Myths and Realities of Food-Based Bio-Fuels: A Critical Analysis, Papers of Agricultural engineering

Download Myths and Realities of Food-Based Bio-Fuels: A Critical Analysis and more Papers Agricultural engineering in PDF only on Docsity! 10 Food-Based Bio-Fuel Myths Dr. Thomas E. Elam, President, FarmEcon.com Myth #1: Food-based ethanol is a “renewable” fuel. Reality: Wood, harvested and transported by human labor, and burned for heating and cooking is a true renewable fuel. It uses nothing but the sun, human labor and the land for an energy source. Even then, wood is only renewable if we harvest at a rate no faster than nature is producing it. Food-based ethanol production and distribution burns about two-thirds of a BTU of fossil fuel energy for every BTU of energy produced. Food-based ethanol is no more renewable than the fossil fuels used to produce it. Myth #2: Food-based bio-fuels can replace a meaningful proportion of the world’s fossil fuel supply. Reality: Nothing could be further from the truth. Consider that the total world supply of edible oils is currently at 125 million metric tons. World crude oil production is over 10,000 million metric tons. Even if we could convert 20% of our current edible oil supply to fuel with no conversion losses it would replace only 0.25% of current crude oil production. Food-based ethanol requires significant amounts of fossil energy for its production (see Myth #1). If we were to convert 20% of the world’s 2007 grain crop to ethanol it would produce about 138 million tons of ethanol. That 138 million tons would represent a net gain of only 45 million tons of energy due to the fossil fuels burned to produce the ethanol. That 45 million tons is only 0.45% of the world’s crude oil production. Myth #3: Food-based fuels can be produced from “surplus” agricultural commodities. Reality: The world’s population is growing and getting richer. The demand for food already is stretching our production capacity. In 2007 we have seen wheat prices set new records due to a small reduction in the world harvest. All major crops are currently at historically high price levels. We are using all of the world’s good land to produce food, and we still we see declining stocks of grains and oilseed crops. There is no “surplus” of food or good land that can be used for food-based fuel production without affecting food prices. Myth #3: Food-based ethanol production significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Reality: According to a recent Swiss paper on bio-fuels1 the U.S. corn-based ethanol production system emits only 10% less greenhouse gases than are produced by burning low sulphur gasoline. Myth #4: Food-based bio-fuel is a green, environmentally friendly, product. Reality: The same Swiss study cited in Myth #3 states that corn-based U.S. ethanol has over 150% more total environmental impact that gasoline. Bio-diesel from Brazilian soybean oil was rated even worse than corn-based ethanol. Included in the impact calculation was land use, pesticide use, and fossil fuel use in the total production system, plus greenhouse gas emissions. The potential exists for widespread ecological damage from conversion of land to industrial “fuel farms”. Large areas of forests, swamps, marginal lands and other natural areas face the potential of being turned into mono-species landscapes devoid of any resemblance to a natural setting. Myth #5: U.S. Federal energy policy has a goal of increasing U.S. use of food- based bio-fuels. Reality: This myth is actually partly true. U.S. Federal policy does grant large subsidies that encourage bio-fuel production, and thus consumption. However, at the same time, the U.S. has also put into place high import duties on ethanol. Those duties effectively prevent us from tapping into the global market and importing less expensive sugar-based ethanol from Brazil. The major goal of current policy is to encourage U.S. production of bio-fuels. Myth #6: Subsidies for production of food-based bio-fuels create value-added products for the U.S. economy. Reality: The current subsidy system for food-based bio-fuels has the effect of taking food away from one potential user (the food producer) and selling it to a different user (the bio-fuel producer), but at a lower price. That is, we take food products away from producers who give it a higher value that those who ultimately receive the benefits of its use. In the case of ethanol the ethanol producer is effectively receiving corn at about $1.50 per bushel under its market price. In the case of bio-diesel the producer is receiving soybean oil at $1 per gallon less than the market price. Taking products away from high value users and giving it to low value users destroys value instead of adding it. Myth #6: Cellulose and waste-product-based ethanol can supply a meaningful proportion of the world’s future energy demand. 1 Zah, Rainer, Heinz Böni, Marcel Gauch, Roland Hischier, Martin Lehmann and Patrick Wäger (2007b), Ökobilanz von Energieprodukten: Ökologische Bewertung von Biotreibstoffen, EMPA für die Bundesampt für Energie, die Bundesampt für Umwelt, und die Bundesampt für Landwirtschaft, Bern