Why biofuel won't cut it here so soon.
The word “ethanol” was probably most uttered by scientists and lab technicians until the whole hype about biofuel came about.
The chemical is blended with gasoline and used as fuel, which produces less carbon monoxide.
Ethanol “biorefining” is big business in the United States, with 120 refineries operating across the US and 77 new ones currently under construction.
What's worrying, however, is how much supply there is. And no demand.
This is exacerbated by the low number of service stations which offer E85 – the blended fuel.
Now if such infrastructure issues can happen in the US – where President George W Bush has legislated that oil refiners use four billion gallons of renewable fuel in 2006 and 7.5 billion gallons by 2012 – what hope is there for us in the region we live in?
There are many reasons why it will take the region way longer than expected to integrate biofuel into our daily lives.
First, news agency AFP quoted an energy analyst as saying that “ethanol-blended gasoline cannot be shipped by pipeline” so transportation is a constraint.
In the US, ethanol production is concentrated in rural midwest farm states, but gasoline demand is based along the heavily populated east and west coasts.
Space-wise, it does not seem like Singapore can handle even one large-scale ethanol biorefinery, so the nearest place to situate something like that would be in Johor.
Transport will still be a factor though, given that the blend cannot be pumped through pipelines.
Second, gas service stations are slow on the uptake of providing such blends.
There are only 1,100 service station pumps in the US for E85.
Unless it is mandated by the government, service stations in Singapore and the region will not be proactive in installing pumps which allow the handling of E85.
Third, International Energy Agency head Claude Mandil told the Financial Times that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries has nothing to fear because “the contribution from biofuels would be very small.”
Of course, OPEC would have a vested interest in selling more petroleum. But with such an attitude being taken towards environmentally-friendly measures, how much would it take to actually make things happen?
The only winners now, so far, are the farmers in the midwest who've invested in those biorefineries.
According to United Wisconsin Grain Producers CEO Jeff Robertson, even hourly workers at the plants earn about US$35,000 a year “and get profit sharing, incentive pay and full benefits.”
So for this part of the world to be more receptive to using biofuel, governments would have to set aside some sort of mandate to expedite service stations providing such new blends of fuel, and thereby, driving the demand for the more environmentally-friendly fuel.
ArchivesThe chemical is blended with gasoline and used as fuel, which produces less carbon monoxide.
Ethanol “biorefining” is big business in the United States, with 120 refineries operating across the US and 77 new ones currently under construction.
What's worrying, however, is how much supply there is. And no demand.
This is exacerbated by the low number of service stations which offer E85 – the blended fuel.
Now if such infrastructure issues can happen in the US – where President George W Bush has legislated that oil refiners use four billion gallons of renewable fuel in 2006 and 7.5 billion gallons by 2012 – what hope is there for us in the region we live in?
There are many reasons why it will take the region way longer than expected to integrate biofuel into our daily lives.
First, news agency AFP quoted an energy analyst as saying that “ethanol-blended gasoline cannot be shipped by pipeline” so transportation is a constraint.
In the US, ethanol production is concentrated in rural midwest farm states, but gasoline demand is based along the heavily populated east and west coasts.
Space-wise, it does not seem like Singapore can handle even one large-scale ethanol biorefinery, so the nearest place to situate something like that would be in Johor.
Transport will still be a factor though, given that the blend cannot be pumped through pipelines.
Second, gas service stations are slow on the uptake of providing such blends.
There are only 1,100 service station pumps in the US for E85.
Unless it is mandated by the government, service stations in Singapore and the region will not be proactive in installing pumps which allow the handling of E85.
Third, International Energy Agency head Claude Mandil told the Financial Times that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries has nothing to fear because “the contribution from biofuels would be very small.”
Of course, OPEC would have a vested interest in selling more petroleum. But with such an attitude being taken towards environmentally-friendly measures, how much would it take to actually make things happen?
The only winners now, so far, are the farmers in the midwest who've invested in those biorefineries.
According to United Wisconsin Grain Producers CEO Jeff Robertson, even hourly workers at the plants earn about US$35,000 a year “and get profit sharing, incentive pay and full benefits.”
So for this part of the world to be more receptive to using biofuel, governments would have to set aside some sort of mandate to expedite service stations providing such new blends of fuel, and thereby, driving the demand for the more environmentally-friendly fuel.
Labels: biofuel, ethanol, OPEC
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