Sugar in your gas tank.
I've heard environmentalists battle it out pretty violently over biofuel. While I'm happy to say that there have not been any heads ripped off just yet, surely some form of explanation on the "hot issue" is enough to get your mind running.
Global food production must increase 50% by 2030, according to the UN Secretary General. At the same time, the FAO warns that increase in global temperatures can cause crop yields around the world to decrease by as high as 35%.
Meanwhile, organizations like Oxfam (and the usually conservative IMF!) are giving us a picture on the impact of biofuels on the world. Global food costs are pushed up by 30%. Biofuel policies in OECD countries have already pushed 30 million people into poverty.
While we are left data-less again in the Philippines (it's not there, or we can't find it), we can pretty much guess the possible impact on us. We know that oil prices are skyrocketing, and in return, food prices (which include transport costs, along with expenses for chemical fertilizer and pesticide, which are mostly petroleum-based) are becoming pretty exorbitant.
Rep. Roilo Golez says biofuels can drive beer prices up. Panik!
The Philippines has one of the lowest levels of agricultural productivity in Southeast Asia, and we've been importing rice since the 1800's. Even without biofuels, our food systems have already been under stress. On the other hand, efficient and cheap transport is essentially linked to distribution and spoilage issues. Because food is either imported or grown outside city centers, we are affected by every gas price hike.
So what impact will biofuels have on this? Sure, we won't be subject to rising oil prices. But as our population swells, and we'll need more and more land to grow food. This means less land for fuel plants. Will we end up suffering from the same kind of "price squeeze" that we are experiencing with oil? What if we end up importing biofuels from mega-producers such as Brazil?
And it's not just food consumption that grows with population-- as we continue to make poorly designed cities and ignore the potentials that high population has for effective public transportation, fuel consumption for mobility's sake will continue to increase.
To meet these needs without relying too much on the volatile oil market, our government plans to attain 60% energy self-sufficiency by 2010. They are doing this by encouraging biofuel production mostly from sugarcane and jatropha. Each potential crop has its own issues to contend with.
For instance, jatropha needs a lot of land and water to produce a financially viable amount of oil. And like food crops, anything planted in large monocultures will require a lot of resources-- energy, chemicals, water-- and will ultimately be environmentally destructive.
Personally, I feel that biofuels may have their use in replacing fossil fuels. We need to exlore if small-scale production of biofuels may be harmonized with local food production and processing. Otherwise, the large biofuel monster replace the large petroleum monster. The only justifiable place that biofuel can hold for me is in small-scale production for more varied energy uses.
However, there are far more pressing questions that have to do with how we get around, and how we plan our cities.
Should we keep planning our cities with cars in mind, or should we start making walkable, mixed-use areas that allow people to choose not to live with cars? Should we develop local economies and stop farmers and producers from surviving only be exporting to far-flung centers? Should we invest in making more fuel to power the growing number of cars, or create better public transport to decrease the purchase and use of cars?
One can almost imagine a "clean and green city" with millions of cars running on biofuel. The invisible part is that, somewhere else, land for food production is shrinking every year to accommodate increasing production of "clean fuel". Things are not so simple. Renewable does not necessarily mean sustainable.
Links:
DOST says 5M hectares of jatropha is needed
Rethinking biofuels in the Philippines
Pinoy love for cars stronger amid fuel price hikes
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