Biofuels — The World Energy Scene Put Into Perspective
Here’s an article on biofuels, the first part of which everyone should read, as it frames the world energy situation very nicely. Yes, we face a situation in which our planet’s energy demand will double in the next 40 years, and fossil fuels will soon prove insufficient (not to mention their externalities in terms of ecological and health-related consequences). The author points out the silliness of the debate about drilling for oil on federal lands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). “If you drilled the provable oil reserve in the entire federal ANWR and flooded the world market with it – the reserve would be used up in 9 days, at 2050 consumption rates.”
So it appears that we’re off to a good start here; the premise seems solid. I’m not sure how you get from there to the conclusion, however. The point of the article is that our focus on renewables and energy storage is misguided and that any or all of the 15 biofuels companies it names are here to save the day. The first four are “headed for commercialization now” and the other 11 are “farther down the road.”
I’m rooting for you guys, but I’m skeptical.
Life forms evolved over four billion years to convert sunlight into chemical energy that would support the organisms’ survival, growth and reproduction, not to store it in great abundance beyond the foreseeable need, so that we could come along and put it in our gas tanks. Converting solar energy in the form of biomass to chemical energy in liquid fuels can be done, as we’ve all seen, but by its very nature, it’s extremely inefficient, and thus, resource-intensive. I believe this is the reason that, after decades and billions of dollars in R&D, there are no demonstrations of commercially viable approaches in this space. Are there really some that are “headed for commercialization now?” Could be. But I’ve been hearing that for a long, long time.
I think it is true that some biofuel companies are heading for commercialization now, however there are still many unanswered questions and serious concerns about the environmental and social impacts of widespread biofuel use. (Cutting down rainforest to grow palm oil plantations, and converting food into fuel are just two examples!)
Use of waste biomass such as straw and baggass, for heating, cooking and small to mid scale electricity production can be a modest part of a solution, but for a complete solution, it is I believe essential to mostly use sustainably sourced electricity from sun, wind, tides, waves, and geothermal heat using the most energy efficient technologies available, to adjust the way we live and the foods we eat (especially less meat in prosperous nations) and to curb the global growth in population. In this way, it might just be possible for humanity to live in balance with natural resources rather than mining them unsustainably.
on biofuels……”there are no demonstrations of commercially viable approaches in this space. Are there really some that are “headed for commercialization now?” Could be. But I’ve been hearing that for a long, long time. ”
Sounds like the promise of nuclear fusion in the 1950’s. We will have it in 25 years and it will be clean and so cheap that we won’t have to meter it. LOL That 25 year time horizon has been bumped back several times over the last 60 years. When I retired from teaching in 1998, the estimate to commercialization was still 25+ years.
The biofuels crowd is hawking for federal research dollars just like the nuclear physicists have (and continue to this day) to promise pie in the sky if we just keep funding their latest approach to controlled, sustainable fusion. I also lump cold fusion researchers into this group.
To fuel the inhabitants of our cities we need power stations in the gigawatt class. I will change my mind about synthetic biofuels when a pilot plant is built that can produce 1 megawatt on a sustainable basis. The best candidates for that would be landfill biogas but I would question if those facilities are really synthetic. Landfill burping is quite natural and if we can trap some of this and get some use out of it, we are cleaning the environment and getting a bit of useful energy. But it’s not going to be the solution to Chicago’s power needs. L
Islandable micro-grids are coming for a lot of reasons, and there are places, even in cities, where heating with compost can be done. Ole Ersson heated water with compost for a family of five in the city of Portland, Oregon, for many years. Jean Pain’s compost heat-and-fuel production in France is legendary (a subject for permaculture geeks for some time–see the thread on permies.com). Jean Pain was also in charge of maintaining forest against fire risk, so he used a practice sometimes called limbing up and sometimes called coppicing. It was done by first peoples who lived in the wonderland parts of the west coast U.S., and it was done by people in Britain. Some call it forest grooming. New permaculture practitioners have gotten in fire trouble from re-treeing and not doing this. It is a complicated topic that depends on climate and other variables. Nonetheless, though I prefer compost heat if I could make it work at my house, it’s an old house, and I will have to rely on combustion for a time. Now, an Earthship is what I wish I had, but that is a negawatt discussion, for another day I guess.
I’ll believe that Biofuels can have a real impact on the amount of fossil fuels we use when we start putting up skyscraper style farms in cities to supplement the bio portion of the equation. After all, how many barrels of alcohol can we produce by the (non-existent) crops out in the Midwest that are growing in this year’s drought? What happens if the same thing happens again next year? Finally, what do we do when it becomes a tug-of-war to see what the crops are used for, food or fuel? I’m all for alternative sources of fuel but not when we are taking food from people who need it so we can feed our monster trucks.
Several comments because that is all I have time for now.
Too much energy is wasted making ethanol out of corn. Between malting to convert the crop from starch to sugar and solar stills to seperate the alcohol a significant amount of energy could be saved. These are more efficient ways that would use the sun for most of the process. The sun was used to grow the feedstock and if you plan well and are patient the sun can be used for much of the processing energy as well and once operating could process the same amount of crops. More than just corn can be used for ethanol production. All old fruit and produce from resturants and supermarkets and produce that is not saleable to begin with could be used. Crops that are lost to bad weather and are unsuitable for food should be processed for fuel. I remember during Katrina when the Mississippi was shutdown there were articles about harvested crops that were going to rot because they were not being shipped downriver. In my simplistic way I thought if it was going to rot anyway we might as well use it for fuel. We are not properly prepared to take advantage of situations like this. Spread the stuff out, and dry it out and rehydrate it later for processing to stop it from being lost.
Biodiesel is more efficient to produce I think than ethanol. Also, waste vegetable oil from resturants and even homes can be used for this and I know many people that do. This would help a great deal because this product is then used twice thus the efficiency is increased much like the water I flush my toilet with.
Both biofuels create waste product that is still usable as feed for cattle which is what most of the corn in this country is used for anyway so it would not have the effect on the food supply that most people think it would. Perhaps 2/3 to 3/4 of the food value for cattle still remains after processing for fuel.
Plants evolved to do more than just survive, grow and reproduce. Significant energy is created for reproduction to entice animals to eat the fruits so they can spread the seeds far and wide. If animals do not derive sufficient food value from the fruits then they would stop eating them and that family of plants would not be spread around and would eventually die out. This additional food value is what we are turning into fuel. This is energy the seeds do not actually need to grow.
All vehicles should at least be plug in hybrids whether they burn ethanol or biodiesel. That would severely reduce the amount of fuel required to begin with and thus the overall need for liquid fuels. At least the top panels of the car should be made of PV material if not the whole body of the car. Range on fully electric cars will continue to increase as technology improves. I am confident that electric cars will eventually reach the range of liquid fuel cars and charging times will be reduced to improve the experience of driving long distances. You might not get it down to the time it takes to pee and get a cup of coffee but I bet they will eventually be charged in the time it takes to pee and get and eat a meal.
I can probably think of more but that is all I have the energy for right now.
1) we consume way too much. First step, consume much much less.
2) our urban transportation needs to be electrified.
3) biofuels can come in for long-haul transportation.