Biofuels -Food or Fuel

8/14/2019 Biofuels -Food or Fuel

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A struggle to survive.


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Outline

What is Biofuel?

Why Bio-Fuel Became Important ?

What is the problem from Biofuels?

Who is affected?

A Trade Off : Food or Fuel?

Conclusion, Suggestions


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What is Biofuels?

The use of plants or itsproducts such as corn,wheat for theproduction of energy

(ex. Ethanol) which canbe used instead of oil asa source of energy fortransportation and

manufacturingetc


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What is Biofuels? Its chemical properties and performance characteristics

are very similar to petroleum-based diesel fuel.

It can readily replace or be blended with diesel fuel or

heating oil in standard diesel engines and boilers,

requiring very few, if any, equipment modifications.

It can be produced fairly inexpensively from a variety of

biomass feedstocks in large oil refinery-sized plants or

at the villa e level usin sim le technolo .


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Biofuels Production cycle


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The Shift to Biofuels

Biofuels is not new, but it remained atiny niche market until oil prices rose.

When oil prices peaked , Bio-fuelbecame cost effective.


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Why Biofuels?

A large-scale expansion of biofuels for

transport has the potential to make a

significant positive contribution to the climate

problem and to provide a source of income tosupport rural livelihoods.

Biofuels production may offer income-

generation opportunities in rural areas


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Rising oil prices


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President G.W.Bush,

State of the UnionAddress, January

Keeping Americacompetitive requiresaffordable energy. And

here we have a seriousproblem: America isaddicted to oil, which isoften imported fromunstable parts of theworld.


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Biofuels creates an increaseddemand for crops such ascorn and wheat, so its pricesget higher and at the sametime food prices gets higheras well.

World Bank policy research workingpaper released in July 2008 says thatbiofuelshave raised food pricesbetween 70 to 75 percent. The study
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bank


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Monthly U.S. Ethanol ProductionExpressed as


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the uses of Corn as food (red curve) is shifted towards theproduction of ethanol (green curve), also exports are

declining.

U.S. Use of Corn


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Increased portion of food supplydevoted to biofuels


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Competition between biofuels and food, as an end-

use of the same crop (e.g. maize, sugarcane) or asalternative land uses (e.g. oil palm versus foodcrops), increase demand for food & prices. the so-called food versus fuel debate.


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The World Bank declared in July 2008 that biofuelshave raised food prices between 70 75% and that

the higher oil prices explain 25 30% of the totalprice rise.

Rising food prices are likely to have negative effectson access to food for poorer and more vulnerable

groups.



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Cost of biof uels

f


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Prices of manycommodities

Source: International Monetary Fund: International Financial Statistics

+ 130 %

+ 329 %

+ 585 %


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Who is most affected with theincreasing prices of food?

Developing countries : Huge demand

due to big Populations.

India for example has one of the

highest demands population1.13

billion.

Hi h l ti th hi h f d d d


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High population growth =high food demand

E ti M d!


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Eating Mud!

The poor of the ThirdWorld, the homeless,

the elderly, the disabledand all those living onlow fixed incomes arethe hardest hit by highfood prices.

Haiti resorting to eating Mud Cakesbecause American biofuel mandateshave made grains unaffordable.


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Rising food prices have sparked violent protests around

s.


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Pakistani women buy subsidized flour in Lahore. The


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Conflict of Interests

Indian minister attacks biofuels:

INDIAN FINANCE MINISTER HASSAID THAT IT IS "OUTRAGEOUS"

THAT DEVELOPED COUNTRIESARE TURNING FOOD CROPS

INTO BIO FUELS.

He said the pursuit of suchpolicies at a time when many in

the world could barely afford toeat was "outrageous and...must be condemned".


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Developed Countries response!!

Former US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said that

the global food crisis is caused by the growing Indianand Chinese appetite!!!


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What are the Future plans?

The EU plans to have 8% of its transportation

fuels coming from biofuels by 2015 .

In the USA, the Energy Policy Act (EPACT) of

2005 created a national Renewable Fuels

Standard (RFS) that plans to increase national

biofuels consumption to 28 billion litres by

2012.


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C l i


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Conclusion

Increasing the biofuels production by the

developed countries will cause higherfood prices that will affect negatively thefood supply for the developing countries.

The biofuels negative effects on foodprices will increase in the future with highpopulation growth rates.

Reforms to the energy sector should

Fi ll


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Finally

We are not against biofuels but, developed

countries must search for alternativesthat wont affect the food supply for poor.


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Thank

Documents

Biofuels -Food or Fuel