Quarterly Bulletin

SHOULD WE GROW CROPS FOR BIOFUELS?

WHAT ARE BIOFUELS?

Biofuels are made from the products of recently living organisms. Biofuels are a renewable source of energy, unlike other natural resources such as the fossil fuels, petroleum and coal, which are nonrenewable. In Zambia, two plants are especially being considered for biofuel production, sugar cane for ethanol and a common shrub, Jatropha curcas, for biodiesel produced from the oil in its seeds.

SHORTFALLS OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS

However, there are several reasons why we should be very cautious about diverting agricultural products into biofuels.
One reason is that it would take all the world’s agricultural land to produce enough biofuel to replace just the amount of fossil fuel currently used for transportation, not counting the amount used to run electricity generating plants – a clear impossibility.

If crops are made into fuel instead of food, then as the cost of fuel rises, so will the cost of food. Wahenga, a food security NGO in South Africa, provides two reasons why food prices can be expected to rise as fuel prices increase. First, there will be a higher cost in producing the food because industrial agriculture is highly fuel intensive.  Secondly, the surplus grain which used to depress the world price of grain, will be removed from the food market as the grain is sold to companies making biofuels.

Already the shift of just a small percentage of agricultural land into growing plants for biofuel is causing a significant increase in the worldwide price of the basic food items: maize, wheat, and rice. Presently, about 10% of the sugar cane harvest in the world goes into the production of ethanol; this has caused the price of sugar to double. This will obviously be a terrible extra burden upon the poorest people in Zambia and all over the world.

IMPENDING CONSEQUENCES

Lester Brown of the Worldwatch Institute said that “the stage is now set for direct competition for grain between the 800 million people who own automobiles, and the world’s 2 billion poorest people. The risk is that millions of those on the lower rungs of the global economic ladder will start falling off as higher food prices drop their consumption below the survival level.”  In some countries where famine already exists, the production of biofuels will lead to a decrease in land available for food production.

For some methods of biofuel production, e.g., of ethanol from maize, more energy is spent in producing the fuel than is contained in the fuel. Such biofuel production obviously does not solve any of the problems mentioned above for use of fossil fuels.

The drive to switch over to biofuels is leading to deforestation. In Indonesia and Malaysia, rain forest is already being cut for plantations of oil palm to be used for biofuel. The deforestation will contribute to global warming. Another unfortunate consequence of deforestation is the significant reduction of biodiversity that it causes.

The biofuel boom could also affect food aid.  The amount of money budgeted by various agencies for food assistance is limited, so as farmers sell more grain to ethanol-producing companies, the rising food prices will reduce the capacity of these agencies to supply sufficient food aid.

Finally, widespread use of ethanol in vehicles could have serious effects upon human health.  Research carried out at Stanford University found that a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% petrol will increase the ground-level concentration of ozone, which in turn will increase respiratory problems and ozone-related deaths.

ALTERNATIVES TO BIOFUEL

The first thing that must be stressed is that there is no way our human family can continue to use fuel at the present rate at which we consume fossil fuels. 

There is no substitute for cutting back on our use of fuel – and even on our massive use of all energy sources.  So the question becomes, how can we reduce the amount of fuel and energy we are currently using?

One alternative is to increase the efficiency of motor vehicle use of fuel. Increasing vehicle fuel efficiency by only 20% would save as much petrol and diesel as converting the entire grain harvest of the United States (US) into ethanol. (The US presently produces about 70% of the world’s maize export.)

An alternative to use of biofuel is to increase the use of the other energy sources mentioned in the first paragraph, wind and solar energy.  Many countries are now increasing the amount of electricity generated from these two energy sources, and hence are reducing the need to build new power plants fueled by fossil fuels.

These two energy sources, after conversion to electricity, can also then indirectly run hybrid vehicles that use both petrol (or diesel) and electricity.  Solar energy is the most abundant source of energy on earth.  The cost of solar panels is now decreasing, and it is very likely that the cost will decrease significantly in the coming decade. 

In Vatican City a project is underway to put solar panels on the building roofs, beginning with the Paul VI audience hall, creating enough energy to heat, cool, and light the entire building year round.

A MOST FUNDAMENTAL RESPONSE

In conclusion, I return to the thought offered above, that the most fundamental response to the challenges of global warming and depletion of fossil fuel reserves is for our human family to reduce its consumption of fossil fuel and all forms of energy.  For those of us trapped in the consumerist culture, this will mean significantly changing our life style, cutting back on our purchases, for everything purchased has taken energy to produce, transport, and package. 

This proposal is no doubt repulsive to many, and we all will find it difficult to accomplish since it involves such a major change in our life style. In Zambia, we would not, of course, ask for major consumption reduction among the already poor majority.

Perhaps the pithy statement of Mahatma Gandhi will help us see the necessity of this conversion: “The earth has enough to satisfy the needs of all, but not enough to satisfy the greed of a few.”

Finally, in his message for World Peace Day in 1990, “Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all of Creation”, Pope John Paul II urged us to take a serious look at our life style. He said: “In many parts of the world, society is given to instant gratification and consumerism while remaining indifferent to the damage these cause.

Simplicity, moderation and discipline, as well as a spirit of sacrifice, must become a part of everyday life.”

Roland Lesseps, S.J.
Kasisi Agricultural Training Institute
Lusaka