Dark Suspicions and Energy Vectors
In response to discussions on the Society of Environmental Journalists listserv
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James Thurber, writer and humorist from the early 20th century, once described a woman who "lived her life in the horrible suspicion that electricity was dripping invisibly all over her house."
I think he'd recognize modern incarnations of his character in the people who maintain similar dark suspicions about other energy vectors.
I'm certainly one of them. In fact, I'm uncomfortable with the compressed air that they use in service stations, and I know there are terrible stories about people who leave the gas on or whose clothes get caught up in the gearing of windmills.
These are all examples of energy vectors.
Vectors are the methods we use to deliver energy from production to end use. They are the broadest categories of energy, and inherently neither good nor bad. The focus of a rational debate should be on the production technologies and how they match social needs and end uses, and not about the vectors themselves.
Here's an example of the problem: On the one hand, sugarcane biofuels present industry with a new way to force Peruvian farmers off the land. Naturally, we are outraged. On the other hand, oilseed biofuels are being raised in Haiti by people who would have no other job, working on lands that are so poor they would grow no other crop. We are happy for them.
So if we want to form an opinion about ALL biofuels, we have something of a quandry. As Joseph Pulitzer said, journalists should never lack sympathy with the poor, so we naturally want to sympathize with both the displaced Peruvian and the newly employed Haitian farmers.
The solution is to take a more mature view of the implications of technologies; that is, to step back and recognize that it is the production technology and its implementation we are really concerned with, and the generic energy vector is not the issue.
To be a little more specific: we are really talking about three different things -- the social implications of a particular production technology; the fit between a production technology and our end uses and needs; and, at the most fundamental level, the vectors that deliver energy between production and end use. Biofuels as a vector are like electricity, gas, or mechanical energy. Biofuels production technologies have negative implications -- expanding sugarcane plantations, corn fertilizer runoff accumulating the Gulf of Mexico, and so on. But there are positive implications as well, especially for next generation biofuels. Chris Somerville of UC Berkeley, Steve Long at UIUC and others have done great work on efficient, low input solar collection through biomass feedstocks.
So I get a Thurburish shudder when I hear people say they are adamantly opposed to all biofuels. What they mean is that they are opposed to exploitation and injustice, and they are certainly in good company.
But if they also mean that the energy vector itself can never be deployed without arousing their dark suspicions, then I question the logic.
( Say, did you hear an air compressor just now? )
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More on biofuels
It occurred to me, out walking this moring, that there was a direct conflict between the central paradigms of fossil fuels prodution versus biofuel production. Where the one inherently involves living from fossil capital, the other involves processing of solar income. Surely this solar-based system is more compatible with long-term human sustainability, even if in its early phases it is less than perfect.
When the dog and I got home, we found this gift from the oil industry:
Biofuels Won't Solve World Energy Problem - Shell
ITALY: April 21, 2008 (Reuters)ROME - Biofuels will not solve the world's energy problem, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell said on Sunday, amid growing criticism of their environmental and social benefits.
The remarks follow protests in Brazil and Europe against fuels derived from food crops. Food shortages and rising costs have set off rioting and protests in countries including Haiti, Cameroon, Niger and Indonesia.
"The essential point of biofuels is over time they will play a role," Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, told reporters on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum.
"But there are high expectations what role they will play in the short term."
The oil minister for Qatar, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, had harsher words to say about biofuels at the energy forum, a gathering of producers and consumers.
"Now the world is facing a shortage of food," Qatar's Abdullah al-Attiyah said, answering a question at a news conference.
"I don't think we should blame oil, we should blame biofuels." ....
Meanwhile, someone from a conservative Washington 'think tank' wrote this gem about biofuels being worse than coal ...
David A. Ridenour1:00 am EDT
WASHINGTON - Move over "Bridge to Nowhere," there's a new poster child of
congressional waste and avarice - ethanol, the "Fuel to Nowhere." Ethanol
leads only to higher food prices and greater greenhouse gas emissions.
http://www.wvgazette.com/Opinion/Op-EdCommentaries/200804190250And the National Corn Growers Association fired back a very, very weak volley in response
Bob Stallman1:00 am EDT
WASHINGTON - The popular misconception that increased usage of corn for
ethanol production is the only factor driving higher food prices is just
that - a misconception.
http://www.wvgazette.com/Opinion/Op-EdCommentaries/200804190251There are very serious concerns, however:
For Immediate Release 11 April 2008
Groups Condemn Biofuels as "False Solution" During Brazil's President Lula Tour of the Netherlands and Czech Republic
(Joint Release from Global Forest Coalition and Corporate Europe Observatory)
The Netherlands--Criticism is mounting denouncing Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit this week to the Netherlands and the Czech Republic on a tour focused on promoting ethanol and other biofuels. The Brazilian president is visiting The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam and will meet with Dutch Queen Beatrix and Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
Although Brazilian presidential spokesman Marcelo Baumbach said that Lula will tell European leaders that bio-fuels are "a cleaner alternative that causes less harm to the environment," [1] others have differing opinions.
"Even amidst the undeniable evidence of negative impacts of biofuel production, the Brazilian Government continues to present their ethanol program as a 'special success," proclaimed Camila Moreno from Terra de Direitos. "In reality Brazil seeks to profit from an export industry which has little to do with real concern about climate. While promoting themselves as 'green', the government has meanwhile allocated 65% of the moneys earmarked for the energy sector within the Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC) to oil and gas industries."
"The claim that agrofuels (biofuels) cause less harm to the environment misses the point of the devastating impacts agrofuels have," stated Nina Holland of the Dutch research and campaigning organisation Corporate Europe Observatory. "Agrofuels are a false solution to climate change and not only will they exacerbate the climate crisis, agrofuels compete with agricultural resources, threatening the food security of the world's poorest communities, increasing deforestation, as well as threatening biodiversity and land rights." [2]
"Spurred by the possibility of a rich market for ethanol investors -- many of them foreign -- have been buying tracts of land in Brazil, pushing up prices and driving away the small-scale family-based farms that supply up to 60 percent of the country's food", added Lucia Schild Ortiz of Friends of the Earth Brazil.
"Brazil has chosen to ignore a vast mountain of evidence that agrofuels are contributing to hunger and climate change," said Dr. Rachel Smolker, main author of "The Real Cost of Agrofuels" [3] and lead Agrofuels Campaigner for Global Forest Coalition and Global Justice Ecology Project. "The bottom line is that there is a limited amount of land available, a large population to feed and a desperate need to preserve remaining biodiverse ecosystems. Instead of focusing on improving efficiency and reducing consumption, Brazil is advocating further destruction.
Baumbach stressed the biofuels issue, but noted that Lula will also seek to deepen cooperation with the Netherlands on other issues including ports and maritime transport, education, culture and water.
According to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, the Netherlands became one of the main foreign investors in recent years in Brazil. In 2007, the Netherlands topped the list with direct investment of 8.1 billion dollars, some 23.6 percent of the total received by Brazil.
Touting the Lula tour, Netherland's Leudal Trading Company reports that Dutcham, the Dutch Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, is involved "behind the curtains", in assisting the Dutch employers´organisation VNO-NCW with the setting up of a round-table session with important business leaders in the bilateral relation between Brazil and the Netherlands. [4]
In related news:
On Tuesday, 15 April, groups across the United Kingdom will be holding protests against the government's decision to introduce mandatory biofuel blending. This includes a demonstration outside Downing Street, as well as protests outside the constituency offices of Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Transport, and Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, and outside several fuel stations. From 15th April, all diesel and petrol in the UK will have to be blended with biofuels. [5]Contact:
Yolanda Sikking, Global Forest Coalition, 0031 623913217
Nina Holland, Corporate Europe Observatory, 0031 630285042Notes:
[1] <http://www.topnews.in/lula-visit-netherlands-czech-republic-bio-fuels-agenda-231790>http://www.topnews.in/lula-visit-netherlands-czech-republic-bio-fuels-agenda-231790
[2] <http://www.corporateeurope.org/agrofuelfolly.html>http://www.corporateeurope.org/agrofuelfolly.html
[3] <http://www.globalforestcoalition.org/img/userpics/File/publications/Therealcostofagrofuels.pdf>http://www.globalforestcoalition.org/img/userpics/File/publications/Therealcostofagrofuels.pdf
[4] <http://www.leudaltrading.com/index-5.html>http://www.leudaltrading.com/index-5.html
[5] <http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/actionsapr08.php>http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/actionsapr08.php
Dutch version of Press Release: http://www.globalforestcoalition.org/news/view/87