How Green Is Your Artificial Christmas Tree? You Might Be Surprised

When it comes to Christmas trees, Americans increasingly prefer plastic pines over the real thing.

Enlarge This Image

Tina Fineberg for The New York Times
Ronald Herrera went for a natural Christmas tree, purchased from a vendor at Union Square, and took it home by subway.

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Sales of fake trees are expected to approach 13 million this year, a record, as quality improves and they get more convenient, with features like built-in lights and easy collapsibility. All told, well over 50 million artificial Christmas trees will grace living rooms and dens this season, according to the industry’s main trade group, compared to about 30 million real trees.

Kim Jones, who was shopping for a tree at a Target store in Brooklyn this week, was convinced that she was doing the planet a favor by buying a $200 fake balsam fir made in China instead of buying a carbon-sipping pine that had been cut down for one season’s revelry.

“I’m very environmentally conscious,” Ms. Jones said. “I’ll keep it for 10 years, and that’s 10 trees that won’t be cut down.”

But Ms. Jones and the millions of others buying fake trees might not be doing the environment any favors.

In the most definitive study of the perennial real vs. fake question, an environmental consulting firm in Montreal found that an artificial tree would have to be reused for more than 20 years to be greener than buying a fresh-cut tree annually. The calculations included greenhouse gas emissions, use of resources and human health impacts.

“The natural tree is a better option,” said Jean-Sebastien Trudel, founder of the firm, Ellipsos, that released the independent study last year.

The annual carbon emissions associated with using a real tree every year were just one-third of those created by an artificial tree over a typical six-year lifespan. Most fake trees also contain polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, which produces carcinogens during manufacturing and disposal.

Ellipsos specifically studied the market for Christmas trees bought in Montreal and either grown in Quebec or manufactured in China. Mr. Trudel said the results would most likely differ for other cities and regions. Excessive driving by consumers to purchase real trees could tip the scales back in favor of artificial trees, at least in terms of carbon emissions.

Over all, the study found that the environmental impact of real Christmas trees was quite small, and significantly less than that of artificial trees — a conclusion shared by environmental groups and some scientists.

“You’re not doing any harm by cutting down a Christmas tree,” said Clint Springer, a botanist and professor of biology at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. “A lot of people think artificial is better because you’re preserving the life of a tree. But in this case, you’ve got a crop that’s being raised for that purpose.”

Makers of fake trees argue that the environmental evidence isn’t quite so clear-cut.

“If you buy an artificial Christmas tree and reuse it for at least five years, it’s absolutely a green thing to do,” said Thomas Harman, founder and chief executive of Balsam Hill, a maker of premium artificial trees. Mr. Harman said that the average amount of car travel by consumers to buy a real Christmas tree outweighed the added energy and pollution costs of buying an artificial tree from China.

The American Christmas Tree Association, the main trade group for artificial tree makers and retailers, says its own study found that it took 10 years of use before a fake tree became better for the environment than a real one, at least in terms of carbon emissions.

Yet the trade-offs are not immediately apparent to consumers and even some tree growers.

On a bitterly cold afternoon at the Winter Market at New York City’s Union Square this week, Lizza Stanley browsed for Christmas trees with her husband, Brian. They wondered if an artificial tree would be better for the environment because it could be reused time and time again.

The tree seller, Rob Rodriguez from Van Houten Farms of Orangeville, Pa., was of little help. “I don’t even know for sure,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “I would guess natural?”

The balance tilts in favor of natural Christmas trees because of the way they are grown and harvested.


Close to 400 million trees now grow on Christmas tree farms in the United States, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, which represents growers and retailers of real trees. About 30 million trees are harvested annually.


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The living trees generate oxygen, help fix carbon in their branches and in the soil and provide habitat for birds and animals, Mr. Springer said.

Christmas tree farms also help preserve farmland and green space, particularly near densely populated urban areas where pressure for development is intense.

“It allows people with land that may not be the best farmland to have a crop that they can actually make a profit on, and not be under pressure to sell out to developers,” said Mike Garrett, owner and operator of a Christmas tree farm in Sussex, N.J.

After the holidays, real trees can continue to serve a purpose. New York City, for instance, offers free curbside recycling for trees, which are turned into compost. The city’s parks department also provides a free mulching service for trees at several locations after the holidays. In 2009, nearly 150,000 trees were composted or mulched in the city.

Artificial trees, by contrast, are manufactured almost exclusively in Asia from plastic and metal and cannot be recycled by most municipal recycling programs. After six to 10 years of use, most will end up in a landfill.

Melly Garcia, who bought a six-foot fir on the Upper East Side of Manhattan this week, said she was certain that the real tree was the correct environmental choice.

“The trees are coming from a sustainable place, and if you dispose of it properly, it goes back to the earth,” she said. “So I’m at peace with that.”

Jami Warner, executive director of the American Christmas Tree Association, the group promoting artificial trees, said that neither kind of tree had much of an impact on the environment — “especially when compared to something that most of us do every day, like drive a car,” she wrote in an e-mail.

On that point, Mr. Trudel of Ellipsos agrees.

“When you really consider it, if you exchange a couple of days of commuting by car with carpooling or riding a bicycle, you’ll completely overcompensate for whatever the impact of the tree is,” he said. “It’s not such a big deal. Enjoy your tree, whichever one you prefer.”

How Green Is Your Artificial Christmas Tree? You Might Be Surprised

When it comes to Christmas trees, Americans increasingly prefer plastic pines over the real thing.

Enlarge This Image

Tina Fineberg for The New York Times
Ronald Herrera went for a natural Christmas tree, purchased from a vendor at Union Square, and took it home by subway.

A blog about energy and the environment.

Go to Blog
.Add to Portfolio
Target Corp
Go to your Portfolio »
Sales of fake trees are expected to approach 13 million this year, a record, as quality improves and they get more convenient, with features like built-in lights and easy collapsibility. All told, well over 50 million artificial Christmas trees will grace living rooms and dens this season, according to the industry’s main trade group, compared to about 30 million real trees.

Kim Jones, who was shopping for a tree at a Target store in Brooklyn this week, was convinced that she was doing the planet a favor by buying a $200 fake balsam fir made in China instead of buying a carbon-sipping pine that had been cut down for one season’s revelry.

“I’m very environmentally conscious,” Ms. Jones said. “I’ll keep it for 10 years, and that’s 10 trees that won’t be cut down.”

But Ms. Jones and the millions of others buying fake trees might not be doing the environment any favors.

In the most definitive study of the perennial real vs. fake question, an environmental consulting firm in Montreal found that an artificial tree would have to be reused for more than 20 years to be greener than buying a fresh-cut tree annually. The calculations included greenhouse gas emissions, use of resources and human health impacts.

“The natural tree is a better option,” said Jean-Sebastien Trudel, founder of the firm, Ellipsos, that released the independent study last year.

The annual carbon emissions associated with using a real tree every year were just one-third of those created by an artificial tree over a typical six-year lifespan. Most fake trees also contain polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, which produces carcinogens during manufacturing and disposal.

Ellipsos specifically studied the market for Christmas trees bought in Montreal and either grown in Quebec or manufactured in China. Mr. Trudel said the results would most likely differ for other cities and regions. Excessive driving by consumers to purchase real trees could tip the scales back in favor of artificial trees, at least in terms of carbon emissions.

Over all, the study found that the environmental impact of real Christmas trees was quite small, and significantly less than that of artificial trees — a conclusion shared by environmental groups and some scientists.

“You’re not doing any harm by cutting down a Christmas tree,” said Clint Springer, a botanist and professor of biology at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. “A lot of people think artificial is better because you’re preserving the life of a tree. But in this case, you’ve got a crop that’s being raised for that purpose.”

Makers of fake trees argue that the environmental evidence isn’t quite so clear-cut.

“If you buy an artificial Christmas tree and reuse it for at least five years, it’s absolutely a green thing to do,” said Thomas Harman, founder and chief executive of Balsam Hill, a maker of premium artificial trees. Mr. Harman said that the average amount of car travel by consumers to buy a real Christmas tree outweighed the added energy and pollution costs of buying an artificial tree from China.

The American Christmas Tree Association, the main trade group for artificial tree makers and retailers, says its own study found that it took 10 years of use before a fake tree became better for the environment than a real one, at least in terms of carbon emissions.

Yet the trade-offs are not immediately apparent to consumers and even some tree growers.

On a bitterly cold afternoon at the Winter Market at New York City’s Union Square this week, Lizza Stanley browsed for Christmas trees with her husband, Brian. They wondered if an artificial tree would be better for the environment because it could be reused time and time again.

The tree seller, Rob Rodriguez from Van Houten Farms of Orangeville, Pa., was of little help. “I don’t even know for sure,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “I would guess natural?”

The balance tilts in favor of natural Christmas trees because of the way they are grown and harvested.


Close to 400 million trees now grow on Christmas tree farms in the United States, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, which represents growers and retailers of real trees. About 30 million trees are harvested annually.


A blog about energy and the environment.

Go to Blog
.Add to Portfolio
Target Corp
Go to your Portfolio »
The living trees generate oxygen, help fix carbon in their branches and in the soil and provide habitat for birds and animals, Mr. Springer said.

Christmas tree farms also help preserve farmland and green space, particularly near densely populated urban areas where pressure for development is intense.

“It allows people with land that may not be the best farmland to have a crop that they can actually make a profit on, and not be under pressure to sell out to developers,” said Mike Garrett, owner and operator of a Christmas tree farm in Sussex, N.J.

After the holidays, real trees can continue to serve a purpose. New York City, for instance, offers free curbside recycling for trees, which are turned into compost. The city’s parks department also provides a free mulching service for trees at several locations after the holidays. In 2009, nearly 150,000 trees were composted or mulched in the city.

Artificial trees, by contrast, are manufactured almost exclusively in Asia from plastic and metal and cannot be recycled by most municipal recycling programs. After six to 10 years of use, most will end up in a landfill.

Melly Garcia, who bought a six-foot fir on the Upper East Side of Manhattan this week, said she was certain that the real tree was the correct environmental choice.

“The trees are coming from a sustainable place, and if you dispose of it properly, it goes back to the earth,” she said. “So I’m at peace with that.”

Jami Warner, executive director of the American Christmas Tree Association, the group promoting artificial trees, said that neither kind of tree had much of an impact on the environment — “especially when compared to something that most of us do every day, like drive a car,” she wrote in an e-mail.

On that point, Mr. Trudel of Ellipsos agrees.

“When you really consider it, if you exchange a couple of days of commuting by car with carpooling or riding a bicycle, you’ll completely overcompensate for whatever the impact of the tree is,” he said. “It’s not such a big deal. Enjoy your tree, whichever one you prefer.”

The bubble car is back

MANY car designers are convinced that a radical change in automobile technology is going to be needed for the crowded megacities of the future. By 2030 more than 60% of the world’s population is expected to be living in cities, up from 50% now, and more of them will be able to afford cars. The need to reduce emissions, an acute scarcity of land for roads and parking, and the prospect of laws restricting conventional cars all point to the idea that different and smaller types of vehicle will be in demand. With that in mind, some of those designers are coming up with things that look a lot like a vehicle that was familiar more than 50 years ago. Welcome to the return of the bubble car.

Bubble cars were built to provide cheap personal transport. Most were two-seaters with just three wheels. They became particularly popular when fuel prices shot up in 1956, during the Suez crisis. One of the first was the Italian-made Iso Isetta. Germany was a prolific builder, too. Messerschmitt and Heinkel, forbidden to ply their former trade of building military aircraft, turned to bubble cars as a peacetime alternative. BMW, meanwhile, re-engineered the Isetta to use an engine from one of its motorcycles.

Rising incomes, falling fuel prices and changing fashions did for the original bubble cars, but the idea seems ripe for revival and three new versions, known as EN-Vs (for Electric Networked-Vehicles), are enthralling the crowds at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai. They can be driven normally or operated autonomously, with their occupants doing other things while the cars automatically avoid bumping into one another. They can also be summoned from their parking places using a mobile phone. And instead of being powered by smoky little petrol engines, they are driven electrically. What is most intriguing, however, is that they balance on just two wheels.

Related topics
General Motors
The three EN-Vs, each with a different body shape, were built by a partnership between General Motors (GM), an American company, and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, one of China’s biggest carmakers. The two-wheeled balancing system the cars use was developed by Segway, a firm which makes personal-transport devices used by policemen, postmen and people who need to scoot around large corporate campuses (and whose owner, Jimi Heselden, was killed on September 27th when he rode one of the firm’s devices over a cliff).




A balancing act

Riding a Segway personal transporter means gripping a set of handlebars while standing on a platform positioned between two wheels. The platform is kept in what Segway describes as a “dynamically stabilised” state. This is achieved by fitting each wheel with an electric motor that can rotate either clockwise or anticlockwise, as appropriate. A computer controls the resultant balancing act, using a series of motion sensors and gyroscopes. The upshot is that if the rider leans forward he travels forward, whereas if he leans backward the machine will stop and then go into reverse.

An EN-V is somewhat like a giant Segway, but without the handlebars. The platform, which contains the batteries and is mounted on a sliding mechanism, forms the chassis of the vehicle. It moves forwards when the vehicle is parked, so that it tips on to a pair of “landing wheels” at the front. That makes it easier to get in and out, for access is from the front via a large, transparent door—a traditional means of ingress for bubble cars. When the EN-V powers up, the platform shifts its centre of mass back to the centre of the vehicle. The drive wheels then rotate as necessary, to achieve both balance and propulsion.

The advantage of having only two wheels is that the car can be shrunk into a small package. At around 1.5 metres (59 inches) long by 1.4 metres wide, an EN-V is less than half the size of a MINI. Two wheels also allow greater manoeuvrability—an EN-V really can turn on a dime. With a top speed of 40kph (25mph) and a range of just 40km, its performance is limited. But average traffic speeds in many cities are already below 40kph and the EN-V’s range is well within the typical daily mileage of most urban drivers, says Chris Borroni-Bird, GM’s director of advanced vehicle concepts.

According to Dr Borroni-Bird, modern cars are over-engineered because they are designed for use between cities, not just within cities. In low-speed urban environments, he argues, lighter engineering can be used without compromising safety. In the case of the EN-Vs, that philosophy translates into bodies that are made from carbon-fibre composites and doors that are composed of polycarbonate plastics.

Automated driving, moreover, takes the EN-Vs to a new level of sophistication. The satellite-based global-positioning system provides each vehicle with its location on the Earth’s surface, to within a few centimetres. Other sensors establish its position on the road and in relation to the rest of the traffic. These sensors include infra-red detectors, which can recognise people and animals from their body heat (and which are already available in some cars); short-range ultrasonic scanners to detect nearby objects when parking; long-range radars to check the road farther ahead; and optical systems that are trained to recognise certain objects, such as cars, motorcycles, traffic signs and road markings.

Some of the tricks used by EN-Vs come from systems developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, who used a modified GM Chevrolet Tahoe to win the 2007 Urban Challenge. This was an event staged by America’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency to find vehicles that could operate autonomously alongside other traffic in a city and perform complex manoeuvres while doing so.

The other thing that EN-Vs can do is talk to each other. So if, for instance, one EN-V detects another by radar, it can check what that other is intending to do and agree on how to pass it safely. Such communication also allows for “platooning”, with one or more EN-Vs tagging along automatically behind a leader. That is a way of providing extra seating for a family outing, say, or of carrying luggage that will not fit in the leading vehicle.

Day-to-day automated driving of this sort is, Dr Borroni-Bird admits, far into the future and may well require new infrastructure on the roads. But in the near term he believes it is possible to take steps towards it. The automated valet-parking feature on the EN-Vs could, for instance, be used off public roads at places like shopping centres. Drivers would pull up at a designated entrance, get out, and leave their vehicles to trundle off and park snugly by themselves in a high-capacity car park. A phone call at the end of a shopping expedition would summon the car back.




I’m forever blowing bubbles

Nor is the EN-V the only bubble car on the drawing board. Gordon Murray, who designed racing cars for McLaren, and also its 370kph road car, is developing two tiny four-wheel cars, one with a 660cc engine and the other with an electric motor whose batteries give it a range of about 160km. These cars can carry three people, with the driver sitting in the middle and passengers behind. The single door hinges forwards and upwards, so such cars can be parked facing the pavement and close together—indeed, three of them can sit abreast in a standard parking place.

Mr Murray’s idea is not just to produce vehicles that have a low impact on the environment but also to use a green (and cheap) manufacturing system to build them. By doing away with big, heavy metal presses and assembling the vehicles from a simplified tubular chassis, he thinks the cost of production could be cut to about a fifth of that in a typical car factory. He is hoping to license both the design of the cars and their production process to other carmakers.

Renault, which is launching a range of electric cars, is also sticking to four wheels for its smallest design, the Twizy. This will be seen at the Paris Motor Show, which opens on October 2nd, and is due to go on sale in 2012. It will have a top speed of 75kph and a range, with a full battery, of just under 100km. Inside, the driver and a single passenger sit in tandem, as they would on a motorcycle. Outside, the body is made almost entirely of clear plastic—the ultimate bubble car, perhaps.

The bubble car is back

MANY car designers are convinced that a radical change in automobile technology is going to be needed for the crowded megacities of the future. By 2030 more than 60% of the world’s population is expected to be living in cities, up from 50% now, and more of them will be able to afford cars. The need to reduce emissions, an acute scarcity of land for roads and parking, and the prospect of laws restricting conventional cars all point to the idea that different and smaller types of vehicle will be in demand. With that in mind, some of those designers are coming up with things that look a lot like a vehicle that was familiar more than 50 years ago. Welcome to the return of the bubble car.

Bubble cars were built to provide cheap personal transport. Most were two-seaters with just three wheels. They became particularly popular when fuel prices shot up in 1956, during the Suez crisis. One of the first was the Italian-made Iso Isetta. Germany was a prolific builder, too. Messerschmitt and Heinkel, forbidden to ply their former trade of building military aircraft, turned to bubble cars as a peacetime alternative. BMW, meanwhile, re-engineered the Isetta to use an engine from one of its motorcycles.

Rising incomes, falling fuel prices and changing fashions did for the original bubble cars, but the idea seems ripe for revival and three new versions, known as EN-Vs (for Electric Networked-Vehicles), are enthralling the crowds at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai. They can be driven normally or operated autonomously, with their occupants doing other things while the cars automatically avoid bumping into one another. They can also be summoned from their parking places using a mobile phone. And instead of being powered by smoky little petrol engines, they are driven electrically. What is most intriguing, however, is that they balance on just two wheels.

Related topics
General Motors
The three EN-Vs, each with a different body shape, were built by a partnership between General Motors (GM), an American company, and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, one of China’s biggest carmakers. The two-wheeled balancing system the cars use was developed by Segway, a firm which makes personal-transport devices used by policemen, postmen and people who need to scoot around large corporate campuses (and whose owner, Jimi Heselden, was killed on September 27th when he rode one of the firm’s devices over a cliff).




A balancing act

Riding a Segway personal transporter means gripping a set of handlebars while standing on a platform positioned between two wheels. The platform is kept in what Segway describes as a “dynamically stabilised” state. This is achieved by fitting each wheel with an electric motor that can rotate either clockwise or anticlockwise, as appropriate. A computer controls the resultant balancing act, using a series of motion sensors and gyroscopes. The upshot is that if the rider leans forward he travels forward, whereas if he leans backward the machine will stop and then go into reverse.

An EN-V is somewhat like a giant Segway, but without the handlebars. The platform, which contains the batteries and is mounted on a sliding mechanism, forms the chassis of the vehicle. It moves forwards when the vehicle is parked, so that it tips on to a pair of “landing wheels” at the front. That makes it easier to get in and out, for access is from the front via a large, transparent door—a traditional means of ingress for bubble cars. When the EN-V powers up, the platform shifts its centre of mass back to the centre of the vehicle. The drive wheels then rotate as necessary, to achieve both balance and propulsion.

The advantage of having only two wheels is that the car can be shrunk into a small package. At around 1.5 metres (59 inches) long by 1.4 metres wide, an EN-V is less than half the size of a MINI. Two wheels also allow greater manoeuvrability—an EN-V really can turn on a dime. With a top speed of 40kph (25mph) and a range of just 40km, its performance is limited. But average traffic speeds in many cities are already below 40kph and the EN-V’s range is well within the typical daily mileage of most urban drivers, says Chris Borroni-Bird, GM’s director of advanced vehicle concepts.

According to Dr Borroni-Bird, modern cars are over-engineered because they are designed for use between cities, not just within cities. In low-speed urban environments, he argues, lighter engineering can be used without compromising safety. In the case of the EN-Vs, that philosophy translates into bodies that are made from carbon-fibre composites and doors that are composed of polycarbonate plastics.

Automated driving, moreover, takes the EN-Vs to a new level of sophistication. The satellite-based global-positioning system provides each vehicle with its location on the Earth’s surface, to within a few centimetres. Other sensors establish its position on the road and in relation to the rest of the traffic. These sensors include infra-red detectors, which can recognise people and animals from their body heat (and which are already available in some cars); short-range ultrasonic scanners to detect nearby objects when parking; long-range radars to check the road farther ahead; and optical systems that are trained to recognise certain objects, such as cars, motorcycles, traffic signs and road markings.

Some of the tricks used by EN-Vs come from systems developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, who used a modified GM Chevrolet Tahoe to win the 2007 Urban Challenge. This was an event staged by America’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency to find vehicles that could operate autonomously alongside other traffic in a city and perform complex manoeuvres while doing so.

The other thing that EN-Vs can do is talk to each other. So if, for instance, one EN-V detects another by radar, it can check what that other is intending to do and agree on how to pass it safely. Such communication also allows for “platooning”, with one or more EN-Vs tagging along automatically behind a leader. That is a way of providing extra seating for a family outing, say, or of carrying luggage that will not fit in the leading vehicle.

Day-to-day automated driving of this sort is, Dr Borroni-Bird admits, far into the future and may well require new infrastructure on the roads. But in the near term he believes it is possible to take steps towards it. The automated valet-parking feature on the EN-Vs could, for instance, be used off public roads at places like shopping centres. Drivers would pull up at a designated entrance, get out, and leave their vehicles to trundle off and park snugly by themselves in a high-capacity car park. A phone call at the end of a shopping expedition would summon the car back.




I’m forever blowing bubbles

Nor is the EN-V the only bubble car on the drawing board. Gordon Murray, who designed racing cars for McLaren, and also its 370kph road car, is developing two tiny four-wheel cars, one with a 660cc engine and the other with an electric motor whose batteries give it a range of about 160km. These cars can carry three people, with the driver sitting in the middle and passengers behind. The single door hinges forwards and upwards, so such cars can be parked facing the pavement and close together—indeed, three of them can sit abreast in a standard parking place.

Mr Murray’s idea is not just to produce vehicles that have a low impact on the environment but also to use a green (and cheap) manufacturing system to build them. By doing away with big, heavy metal presses and assembling the vehicles from a simplified tubular chassis, he thinks the cost of production could be cut to about a fifth of that in a typical car factory. He is hoping to license both the design of the cars and their production process to other carmakers.

Renault, which is launching a range of electric cars, is also sticking to four wheels for its smallest design, the Twizy. This will be seen at the Paris Motor Show, which opens on October 2nd, and is due to go on sale in 2012. It will have a top speed of 75kph and a range, with a full battery, of just under 100km. Inside, the driver and a single passenger sit in tandem, as they would on a motorcycle. Outside, the body is made almost entirely of clear plastic—the ultimate bubble car, perhaps.

The Case for Renewable Ethanol

To the Editor:

Re “Good Energy Subsidies, and Bad” (editorial, Dec. 9):

If you want to enact smart energy policy, let’s start by increasing the use of the only available, affordable alternative to oil today: homegrown, renewable ethanol.

In 2009, the ethanol industry contributed $53.3 billion to the nation’s gross domestic product, created and supported more than 400,000 American jobs, and reduced oil imports by 364 million barrels. And studies show that ethanol is 59 percent cleaner than gasoline.

The only reason the ethanol industry needs government support today is that we are denied access to all but 10 percent of the fuel market. Growth Energy’s Fueling Freedom plan would redirect tax credits to build out a national ethanol infrastructure to allow access to a fair and open market. As a result, our air would be cleaner, our prosperity would be enhanced and our security would be strengthened. That is smart policy.

Wesley K. Clark
Little Rock, Ark., Dec. 9, 2010

The writer, the retired general, is co-chairman of Growth Energy.

The Case for Renewable Ethanol

To the Editor:

Re “Good Energy Subsidies, and Bad” (editorial, Dec. 9):

If you want to enact smart energy policy, let’s start by increasing the use of the only available, affordable alternative to oil today: homegrown, renewable ethanol.

In 2009, the ethanol industry contributed $53.3 billion to the nation’s gross domestic product, created and supported more than 400,000 American jobs, and reduced oil imports by 364 million barrels. And studies show that ethanol is 59 percent cleaner than gasoline.

The only reason the ethanol industry needs government support today is that we are denied access to all but 10 percent of the fuel market. Growth Energy’s Fueling Freedom plan would redirect tax credits to build out a national ethanol infrastructure to allow access to a fair and open market. As a result, our air would be cleaner, our prosperity would be enhanced and our security would be strengthened. That is smart policy.

Wesley K. Clark
Little Rock, Ark., Dec. 9, 2010

The writer, the retired general, is co-chairman of Growth Energy.

California adopts landmark low-carbon fuel rule

California today adopted a first-ever rule to slash carbon emissions in automotive fuels, and spur the market for cleaner gasoline alternatives, after a last-ditch appeal to ethanol advocates who fought the plan.

The low-carbon fuel standard approved by the state’s influential air-quality regulators was hailed by backers as an historic initiative that the rest of the United States and other countries were likely to emulate.
It marks the first attempt by government anywhere in the world to subject transportation fuels — as opposed to the cars and trucks they power — to limits on their potential for releasing greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

The measure, if it works as designed, will hasten the transformation of vehicles and the supporting transportation network built for more than a century around refined petroleum products and the internal combustion engine.

“California’s first-in-the world low-carbon fuel standard will not only reduce global warming pollution, it will reward innovation, expand consumer choice and encourage the private investment we need to transform our energy infrastructure,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Schwarzenegger prompted work on a low-carbon fuel standard when he called for such a measure in a 2007 executive order.

Transportation alone accounts for a third of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, and 40 percent in California, which ranks as the leading automobile market in the United States.

At least 11 other states are weighing similar rules, and President Barack Obama has called for a nationwide low-carbon fuel standard to help meet his goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions more than 80 percent by mid-century.

But ethanol industry executives and other critics say the measure contains a built-in bias against biofuels — especially those made from corn — that will undermine regulators’ aims of helping abate climate change and reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

PRODUCTION TO COMBUSTION

The heart of the rule is a new standard requiring refineries, producers and importers of motor fuels sold in California to reduce the “carbon intensity” of their products by 10 percent by 2020, with greater cuts thereafter.

Fuel suppliers can achieve those targets by reducing the carbon content of their own products, buying and reselling cleaner-burning fuels from others or by purchasing carbon credits as offsets.

The rule is supposed to lower California’s carbon emissions by 16 million metric tons over the next decade, and replace 20 percent of the state’s fossil fuels with cleaner options, such as electricity, hydrogen, natural gas and biofuels.

The measure thus creates a market for alternative fuels insulated from the volatility of petroleum prices and lets the market decide which new fuels will thrive commercially.

California’s plan also takes a sweeping “cradle-to-grave” approach to cutting the carbon footprint of fuels by accounting for direct tailpipe emissions and indirect impacts associated with a fuel’s overall “pathway” from production to combustion.

In the case of grain-based ethanol, the measure factors in the carbon consequences of plowing up grasslands or clearing forests for large-scale corn or sugar cane cultivation.

Critics say the model for indirect effects of land use is flawed and selectively applied to ethanol only, putting a cleaner-burning fuel already widely available at a disadvantage to alternatives still being developed.

In an 11th-hour bid to ease those concerns, the head of the state’s Air Resources Board, Mary Nichols, wrote a letter to biofuel executives insisting that corn ethanol will play a key role in California’s fuel market well into the next decade.

She pledged further review of the rule and said the board would revise its regulation over time as warranted. In a briefing with reporters during a break in Thursday’s hearing, Nichols stressed that the rule is a work in progress.

“We are aware of the fact that we don’t know everything,” she said.

Former U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, co-chair of biofuels association Growth Energy and a former Democratic U.S. presidential candidate, said he supported the rule overall but urged suspension of provisions related to indirect impacts.

Instead, the board agreed to strengthen the review process, including a new advisory panel consisting of regulators, energy executives, consumer advocates, automakers, environmental groups, academics and public health authorities.

California adopts landmark low-carbon fuel rule

California today adopted a first-ever rule to slash carbon emissions in automotive fuels, and spur the market for cleaner gasoline alternatives, after a last-ditch appeal to ethanol advocates who fought the plan.

The low-carbon fuel standard approved by the state’s influential air-quality regulators was hailed by backers as an historic initiative that the rest of the United States and other countries were likely to emulate.
It marks the first attempt by government anywhere in the world to subject transportation fuels — as opposed to the cars and trucks they power — to limits on their potential for releasing greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

The measure, if it works as designed, will hasten the transformation of vehicles and the supporting transportation network built for more than a century around refined petroleum products and the internal combustion engine.

“California’s first-in-the world low-carbon fuel standard will not only reduce global warming pollution, it will reward innovation, expand consumer choice and encourage the private investment we need to transform our energy infrastructure,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Schwarzenegger prompted work on a low-carbon fuel standard when he called for such a measure in a 2007 executive order.

Transportation alone accounts for a third of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, and 40 percent in California, which ranks as the leading automobile market in the United States.

At least 11 other states are weighing similar rules, and President Barack Obama has called for a nationwide low-carbon fuel standard to help meet his goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions more than 80 percent by mid-century.

But ethanol industry executives and other critics say the measure contains a built-in bias against biofuels — especially those made from corn — that will undermine regulators’ aims of helping abate climate change and reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

PRODUCTION TO COMBUSTION

The heart of the rule is a new standard requiring refineries, producers and importers of motor fuels sold in California to reduce the “carbon intensity” of their products by 10 percent by 2020, with greater cuts thereafter.

Fuel suppliers can achieve those targets by reducing the carbon content of their own products, buying and reselling cleaner-burning fuels from others or by purchasing carbon credits as offsets.

The rule is supposed to lower California’s carbon emissions by 16 million metric tons over the next decade, and replace 20 percent of the state’s fossil fuels with cleaner options, such as electricity, hydrogen, natural gas and biofuels.

The measure thus creates a market for alternative fuels insulated from the volatility of petroleum prices and lets the market decide which new fuels will thrive commercially.

California’s plan also takes a sweeping “cradle-to-grave” approach to cutting the carbon footprint of fuels by accounting for direct tailpipe emissions and indirect impacts associated with a fuel’s overall “pathway” from production to combustion.

In the case of grain-based ethanol, the measure factors in the carbon consequences of plowing up grasslands or clearing forests for large-scale corn or sugar cane cultivation.

Critics say the model for indirect effects of land use is flawed and selectively applied to ethanol only, putting a cleaner-burning fuel already widely available at a disadvantage to alternatives still being developed.

In an 11th-hour bid to ease those concerns, the head of the state’s Air Resources Board, Mary Nichols, wrote a letter to biofuel executives insisting that corn ethanol will play a key role in California’s fuel market well into the next decade.

She pledged further review of the rule and said the board would revise its regulation over time as warranted. In a briefing with reporters during a break in Thursday’s hearing, Nichols stressed that the rule is a work in progress.

“We are aware of the fact that we don’t know everything,” she said.

Former U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, co-chair of biofuels association Growth Energy and a former Democratic U.S. presidential candidate, said he supported the rule overall but urged suspension of provisions related to indirect impacts.

Instead, the board agreed to strengthen the review process, including a new advisory panel consisting of regulators, energy executives, consumer advocates, automakers, environmental groups, academics and public health authorities.

Biodiesel Vaporized into Substitute Natural Gas

Biodiesel Vaporized into Substitute Natural Gas

Comment on this post Posted by John Davis – September 23rd, 2010
A Maryland company has found a way to vaporize biodiesel into a natural gas substitute that can be turned into renewable electric power.

LPP Combustion, LLC announced it has installed the hardware on a demonstration unit in Columbia, MD to get some operational experience:

Generally, combustion of biodiesel in gas turbines requires extra refinement of the fuel due to impurities that can be harmful to gas turbine components. However, by vaporizing the biodiesel into nitrogen before introducing it to the gas turbine as LPP Gas™, the LPP Combustion hardware substantially reduces operational problems associates with conventional burning of biodiesel in gas turbines. Emissions from the C30 gas turbine, operating at full load on LPP Gas™ derived from biodiesel, are 5.6 ppmv NOx and 9 ppmv CO, at 15%O2, improving on the baseline natural gas emissions.

The fuel tested was a canola-based biodiesel provided to LPP Combustion, LLC by Northern Biodiesel, an Ontario, NY company. The C30 gas turbine was on loan from Harbec Plastics, an Ontario, NY based plastics manufacturer. Harbec Plastics intends to convert all 25 of its Capstone C30 gas turbines to operation on biofuels using the LPP Combustion technology, thereby eliminating the CO2 footprint from its plastics manufacturing.

The company has already successfully tested the same gas turbine using this technology on naphtha and on ethanol

More information is available at the company’s website, www.lppcombustion.com

Biodiesel Vaporized into Substitute Natural Gas

Biodiesel Vaporized into Substitute Natural Gas

Comment on this post Posted by John Davis – September 23rd, 2010
A Maryland company has found a way to vaporize biodiesel into a natural gas substitute that can be turned into renewable electric power.

LPP Combustion, LLC announced it has installed the hardware on a demonstration unit in Columbia, MD to get some operational experience:

Generally, combustion of biodiesel in gas turbines requires extra refinement of the fuel due to impurities that can be harmful to gas turbine components. However, by vaporizing the biodiesel into nitrogen before introducing it to the gas turbine as LPP Gas™, the LPP Combustion hardware substantially reduces operational problems associates with conventional burning of biodiesel in gas turbines. Emissions from the C30 gas turbine, operating at full load on LPP Gas™ derived from biodiesel, are 5.6 ppmv NOx and 9 ppmv CO, at 15%O2, improving on the baseline natural gas emissions.

The fuel tested was a canola-based biodiesel provided to LPP Combustion, LLC by Northern Biodiesel, an Ontario, NY company. The C30 gas turbine was on loan from Harbec Plastics, an Ontario, NY based plastics manufacturer. Harbec Plastics intends to convert all 25 of its Capstone C30 gas turbines to operation on biofuels using the LPP Combustion technology, thereby eliminating the CO2 footprint from its plastics manufacturing.

The company has already successfully tested the same gas turbine using this technology on naphtha and on ethanol

More information is available at the company’s website, www.lppcombustion.com

Shell, Cargill Invests in Bio-Gasoline, Renewable Diesel Start up

After increasing their investment in cellulosic biofuel maker Iogen last week, Shell announced today it has taken an undisclosed equity stake in U.S. biotechnology company Virent Energy Systems Inc. to deepen cooperation on the production of biofuels. According to Virent news release, the start up “closed a $46.4 million third round of funding in which Shell and Cargill deepened their commitment to Virent’s breakthrough technology platform.”"This investment demonstrates Shell’s confidence in Virent’s catalytic biofuel production processes,” said Luis Scoffone, Vice President of Alternative Energies at Shell. “The expansion of our joint technology program to include research into the production of diesel from plant sugars offers considerable potential and complements Shell’s wider biofuels portfolio.” Shell and Virent have been conducting a joint research and development effort to make biogasoline from plant sugars since 2007 and late last year they started up a pilot plant. Biodiesel is typically made from vegetable oils.

Shell, Cargill Invests in Bio-Gasoline, Renewable Diesel Start up

After increasing their investment in cellulosic biofuel maker Iogen last week, Shell announced today it has taken an undisclosed equity stake in U.S. biotechnology company Virent Energy Systems Inc. to deepen cooperation on the production of biofuels. According to Virent news release, the start up “closed a $46.4 million third round of funding in which Shell and Cargill deepened their commitment to Virent’s breakthrough technology platform.”"This investment demonstrates Shell’s confidence in Virent’s catalytic biofuel production processes,” said Luis Scoffone, Vice President of Alternative Energies at Shell. “The expansion of our joint technology program to include research into the production of diesel from plant sugars offers considerable potential and complements Shell’s wider biofuels portfolio.” Shell and Virent have been conducting a joint research and development effort to make biogasoline from plant sugars since 2007 and late last year they started up a pilot plant. Biodiesel is typically made from vegetable oils.

Ethanol Industry Holds EPA’s “Feet To The Fire” On E-15

The ethanol industry is pressing the Obama Administration to decide next month whether to allow blending of up to 15 percent ethanol in conventional gasoline. The EPA already delayed once, by at least 6-months, a decision on Growth Energy’s E-15 waiver request. Now, with EPA’s mid-June timeframe for possible action rapidly approaching, Growth Energy’s Tom Buis is keeping the pressure on, “They had promised us by the middle of this year. We have not heard otherwise…so, we’re still hopeful that it will be sooner, rather than later.” EPA and DOE officials were not available to comment.
In a letter, the EPA told Buis earlier in the year that the Energy Department would not be finished with all vehicle E-15 testing “until August” but “there could be enough data by the end of May to act in June.” Buis says some 2 years of testing is enough, ”It is time. We’ve proven in our submission, that we can go to E-15 in our nation’s automobiles, without any damage to automobile engines…without any damage to emissions equipment.” EPA acknowledged in December that testing until then was encouraging, which Growth Energy took as favorable for E-15.

Buis argues more delay is unacceptable, “It’s another day that we don’t make strides in becoming less dependent on foreign oil…another day that we’re not creating jobs right here in America-jobs that can’t be outsourced.” Even if EPA approves E-15, the oil industry is expected to mount a court challenge to more competition from ethanol, possibly further delaying ethanol’s shift into “high gear.”

Ethanol Industry Holds EPA’s “Feet To The Fire” On E-15

The ethanol industry is pressing the Obama Administration to decide next month whether to allow blending of up to 15 percent ethanol in conventional gasoline. The EPA already delayed once, by at least 6-months, a decision on Growth Energy’s E-15 waiver request. Now, with EPA’s mid-June timeframe for possible action rapidly approaching, Growth Energy’s Tom Buis is keeping the pressure on, “They had promised us by the middle of this year. We have not heard otherwise…so, we’re still hopeful that it will be sooner, rather than later.” EPA and DOE officials were not available to comment.
In a letter, the EPA told Buis earlier in the year that the Energy Department would not be finished with all vehicle E-15 testing “until August” but “there could be enough data by the end of May to act in June.” Buis says some 2 years of testing is enough, ”It is time. We’ve proven in our submission, that we can go to E-15 in our nation’s automobiles, without any damage to automobile engines…without any damage to emissions equipment.” EPA acknowledged in December that testing until then was encouraging, which Growth Energy took as favorable for E-15.

Buis argues more delay is unacceptable, “It’s another day that we don’t make strides in becoming less dependent on foreign oil…another day that we’re not creating jobs right here in America-jobs that can’t be outsourced.” Even if EPA approves E-15, the oil industry is expected to mount a court challenge to more competition from ethanol, possibly further delaying ethanol’s shift into “high gear.”

China's 'land grab' could be a development opportunity for African agriculture

by Doug Saunders

What if Beijing’s ‘invasion’ could be a major development opportunity for farmers in Africa?

In the fertile lands south of the Sahara, the huge green apparitions have become an increasingly familiar sight. After crossing the long stretches of the dun-coloured wasteland and the tiny, emaciated peasant plots that make up much of Africa’s countryside, you’re suddenly confronted with a huge expanse of green, robust crops doused in modern irrigation, worked with tractors and scattered with scores of field workers.

Here is the most visible face of Beijing’s powerful presence in Africa. Virtually unnoticed by people outside, Chinese companies have spent the past two years accumulating millions of hectares of African farmland.

Since 2008, when worldwide food shortages and a boom in biofuels suddenly made farming an attractive target for investment again, at least 20 million hectares – and possibly as much as 100 million – have been leased by foreigners (actual buying is rare) in Africa. On one hand, you can see the appeal: Africa has the cheapest arable land in the world, valued at an average of $800 a hectare.

Many of these deals are being done by China – how much, we don’t know, because record-keeping is sketchy. Persian Gulf countries and Europeans are also making big agricultural investments in Africa, but China’s getting the attention because it’s moved in with so much money and because it’s a poor and authoritarian developing country whose motives and methods are widely distrusted.

Indeed, if you picked up an African newspaper this week, you’d likely have seen cries of protest at this Chinese incursion, one that’s being portrayed as an “African land grab” and a “new scramble for Africa” – both references to Europe’s catastrophic colonial theft of African resources in the past two centuries. A coalition of activist groups has organized to fight such deals and keep the land in African hands.

But it’s worth taking a second look. People see the Chinese as moving into Africa, kicking poor farmers off their land, and growing food to be shipped back to China for domestic consumption. This seems unlikely, however. China already produces far more food than it needs, and its agricultural productivity is increasing. What it does have is $2-trillion (U.S.) in foreign-exchange reserves that it realizes it ought to invest more widely. African farms are a great bargain for investors who don’t mind risk; they can be turned into high-output and, therefore, high-profit operations.

Scholars who’ve examined China’s Africa policy have found not a desire for immediate returns but a longer-term interest in developing the continent’s infrastructure, training, management and investment to the point that yields will be far higher.

This happens to be exactly what African farms need. Whether someone from another continent can deliver it is an open question, but we shouldn’t be so quick to assume the worst.

Hunger and malnutrition afflict most of Africa’s countries, which, despite having some of the most fertile land in the world, are net importers of food. This is purely a matter of productivity. In crops such as corn, African farms are typically producing between 30 and 60 bushels a hectare; North American and European farms get 120 to 160 bushels from the same hectare because of better technology and investment.

We have just lived through a 15-year period during which per capita African food production fell by 8 per cent, while it increased in Asia by more than 25 per cent. If what happened in Europe a century ago and what’s happening in Asia now can be made to happen in Africa, then one of the world’s most serious problems could be solved.

The only major analysis of foreign farm investment in Africa was recently completed by Lorenzo Cotula and his colleagues at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development. Titled Land Grab or Development Opportunity, it found that, on the whole, there can be much more of the latter than the former if the deals are done right.

The result could be something like the shift that transformed European farming a century and a half ago: a move from hand-to-mouth subsistence farming to commercial farming that produces five times more food, employs many more people at far better wages than peasant earnings, and puts an end to rural poverty, which is currently the world’s largest killer of people.

Ugandan development economist Dick Kamuganga found that, if deals with foreigners are made to contract out the farming itself to local small-hold farmers (a practice that economists generally agree produces higher yields anyway), the result could “deliver the investment capital, technical know-how, jobs to local farmers and predictable food security for Africa.” If it takes a Chinese invasion to do it, it still might be worth it.

China's 'land grab' could be a development opportunity for African agriculture

by Doug Saunders

What if Beijing’s ‘invasion’ could be a major development opportunity for farmers in Africa?

In the fertile lands south of the Sahara, the huge green apparitions have become an increasingly familiar sight. After crossing the long stretches of the dun-coloured wasteland and the tiny, emaciated peasant plots that make up much of Africa’s countryside, you’re suddenly confronted with a huge expanse of green, robust crops doused in modern irrigation, worked with tractors and scattered with scores of field workers.

Here is the most visible face of Beijing’s powerful presence in Africa. Virtually unnoticed by people outside, Chinese companies have spent the past two years accumulating millions of hectares of African farmland.

Since 2008, when worldwide food shortages and a boom in biofuels suddenly made farming an attractive target for investment again, at least 20 million hectares – and possibly as much as 100 million – have been leased by foreigners (actual buying is rare) in Africa. On one hand, you can see the appeal: Africa has the cheapest arable land in the world, valued at an average of $800 a hectare.

Many of these deals are being done by China – how much, we don’t know, because record-keeping is sketchy. Persian Gulf countries and Europeans are also making big agricultural investments in Africa, but China’s getting the attention because it’s moved in with so much money and because it’s a poor and authoritarian developing country whose motives and methods are widely distrusted.

Indeed, if you picked up an African newspaper this week, you’d likely have seen cries of protest at this Chinese incursion, one that’s being portrayed as an “African land grab” and a “new scramble for Africa” – both references to Europe’s catastrophic colonial theft of African resources in the past two centuries. A coalition of activist groups has organized to fight such deals and keep the land in African hands.

But it’s worth taking a second look. People see the Chinese as moving into Africa, kicking poor farmers off their land, and growing food to be shipped back to China for domestic consumption. This seems unlikely, however. China already produces far more food than it needs, and its agricultural productivity is increasing. What it does have is $2-trillion (U.S.) in foreign-exchange reserves that it realizes it ought to invest more widely. African farms are a great bargain for investors who don’t mind risk; they can be turned into high-output and, therefore, high-profit operations.

Scholars who’ve examined China’s Africa policy have found not a desire for immediate returns but a longer-term interest in developing the continent’s infrastructure, training, management and investment to the point that yields will be far higher.

This happens to be exactly what African farms need. Whether someone from another continent can deliver it is an open question, but we shouldn’t be so quick to assume the worst.

Hunger and malnutrition afflict most of Africa’s countries, which, despite having some of the most fertile land in the world, are net importers of food. This is purely a matter of productivity. In crops such as corn, African farms are typically producing between 30 and 60 bushels a hectare; North American and European farms get 120 to 160 bushels from the same hectare because of better technology and investment.

We have just lived through a 15-year period during which per capita African food production fell by 8 per cent, while it increased in Asia by more than 25 per cent. If what happened in Europe a century ago and what’s happening in Asia now can be made to happen in Africa, then one of the world’s most serious problems could be solved.

The only major analysis of foreign farm investment in Africa was recently completed by Lorenzo Cotula and his colleagues at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development. Titled Land Grab or Development Opportunity, it found that, on the whole, there can be much more of the latter than the former if the deals are done right.

The result could be something like the shift that transformed European farming a century and a half ago: a move from hand-to-mouth subsistence farming to commercial farming that produces five times more food, employs many more people at far better wages than peasant earnings, and puts an end to rural poverty, which is currently the world’s largest killer of people.

Ugandan development economist Dick Kamuganga found that, if deals with foreigners are made to contract out the farming itself to local small-hold farmers (a practice that economists generally agree produces higher yields anyway), the result could “deliver the investment capital, technical know-how, jobs to local farmers and predictable food security for Africa.” If it takes a Chinese invasion to do it, it still might be worth it.

Peru's Cana Brava sells ethanol to BP

Distiller Cana Brava said it sold a 6.5 mln litre ethanol parcel to oil major British Petroleum which plans to sell the product in Germany or in the United Kingdom. Loading is scheduled for early June.

Cana Brava, which operates a 105 mln ethanol plant in Rio Chira, Piura, is currently devoting 90% of its output to the export market.

Peru's Cana Brava sells ethanol to BP

Distiller Cana Brava said it sold a 6.5 mln litre ethanol parcel to oil major British Petroleum which plans to sell the product in Germany or in the United Kingdom. Loading is scheduled for early June.

Cana Brava, which operates a 105 mln ethanol plant in Rio Chira, Piura, is currently devoting 90% of its output to the export market.

EU MEMBER STATES TO MISS 2010 BIOFUELS TARGET

It comes as absolutely no surprise that, as in previous years, the European Union's (EU) indicative biofuels consumption target of 5.75% for 2010 will not be met. The European Commission had already indicated a couple of years ago that this year's indicative objective was unlikely to be met citing a projection of 4.2%. The reasons for this failure can be found in the member states' legislative frameworks. Although in 2010 some countries actually exceeded the 5.75% benchmark, the Community average was pulled down by the poor performers whose biofuel usage is only marginal. This results in EU biofuels having a forecast market share of just 4% by energy content in 2010.

EU MEMBER STATES TO MISS 2010 BIOFUELS TARGET

It comes as absolutely no surprise that, as in previous years, the European Union's (EU) indicative biofuels consumption target of 5.75% for 2010 will not be met. The European Commission had already indicated a couple of years ago that this year's indicative objective was unlikely to be met citing a projection of 4.2%. The reasons for this failure can be found in the member states' legislative frameworks. Although in 2010 some countries actually exceeded the 5.75% benchmark, the Community average was pulled down by the poor performers whose biofuel usage is only marginal. This results in EU biofuels having a forecast market share of just 4% by energy content in 2010.

Locals buck oil firms’ ethanol imports

BY EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO Reporter

Local ethanol players have said oil companies have not been complying with the Biofuels law because they continue to buy ethanol abroad.

Tetchi Cruz Capellan, Ethanol Producers Association of the Philippines (EPAP) executive director, said that as stated in the Biofuels Act of 2006, all liquid fuels for motors and engines in the Philippines should contain locally sourced biofuels.

“We cannot understand why the oil companies refuse to heed the law,” she said.

Because of this, the Department of Energy earlier issued a circular that controls the importation of ethanol by requiring all oil companies to declare compliance to the Biofuels Act.

Most oil firms continue to source most of their ethanol requirements from countries like Brazil because of limited local production.

“If the department fails to control the importation of ethanol from Brazil, [then] we are simply replacing Middle East oil imports with Brazilian ethanol imports,” Capellan said.

Brazil is the recognized global leader in ethanol production, exporting 3.5 billion liters of ethanol and has supplied the domestic market with approximately 14 billion liters in 2007.

The South American country imposes a 30-percent import tax on ethanol to protect its industry whereas the Philippines only slaps a 1-percent duty on such imports.

Capellan said that the uneven playing field slowed the entry of investments in the biofuels sector, consequently undermining the alternative fuels program of the government.

As a result, Alto Power Inc.—which has a potential to produce 40 million liters of ethanol—announced last month they would pull out investments from the ethanol plant project in Cagayan de Oro because of the government’s weak support for the industry.

Locals buck oil firms’ ethanol imports

BY EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO Reporter

Local ethanol players have said oil companies have not been complying with the Biofuels law because they continue to buy ethanol abroad.

Tetchi Cruz Capellan, Ethanol Producers Association of the Philippines (EPAP) executive director, said that as stated in the Biofuels Act of 2006, all liquid fuels for motors and engines in the Philippines should contain locally sourced biofuels.

“We cannot understand why the oil companies refuse to heed the law,” she said.

Because of this, the Department of Energy earlier issued a circular that controls the importation of ethanol by requiring all oil companies to declare compliance to the Biofuels Act.

Most oil firms continue to source most of their ethanol requirements from countries like Brazil because of limited local production.

“If the department fails to control the importation of ethanol from Brazil, [then] we are simply replacing Middle East oil imports with Brazilian ethanol imports,” Capellan said.

Brazil is the recognized global leader in ethanol production, exporting 3.5 billion liters of ethanol and has supplied the domestic market with approximately 14 billion liters in 2007.

The South American country imposes a 30-percent import tax on ethanol to protect its industry whereas the Philippines only slaps a 1-percent duty on such imports.

Capellan said that the uneven playing field slowed the entry of investments in the biofuels sector, consequently undermining the alternative fuels program of the government.

As a result, Alto Power Inc.—which has a potential to produce 40 million liters of ethanol—announced last month they would pull out investments from the ethanol plant project in Cagayan de Oro because of the government’s weak support for the industry.

Shell, Iogen to Accelerate Commercialization of Cellulosic Ethanol

Shell, which has been making headway into the world of biofuels, most recently with a major joint venture with Brazil’s Cosan, just announced that it will make a further investment in Iogen Energy for the purpose of accelerating the commercial deployment of Iogen Energy’s process for making cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residue. As part of the ongoing joint development agreement between Shell, Iogen Corp. and Iogen Energy, Shell has made a significant incremental commitment to fund research and development activities at Iogen Energy until mid-2012. “Shell remains committed to addressing today’s energy challenges through sustainable, advanced biofuels that take CO2 out of the transport fuels sector and diversify supply over the next 20 years. We believe accelerating the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol will help us to achieve that goal,” says Luis Scoffone, vice president of alternative energies at Shell.

Shell, Iogen to Accelerate Commercialization of Cellulosic Ethanol

Shell, which has been making headway into the world of biofuels, most recently with a major joint venture with Brazil’s Cosan, just announced that it will make a further investment in Iogen Energy for the purpose of accelerating the commercial deployment of Iogen Energy’s process for making cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residue. As part of the ongoing joint development agreement between Shell, Iogen Corp. and Iogen Energy, Shell has made a significant incremental commitment to fund research and development activities at Iogen Energy until mid-2012. “Shell remains committed to addressing today’s energy challenges through sustainable, advanced biofuels that take CO2 out of the transport fuels sector and diversify supply over the next 20 years. We believe accelerating the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol will help us to achieve that goal,” says Luis Scoffone, vice president of alternative energies at Shell.

Ag Secretary Calls for Long-Term Ethanol Subsidies

According to Des Moines Register’s Philip Brasher, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wants a long-term extension to the subsidies for ethanol but won’t say how Congress should pay for measures, which could cost $40 billion or more. Vilsack says long-term extensions of the ethanol subsidies are needed in order to attract private capital to new biofuel projects. “It’s very difficult to get investors interested,” he said, “without this long-term commitment.”
The Agriculture and Energy departments and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hope to reach a consensus on a biofuel development strategy this summer, according to Vilsack. He did not say when the plan would be released. “We need a plan. We need to show that there’s a way to get to 36 billion gallons,” he said. The Administration said in a report issued in February that the government needs to set a timetable for commercializing advanced biofuels and to take a region-by-region approach to developing production and markets.

Vilsack expressed confidence that the EPA would allow more ethanol to be added to the gasoline used in conventional cars and trucks. The limit is now 10 percent. The industry wants the cap raised to 15 percent. A decision is expected this summer.

Ag Secretary Calls for Long-Term Ethanol Subsidies

According to Des Moines Register’s Philip Brasher, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wants a long-term extension to the subsidies for ethanol but won’t say how Congress should pay for measures, which could cost $40 billion or more. Vilsack says long-term extensions of the ethanol subsidies are needed in order to attract private capital to new biofuel projects. “It’s very difficult to get investors interested,” he said, “without this long-term commitment.”
The Agriculture and Energy departments and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hope to reach a consensus on a biofuel development strategy this summer, according to Vilsack. He did not say when the plan would be released. “We need a plan. We need to show that there’s a way to get to 36 billion gallons,” he said. The Administration said in a report issued in February that the government needs to set a timetable for commercializing advanced biofuels and to take a region-by-region approach to developing production and markets.

Vilsack expressed confidence that the EPA would allow more ethanol to be added to the gasoline used in conventional cars and trucks. The limit is now 10 percent. The industry wants the cap raised to 15 percent. A decision is expected this summer.

Tweaking model improves ethanol's footprint

CALIFORNIA has led the charge in enforcing stricter air emissions requirements.

For ethanol, an initial analysis from Purdue University made ethanol seem less attractive at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to other alternatives. Now, a revision to the Purdue economic analysis is showing that ethanol could be a somewhat better option than previously thought.


Wally Tyner, a Purdue agricultural economist and the report's lead author, said revisions to the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model better reflect market conditions and land productivity than a 2009 report showing that corn-based ethanol wouldn't significantly lower GHG emissions over gasoline.


"The difference between this report and previous reports is advances in science," Tyner said. "With any issue, your first cut may not be the best, but when you get new data and new methods, you improve."


The report considers land use changes when calculating total GHG emissions from biofuels based on the U.S. program to increase corn ethanol production to 15 billion gal. by 2015. Those changes include emissions created by converting forests or pastures to cropland. The new analysis predicts emissions related to land use change to be 35% lower than previous analyses.


Purdue economists ran three new simulations through the GTAP model. The first used 2001 economic data as a base, the second updated the data through 2006 and the third used the updated 2006 data and assumed growth in population and crop yield through 2015.


The 2009 report showed total -- including with land use changes -- carbon dioxide emissions per megajoule (MJ) for ethanol to be 86.3 g, while the three simulations in the new report predicted 84.4 g, 81.1 g and 77.5 g, respectively (Table).


The third simulation, which Tyner said is probably the most accurate, reduced the amount of carbon dioxide that would be emitted by about 10%, but he warned that there is still uncertainty with the numbers because the model contains many complex relationships, covers the entire globe and includes data and parameters from diverse resources.

Tweaking model improves ethanol's footprint

CALIFORNIA has led the charge in enforcing stricter air emissions requirements.

For ethanol, an initial analysis from Purdue University made ethanol seem less attractive at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to other alternatives. Now, a revision to the Purdue economic analysis is showing that ethanol could be a somewhat better option than previously thought.


Wally Tyner, a Purdue agricultural economist and the report's lead author, said revisions to the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model better reflect market conditions and land productivity than a 2009 report showing that corn-based ethanol wouldn't significantly lower GHG emissions over gasoline.


"The difference between this report and previous reports is advances in science," Tyner said. "With any issue, your first cut may not be the best, but when you get new data and new methods, you improve."


The report considers land use changes when calculating total GHG emissions from biofuels based on the U.S. program to increase corn ethanol production to 15 billion gal. by 2015. Those changes include emissions created by converting forests or pastures to cropland. The new analysis predicts emissions related to land use change to be 35% lower than previous analyses.


Purdue economists ran three new simulations through the GTAP model. The first used 2001 economic data as a base, the second updated the data through 2006 and the third used the updated 2006 data and assumed growth in population and crop yield through 2015.


The 2009 report showed total -- including with land use changes -- carbon dioxide emissions per megajoule (MJ) for ethanol to be 86.3 g, while the three simulations in the new report predicted 84.4 g, 81.1 g and 77.5 g, respectively (Table).


The third simulation, which Tyner said is probably the most accurate, reduced the amount of carbon dioxide that would be emitted by about 10%, but he warned that there is still uncertainty with the numbers because the model contains many complex relationships, covers the entire globe and includes data and parameters from diverse resources.

Potencial do setor deve acelerar processo de fusão de empresas

O setor bioenergético brasileiro passa por importante transformação. A produção de etanol a partir da cana-de-açúcar -energia limpa, renovável e competitiva- está na agenda global de sustentabilidade e traz um cenário novo, promissor e positivo.

Prova disso é a chegada de novos "players", como grandes operadores agrícolas e empresas petrolíferas.

Desde 2008, vê-se operações emblemáticas de redesenho do setor, como as associações entre a Cosan e a NovaAmerica, a francesa Louis Dreyfus e a Santelisa Vale, seguida por Bunge e Moema, Shell e Cosan e pela combinação de ativos da ETH Bioenergia com a Brenco. Sem falar na recente negociação entre Petrobras e Açúcar Guarani.

Esse movimento deve se intensificar, com a consolidação de empresas com escala, tecnologia e grande capacidade de investimentos e confirma a atratividade do negócio e o forte potencial de crescimento do mercado internacional para esse combustível.

A civilização do petróleo cede espaço para fontes de energia limpas e renováveis, graças ao reconhecimento de que estas últimas reduzem as emissões de CO2 e provocam efeitos positivos no clima.

Além disso, a produção brasileira de etanol traz ganhos expressivos de competitividade, com melhor eficiência nas áreas agrícola e industrial.

O mundo reconhece que a tecnologia brasileira para a produção de energia de biomassa é uma das soluções para um mercado competitivo e sustentável.

O recente reconhecimento da Agência de Proteção Ambiental dos EUA, de que o etanol de cana-de-açúcar é um combustível avançado, e a aprovação, pelo Conselho de Qualidade do Ar do Estado da Califórnia (Carb), da regulamentação do Padrão de Combustível de Baixa Emissão de Carbono (LCFS) devem beneficiar a entrada do etanol brasileiro nos EUA.

A LCFS torna obrigatória, na Califórnia, a redução em 10% das emissões de dióxido de carbono e outros gases de efeito estufa, até 2020.

O Japão também vê no etanol de cana-de-açúcar uma solução para reduzir a emissão de CO2 e sua dependência em relação a combustíveis fósseis. O governo japonês trabalha em um projeto para aumentar para até 10% a mistura de etanol na gasolina até 2020, o que criaria um mercado potencial de até 6 bilhões de litros para o etanol produzido no Brasil.

Essa transformação no cenário internacional pode abrir uma nova fase de crescimento para os investimentos no setor, estimados em R$ 100 bilhões nos próximos cinco anos, além de gerar empregos qualificados.

Chegou o momento de vencer as restrições comerciais internacionais e levar a discussão da produção de etanol para a agenda energética mundial.

Artigo publicado no jornal Folha de S. Paulo, edição de 28 de maio de 2010.


José Carlos Grubisich é presidente da ETH Bioenergia.

Potencial do setor deve acelerar processo de fusão de empresas

O setor bioenergético brasileiro passa por importante transformação. A produção de etanol a partir da cana-de-açúcar -energia limpa, renovável e competitiva- está na agenda global de sustentabilidade e traz um cenário novo, promissor e positivo.

Prova disso é a chegada de novos "players", como grandes operadores agrícolas e empresas petrolíferas.

Desde 2008, vê-se operações emblemáticas de redesenho do setor, como as associações entre a Cosan e a NovaAmerica, a francesa Louis Dreyfus e a Santelisa Vale, seguida por Bunge e Moema, Shell e Cosan e pela combinação de ativos da ETH Bioenergia com a Brenco. Sem falar na recente negociação entre Petrobras e Açúcar Guarani.

Esse movimento deve se intensificar, com a consolidação de empresas com escala, tecnologia e grande capacidade de investimentos e confirma a atratividade do negócio e o forte potencial de crescimento do mercado internacional para esse combustível.

A civilização do petróleo cede espaço para fontes de energia limpas e renováveis, graças ao reconhecimento de que estas últimas reduzem as emissões de CO2 e provocam efeitos positivos no clima.

Além disso, a produção brasileira de etanol traz ganhos expressivos de competitividade, com melhor eficiência nas áreas agrícola e industrial.

O mundo reconhece que a tecnologia brasileira para a produção de energia de biomassa é uma das soluções para um mercado competitivo e sustentável.

O recente reconhecimento da Agência de Proteção Ambiental dos EUA, de que o etanol de cana-de-açúcar é um combustível avançado, e a aprovação, pelo Conselho de Qualidade do Ar do Estado da Califórnia (Carb), da regulamentação do Padrão de Combustível de Baixa Emissão de Carbono (LCFS) devem beneficiar a entrada do etanol brasileiro nos EUA.

A LCFS torna obrigatória, na Califórnia, a redução em 10% das emissões de dióxido de carbono e outros gases de efeito estufa, até 2020.

O Japão também vê no etanol de cana-de-açúcar uma solução para reduzir a emissão de CO2 e sua dependência em relação a combustíveis fósseis. O governo japonês trabalha em um projeto para aumentar para até 10% a mistura de etanol na gasolina até 2020, o que criaria um mercado potencial de até 6 bilhões de litros para o etanol produzido no Brasil.

Essa transformação no cenário internacional pode abrir uma nova fase de crescimento para os investimentos no setor, estimados em R$ 100 bilhões nos próximos cinco anos, além de gerar empregos qualificados.

Chegou o momento de vencer as restrições comerciais internacionais e levar a discussão da produção de etanol para a agenda energética mundial.

Artigo publicado no jornal Folha de S. Paulo, edição de 28 de maio de 2010.


José Carlos Grubisich é presidente da ETH Bioenergia.