| ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS |
Considering the potentially devastating impacts of global warming, as well as the imminent global energy crisis due to the rapid depletion of fossil fuels, the focus of future energy development clearly must be changed towards renewable energy sources and on biodiesel especially for transportation fuel. |
Energy production however also requires an energy investment. Drilling for oil or building a wind power plant requires energy and so do the production, distribution, and consumption of biodiesel. Altogether the energy balance of biodiesel is determined by the amount of energy required for the manufacturing compared to the amount of energy released when it is burned in a vehicle.
|
| NET LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS |
 | |
Biodiesel is generally considered "climate neutral" because the oil palms, which provide the raw material, absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) as they grow. During the production of biodiesel CO2 is converted to sugar, which is then used to make the final diesel fuel. On combustion in engines, biodiesel eventually releases approximately the same amount of CO2 back into the atmosphere as the plants absorbed during their growth (closed CO2 circulation). On such net life cycle basis (well-to-wheel) biodiesel reduces emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) by approximately 50% and CO2 by 78% compared to petroleum diesel. The reason is that the carbon introduced from petroleum was sequestered in the Earth’s crust before and not already existing in the atmosphere.
|
|
| DEBATE OVER ENERGY BALANCE |
Currently the debate over the energy balance of biodiesel is still ongoing as various factors have been identified that in turn reduce the greenhouse gas savings again, which were believed to be achieved. The crude palm oils as well as the biodiesel produced in Asia, South America and Africa are far cheaper than those produced in Europe and North America, which drives up exports accordingly. On a worldwide screen most biodiesel is thus not locally sourced. It is not a carbon neutral product anymore because large investments of energy are required before this biodiesel arrives at the petrol stations (well-to-wheel).
|
Other major concerns are related to deforestation and monoculture farming. Transitioning fully to biodiesel would require immense tracts of land if traditional crops are used and most countries with high energy consumption do not have enough of that arable land. The prime worry of environmentalist is therefore that countries will clear cut large areas of tropical forest in order to grow oil palm. The Philippines and Indonesia for example plan to increase their biodiesel production levels significantly, which would lead to the deforestation of tens of millions of acres. Since these forests contain large quantities of carbon, which will be released in case they are burnt down, and because forests, unlike biodiesel crops, also trap carbon in humus and soil, such deforestation will eliminate all environmental advantages of biodiesel over petroleum diesel.
In addition, deforestation on a large scale will lead to a significant loss of habitat and thus could endanger numerous species of plants and animals, as is for example already happening to populations of orangutans on the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
|
CONCLUSION |
Biodiesel plays a major role in tackling the effects of global warming as it is the only alternative diesel fuel that actually reduces major greenhouse gas components in the atmosphere. The climate neutrality of biodiesel can however be undermined by deforestation and by too long distribution channels for the fuel. Taking the potentially devastating effects of global warming into account, the ecological impacts of growing oil palms may in turn be small compared to the potentially much larger impacts of unmitigated climate change. Nevertheless GREEN POWER CORPORATION is committed to do everything possible for providing clean energy and thus only sources domestic palm oil for our products.
|
