Bioenergy Wiki

URL: http://www.bioenergywiki.net/index.php/Malawi
Site with very relevant info on Malawi's use of bioenergy

Notes

News Links from wiki

  • Malawi's Super Harvest Proves Biofuel Critics Wrong
    • 4 December 2007, Biopact
    • Malawi's harvest of biofuel crops was large enough to have replaced its entire consumption of oil and still allow exports to the world market.
    • Excerpt: This year, Malawi is selling corn to the UN's World Food Program and is exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of corn to its hungry neighbors. Had it decided to turn it into biofuels, it would have replaced all its imported and expensive fossil fuels all at once and become entirely oil independent (Malawi consumes around 5,500 barrels of oil per day).
  • Ethanol-driven vehicle under test in Malawi
    • 28 December 2006, from SciDev Net
    • The test will involve a modified Mitsubishi Pajero driven over a 350-kilometre route from Lilongwe to Mzuzu.
  • The bumpy road to clean, green fuel
    • Gaia Movement Trust
    • Osman Ibrahim, head of an organization called the Biodiesel Agricultural Association, is urging farmers in Malawi to plant jatropha.
  • Malawi Explores Biodiesel as a Cash Crop: More information about the Biodiesel Agricultural Association.
  • Malawi moves to scale-up jatropha-based biodiesel industry

Biofuels: Benefits and Risks for Developing Countries

URL: http://www.scidev.net/en/opinions/biofuels-benefits-and-risks-for-developing-countr.html
Analysis of biofuels in developing countries

The Promises and Challenges of Biofuels for the Poor in Developing Countries

URL: http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/books/ar2005/ar2005_essay.asp#dl
PDF Version: http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/books/ar2005/ar05e.pdf
IFPRI 2005-2006 Annual Report Essay

Excerpt from text:
There are other challenges as well. Like any innovation, increased production of energy crops has the potential to exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities by concentrating benefits on the well-off. It can lead to deforestation, a loss of biodiversity, and excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, thereby degrading the land and water that poor people depend on. Policymakers must take care to ensure that biofuel production is managed and regulated in a way that avoids these pitfalls. These risks are speculative at present. With improved access to finance and sound policies for support of cooperation and for contract security, most innovations in agriculture can be scale neutral. Under the assumptions of an aggressive biofuel growth scenario--which is not, it must be noted, a prediction--significant price increases for some food crops could emerge in the long run (135 percent for cassava, 76 percent for oilseeds, and 41 percent for maize by 2020) unless new technologies are developed that increase efficiency and productivity in crop production and biofuel processing (see Box 2). Without technologies to improve productivity, the prices changes would adversely affect poor, net-food-purchasing households and would probably exceed the possible income gains by many small farm households.

In addition, in many low-income developing countries, farmers are unaware of the opportunities presented by biofuel production and thus risk missing out on the potential benefits. Public-private partnerships could help raise awareness of these opportunities among farmers in low-income countries.

To develop a biofuels sector that is sustainable and pro-poor, actors at the international, national, and local levels have crucial roles to play. International institutions must help transfer knowledge and technology on developing an efficient and sustainable biofuels industry to poor countries. The international community must also create a level playing field for trade in biofuels. By subsidizing their domestic agriculture and their biofuels industries, the OECD countries are raising the price of grains and feedstock in their own countries and are distorting the opportunities for biofuel production and trade in developing countries. At the national level, policymakers must take steps to create a well-functioning market for biofuels, to promote investment in associated areas like flexible-fuel vehicles and fueling stations, and to regulate land use in line with socioeconomic and environmental goals. They must also provide farmers who wish to grow energy crops with the same kinds of support needed for other forms of agriculture, such as research and extension services, credit, and infrastructure. Finally, local institutions must participate in designing and managing projects to develop biofuels so that poor people and small farmers can gain benefits as both biofuel producers and consumers.

In response to concerns about energy supplies and prices, a number of countries have set standards or targets for biofuels use. The European Union has set a goal of 5.75 percent of motor fuel use from biofuels by 2010. The United States has mandated the use of 28.4 billion liters of biofuels for transportation by 2012. Brazil will require that all diesel contain 2 percent biodiesel by 2008 and 5 percent by 2013, and Thailand will require 10 percent ethanol in all gasoline starting in 2007. India mandates a 5 percent ethanol blend in nine states, and China is requiring a 10 percent ethanol blend in five provinces. Many other countries are taking similar steps.

As countries move to strengthen their energy security by increasing their use of biofuels, they should also work to ensure poor people's and small farmers' participation in the creation of a more sustainable global energy system. With sound technology and trade policies, win-win solutions--that is, positive outcomes for the poor as well as for energy efficiency--are possible with biofuels in developing countries.

Bioenergy and Agriculture

URL: http://www.ifpri.org/2020/focus/focus14.asp
Article on bioenergy - the following chapters are particularly relevant

Natural Resource Perspectives Magazine Article

Biofuels supply chain characterization by Anindya Banerjee and José Luis Noguer

URL: http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/40111

  • Abstract*
    Ethanol can be made from agricultural residues like wheat straw and from crops dedicated to energyuse, like switchgrass. We study the logistics aspects of this transformation and determine the main characteristics of the supply chain making ethanol from cellulose. Important to the final acceptability of ethanol as a transportation fuel is both the economics as well as the environmental aspect of using ethanol. In this study we analyze the buildup of cost as biomass is transformed into fuel. We also look at all the steps involved and describe them from a supply chain perspective We have found that the main cost components in the cellulosic ethanol production are biomass production, harvesting and ethanol refining. We have also found that the main factor in reducing the overall production cost is the biomass to ethanol conversion factor. The development of new technologies to convert biomass into ethanol becomes a critical issue to achieve the cost targets imposed in order to make ethanol more competitive with other sources of energy such as fossil fuels. An increase in the current conversion factor of 42% could potentially yield to a decrease of nearly 15% in the: total production cost of cellulosic ethanol.

Other factors such as increasing the refining plant size and biomass yield can also help to reduce the production cost but we found its impact to be lower than that of the conversion factor. Finally, we also performed a strategic analysis of the entire supply chain to determine how is this industry likely to develop and who will have more bargaining power and therefore will realize most of the value and profits in the supply chain. Our analysis shows that in such a dynamic scenario as in the alternate energy industry, the best option is to build sustained advantage by strong alliances with different partners within the supply chain.

Size does matter: The possibilities of cultivating Jatropha curcas for biofuel production in developing countries

URL: http://environmental.scum.org/biofuel/jatropha/

Authors: Levien van Zon, Brechje Asselbergs, Loes Wijnen, Corine ten Velden, Laura van der Noort, Ruben Harms, Richard Vervuurt, Jupijn van Hemert, Jochem Bokhorst Expertise Centrum voor Duurzame Ontwikkeling (ECDO), University of Amsterdam

Executive summary
This report explores the possibilities of cultivating the energy crop Jatropha curcas L. in developing countries (with an emphasis on Cambodia), for the production of vegetable oil and biodiesel. Our aim is to determine how this can be done while improving the situation of the poorest and without putting food security at risk.

We have evaluated existing projects in a number of countries. Projects have been divided into three broad categories: national scale biofuel production (in which the national government is the main initiator), plantation scale production (in which farmers or farmer cooperatives produce biofuel as their primary source of income) and community scale production (whereby communities produce biofuel as an extra source of income or energy).

Producing biofuels on a national scale can decrease dependency on fossil fuel imports, create job opportunities, reduce air pollution in cities and possibly increase income per capita. However, when the production process is highly centralised, the rural poor will not benefit from these advantages. Also, it can lead to deforestation, erosion and water pollution. Besides this, national scale production seems unsuitable for a relatively small country like Cambodia, at least in the short term.

It is hard to find successful examples of Jatropha cultivation on a plantation scale. This is mainly due to low profit margins, low yields and unrealistic expectations. Although Jatropha curcas can grow on many kinds of soil, including marginal lands, it needs sufficient light, water and nutrients in order to produce an acceptable fruit yield. Other causes of failure are three to five year gestation period before the seeds can be harvested, the relatively large investments needed to establish a plantation, and the uncertain market prospects and prices.

Projects on a community provide the most opportunities for sustainable development. Although until now only moderate successes have been booked, this type of production seems to create the most positive benefits. An integrated participative approach with a relatively decentralised, bottom-up organisation improves commitment of those involved in the process. Jatropha curcas hedges planted around fields can decrease water and wind erosion. The seeds can be harvested and the oil used for local applications, such as replacing firewood for cooking and lighting, and driving pumps, oil expellers, mills and generators.

General Jatropha Information

http://www.jatrophabiodiesel.org/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6278140.stm
http://www.jatrophaworld.org/
http://www.d1plc.com/

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