rica could find a substantially larger market at home. As Costa Rica currently lacks the infrastructure and ethanol output to supply itself, this ethanol would most likely come from abroad, and probably from Brazil.
November 2007
21 November 2007
Introduction
My name is Steve Engler and this is the first day of my blog on Costa Rica's biofuels situation. I am a 2007 graduate of Yale College and am living in Costa Rica for about 10 months on a Yale fellowship to study the sustainable development of biofuels in the country. I'm here to learn what I can about what it would take for a country like Costa Rica to implement biofuels on a national level. While I'm here, I'm teaming up with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) to work on various biofuels initiatives. While not working directly for either, we're sharing resources and collaborating on projects.
I've been here for about three months now and have spent the majority of my time scoping out Costa Rica's biofuels scene. I've met with representatives in the government and in the public sector from Recope (the state oil company), LAICA (the sugarcane cooperative), MAG (the ministry of agriculture), ICE (state electricity), ARESEP (monitors Recope and ICE, among others) and even got a chance to meet President Oscar Arias at the Costa Rican premiere of The 11th Hour, a climate change documentary narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio and sponsored by the NRDC. At the two premiers, I helped pass out nearly 400 compact flourescent (CFL) light bulbs and information on energy-saving tips along with Emily Arnold (University for Peace master's student and also working on renewable energy alternatives down here) at the first premier and Elizabeth Beall (NRDC's International Program) at the second. Along with the NRDC and CATIE, I've also gotten a chance to see what involvement would look like from the private sector. We've been in consultation with multinational oil companies, sugar mills, and biofuels producers alike about biofuels' potential in the country.
On the biofuels front, CATIE is interested in setting up a pilot program with cattle farmers in the Canas region. The idea would be to use CATIE's expertise with cattle farmers in the region to help them use their farms more efficiently, thus creating space to grow sugarcane. The farmers would then sell their cane through direct partnerships to sugar mills, which would use this surplus sugarcane to produce fuel-grade ethanol. Biofuels are such a new topic that there is no special department devoted to it. Instead, the biofuels team consists of Tamara Benjamin, a Purdue/CATIE agroforestry professor, and David Feingold, a civic-minded spouse of a CATIE professor who also owns a bagel and bread company, Boston Bagel. CATIE is still looking for funding to develop the Canas program, as it would involve financing for the farmers to buy seeds and planting equipment, so do let me know if you have ideas and/or money.
The idea is to operate on a sustainable level. Small farmers would be involved. Moreover, through the use of new cutting technology, such as mechanical harvesters, the tops of sugarcane crops could be used for animal feed rather than burned as they currently are, a process that renders the tops useless and releases harmful emissions.
As I'm assisting CATIE's project, I'm also working to set up a public education campaign for biofuels. I'm looking to start a pilot program where I live in Turrialba, Costa Rica starting with gas stations, and moving on to community chats and talks in schools. I'm interested in seeing what people currently know about biofuels and renewable energy and work to increase understanding, especially through dispelling rumors about the effects of biofuels on automobiles.
A side project I'm working on is updating the Costa Rican page of the BioenergyWiki. Check it out here.
