Progress in the use of biofuels for power generation..

On May 20 the government announced the GENREÂ program (Renewable Generation), by which the state company ENARSA will call for tender the purchase of electricity produced through renewable energy.

The ceremony held at Government House in the presence of the President of the Nation-Cristina F. Kirchner, the Secretary of Energy Daniel Cameron, the Secretary General of the Presidency, Oscar Parrilli, the Governors of San Juan, Santiago del Estero, La Rioja, other officials and businessmen linked to the industry.

This program sets the purchase of 1000MW of electric power (which will be tendered) produced on the basis of various renewable energies, from this total: 500MW will be generated from wind power, 120 MW from waste, 100MW from biomass, 30MW from geothermal; 60 MW from small hydro electrics, 20 MW from solar, 20 MW from biogas and 150MW that will be generated based on biofuels (mainly biodiesel).

The president of CARBIO, Ing Fernando Pelaez, said, “The incorporation of renewable energies in the national matrix contribute to its diversification into non-fossil fuel dependence, as well as reduces the emission of greenhouse gas which results in an environmental benefit. ” He concluded that this measure will have a positive impact in the biofuels sector as it involves both a reactivation in the production of biodiesel, and the imminent need to resort to alternative sources of energy generation.

CARBIO is a nonprofit civil association whose main objective is the development and promotion of production and marketing of biofuels and its industry, to contribute actively to a sustainable and economic growth of the country. Is formed by companies of recognized prestige in Argentina that produce over 95% of biofuels in our country.

Courtesy Carbio for Nextfuel Argentina / www.biodiesel.com.ar

Following the publication of the EPA’s draft Regulatory Impact Analysis this week which includes proposed changes to the Renewable Fuels Standards Program, the Argentine Renewable Energies Chamber expressed both concerns and optimism regarding the possible effects this will have on the export-driven Argentine biodiesel industry.

Buenos Aires, May 8, 2009 – A recent study published by the Environmental Protection Agency of the United Status (EPA) is promoting biofuels that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by no less than 50% when compared to their fossil fuel counterparts. This same report classifies different categories of biofuels and concludes that soy-based biodiesel reduces GHG emissions by only 22%. If approved, the EPA’s proposal could cause grave harm to Argentine biodiesel producers, since more than 95% of Argentina’s biodiesel is made from soy oil. Additionally, the industry is export-driven and the United States is Argentina’s second largest export market after the European Union.

“The EPA’s analysis has the potential to drastically reduce Argentine biodiesel exports to the United States. It makes decisions regarding land use change for countries other than the U.S., yet doesn’t appear to take into consideration the positive effects of Argentina’s No-Till farming methods which plays a role in ensuring that Argentine soy biodiesel meets and exceeds the newly proposed stringent U.S. standards,” said Carlos St. James, president of the Chamber.

“While we fully understand and appreciate each nation’s right to establish standards and goals
for products consumed in their country, facts need to correct. We know that Argentine soybased
biodiesel is among the cleanest and environmentally-friendly options. This has been evidenced in scientific studies developed in the U.S. itself some years ago and more recently by our country’s National Institute of Agronomy Technology (INTA, by its initials in Spanish), both of which show reductions in GHG emissions that exceed 70%.”

The EPA has proposed a 60-day window in which the various industry actors can better understand the assumptions in the study and to offer counterproposals and corrections to this data. “Argentina has sound scientific elements to defend its position. We need to work internally with all industry interests along with relevant government agencies to present a common voice to ensure we are heard properly,” affirmed Lucas Trotz, the Chamber’s Manager. The Chamber is requesting a 40-day extension to the initial window, and various Chamber members will travel to Washington to participate in the July 9-11 workshop being organized by the EPA to discuss the draft.

The Chamber will also seek this extension as member of the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance, a global association whose members represent 65% of world biofuels production. Bliss Baker, Executive Director of GRFA from its headquarters in Toronto added, “Argentina, as one of the world’s largest biodiesel producers and exporters, will undoubtedly play a key role in ensuring that the industry continues to grow sustainably and we will work with them to present our organization’s point of view regarding the EPA study.”

St. James concludes, “We are confident that at the end of the day common sense, a frank and open dialogue, and the facts will carry the day. If not, the ideals of fair and open trade as espoused by the U.S. will take a step backward in the ongoing task of creating global markets.”

Turbulence in biofuels, according to the author, is no stranger to the international crisis and requires to lay the foundation to diversify the energy matrix, to grow in a rational manner, at sustained long-term rates, and without damaging the environment.

About a year ago, the nominal prices of soybeans, corn and wheat on international markets reach historic highs of USD600, USD300 and USD500 per tonne and the cost of food derived from these primary products increased at a staggering pace. At the same time, the barrel of crude oil was breaking historic threshold reaching USD149.-. This significant event took countless analysts to predict a world with crude oil at USD 200 a barrel.

The high prices of oilseeds, grains and petroleum, which were the largest in history in real terms, had immediate repercussions on the entire agro-production chain, increasing the costs of production, transport, distribution and consumer prices of food.

Not many analysts and recognized international organizations foresee a food crisis and attributed to the production of biofuels such increase in prices and a potential food crisis worldwide. Meanwhile, it was argued that Argentina, one of the world’s major food producer, either by internal policy or barriers to trade, was unable to increase the exportable supply of grains and food that would have otherwise helped to alleviate this “potential food crisis”.

The origins and causes of the crisis have left uncovered that the prices of grain and oilseed were mainly influenced by the high prices of oil and its derivatives, due to the productive dependence than those have on these, but at the same time, these commodities and particularly oil (or derivatives) were the reflection of a speculative bubble of unknown dimensions fueled by the abundant global liquidity, excessive transfer of risk in a context of low interest rates, the creation of sophisticated instruments for their coverage, not regulations or inadequate supervision of certain actors in the financial and commodities markets and the belief that economic cycles were a thing of the past.

This bubble was in correlation with a cheap dollar, validating the belief that expensive oil and food increasingly scarce had come to stay. Of course, one can not ignore that the Chinese eat more soy, that supply has grown less than the demand in specific cases and that climatic factors have affected agricultural production in different areas of the world. However, it has been clearly shown that biofuels in the ongoing development of its production, were only marginally affected in most cases. The dynamics of prices of primary products and commodities and, more importantly, the cost of oil and their derivatives, together with structural factors of supply and demand, are the drivers of these prices.

There has been discussion about the costs and benefits of producing biofuels. Reason indicates that the private and social benefits of such fuel is clearly positive. And its production can be sustainable in an environmental viewpoint, strengthening agricultural value chains, which generate more foreign exchange by exports, which reduce the energy dependency of fossil fuels (Brazil) in its overall energy balance is positive not necessarily diminish the food supply. However, if it is granted that biofuels entails net benefits to society as a whole, what should be the premisses and bases for a policy that favors the development of the sector in Argentina, with clear comparative advantages?

A sectoral policy must coordinate very well action between areas of state to avoid overlapping in the allocation of public resources and to recognize these factors are assumed: 1) Biofuels can not replace fossil fuels, but in the margin. 2) The development of the industry can not be subject to the vagaries of oil prices, as the experience of Brazilian long-term shows. 3) The world, the EU in particular, will be importers of biofuels in a few years and Argentina could provide large volumes of biodiesel (Europe to tariff subsidized exports by the U.S.). 4) The internal market must be served and promoted by improving the law 26,093 to to reach a development like Brazil. 5) The investments are capital intensive and require predictability as any investment, from any source. Again, improving the regulatory framework is indispensable.

6) The retentions over the exports of biofuels should have variable aliquots, but now, back to levels prior to 2008 (5% to 20% today). 7) SMEs should have a place in the chain, encouraging them to form partnerships to obtain leading-edge technology and overcome the typical problems of scale. 8-We must invest in the long term by promoting scientific and technical research for the development in the sector, in new technologies like crop improvement to diversify the sources of raw materials. 9) Channels should be created for long-term financing at competitive conditions, as the BNDES in Brazil does. 10) The expansion of agricultural zones should be planned and cultural practices monitored, to be sustainable on technical, economic, environmental and social.

Today’s biofuel industry sector is going through a period of turbulence and is not alien to the context of international crisis. Failure to provide the basis for achieving diversification of the energy matrix will make impossible to grow in a rational and sustained long-term rates, while our environment will suffer serious damage.

Claudio Molina. Executive Director of the Argentine Association of Biofuels and Hydrogen.

Source: Clarín Rural / Diario Clarín

Argentine-Brazilian corporate meeting on bioenergy in Córdoba.

Meeting with brazilian business representatives.

On Friday May 15 will be held in Cordoba first Argentine-Brazilian corporate meeting on bioenergy, in the auditorium of the Quorum Hotel on the way to the airport.

The meeting will be attended by specialists and will aim to discuss and explain the situation of the two countries on bioenergy, identify convergences and analyze the differences, to create a common platform for development in technology, regulations, standards and business agreements in order to act in an integrated way to achieve third markets.

“The importance of bioenergy has global reach,” said Oscar Gentili, president of the Chamber of Biofuels and Agrifood Producers of the Province of Córdoba (Cabiocor). He stressed that the meeting with Brazil is because the neighbor is doing a “very serious and deep” job in the subject.

According to organizers, the idea is to show that regardless of the regional and global crises, bioenergy business will be crucial, as also will be the strategic integration.

The head of the Civil Asociation Growth with Equity (and former Minister of Production in the Province), Adriana Nazario, said that “the goal is to reach conclusions on technologies, standards of production and that after this forum can provide to governments. We hope that within a year we will reach conclusions, ” he added.

Province potential. The organizers said that Cordoba was chosen as the meeting place because it is the province with the highest potential on agricultural production of Argentina and for a strategic approach:Â in the province there are already 10 plants in operation, nine plants under construction and three projects in advanced stages of planning.

Furthermore, because of the profile of entrepreneurs, farmers, and the scale of each plant, integrated on Cabiocor.

Activities. During the day, will be addressed experiences, both large and smallest investments in the sector, designed for auto consume or agricultural associations.

In addition, the act of incorporation of the Binacional Bioenergy Permanent Forum will be signed, said Nazario. The agreement will be subscribed by the Argentine-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce o f San Pablo and organizations interested in the proposal.

The agenda of the meeting includes:

Overview of bioenergy in Argentina and Brazil, Argentine and Brazilian experiences in bioenergy.

Presentation of the Energy City: Sao Carlos / Sao Paulo.

Market prospects of bioenergy, supply chains, regional integration.

Technology in both countries, regional integration.

Recipients. The meeting is aimed at all employers in the sector, farmers who are interested in iniciating processes of production of flour, oil and biofuels, either individually or collectively, to the industrial machinery and agricultural machinery for the manufacture of biodiesel and related.

Also to the officials, academics and researchers, members of the entities in the sector and all citizens concerned about the economic development of mankind, “because without energy there would be no progress and without progress there will be no peace,” reflected the organizing institutions .

How to participate?. The event is free – with limited quota – registration can be done online at www.produccioncordoba.com.ar +54 0351 – 153-030463.

Source: La Voz

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – It’s corn planting time in the U.S. Plains, and that means Kansas corn farmer Merl “Buck” Rexford is worrying about the weather — and hoping there is enough water.

Rexford plans to start seeding his 7,000 acres near Meade, Kansas, this week and he is relishing a recent heavy snow storm that dropped several inches of much-needed moisture.

Like corn farmers throughout the United States, Rexford hopes to grow a healthy crop yielding more than 150 bushels an acre this year. Much of his crop will wind up at a nearby ethanol plant.

And that puts the 65-year-old Rexford at the center of a bitter divide over biofuels, particularly corn ethanol.

Critics argue that precious water resources are being bled dry by ethanol when water shortages are growing ever more dire. Federal mandates encouraging more ethanol production don’t help.

Proponents say corn ethanol for transportation fuel is far better for the environment, national security and the economy than oil and the first step toward cleaner fuel sources.

“We really have to ask ourselves, do we want to be driving with renewable fuels or with gasoline made from petroleum resources,” said Brent Erickson, executive vice president at the Biotechnology Industry Organization, which backs ethanol.

Corn ethanol’s future is already muddied by concerns that it requires a substantial amount of energy to produce and that heightened demand makes corn more costly in human food and livestock feed. Now, with climate change concerns mounting and drought becoming more of a problem in many areas, the water-intensive nature of creating ethanol also is a growing concern.

“Biofuels are off the charts in water consumption. We’re definitely looking at something where the cure may be worse than the disease,” said Brooke Barton, a manager of corporate accountability for Ceres, a group backed by institutional investors focused on the financial risks of climate change.

Corn is a particularly thirsty plant, requiring about 20 inches of soil moisture per acre to grow a decent crop, but most corn is grown with rain, not irrigation. Manufacturing plants that convert corn’s starch into fuel are a far bigger draw on water sources.

Water consumption by ethanol plants largely comes from evaporation during cooling and wastewater discharge. A typical plant uses about 4.2 gallons of water to make one gallon of ethanol, according to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

The ethanol industry pegs that at about 3 gallons of water to 1 gallon of fuel.

WASHINGTON PLAN

Washington lawmakers and the White House have been encouraging the use of ethanol as an alternative fuel to help lighten the nation’s costly dependence on foreign oil.

But the moves are meeting opposition from many groups who fear that population growth and climate change are combining in ways that will leave not only the United States, but the world, with too little water. Many ethanol plants are located in agricultural areas — close to the corn, but also close to other users who need a lot of water to operate, such as hog farmers and cattle ranchers.

“We’re headed in the wrong direction and this problem is not going away,” said Mark Muller, program director at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. “This water issue is like the financial crisis… and I’m afraid something awful is going to happen.”

The group says much of the Corn Belt stretching through Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota and Indiana has enough water for all, but water availability could challenge the ethanol industry in areas including greater Chicago, western Iowa and Nebraska, and generally west of the Missouri River.

“Water use could be a limiting factor (for ethanol) if we don’t introduce and support more water-saving technologies, ” added the Institute’s Jim Kleinschmit.

“Water is a worry,” agreed Heritage Foundation senior policy analyst for energy and environment Ben Lieberman. “When we expand corn ethanol as we have with these federal mandates,” he said, “we are starting to see corn in more marginal areas that may need more irrigation. We are seeing increased water use not just for the processing plants but also the water in growing the corn.”

Last month, a coalition of environmental, agricultural, business and consumer groups asked the Obama administration not to raise the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline without further study.

Ethanol supporters don’t dispute the water-intensive nature of the industry. But they say much of the corn crop relies on rain from the skies, not pumped out of the ground, and even irrigation systems are improving to reduce water usage by almost half. More water-efficient production plants are also reducing water use. In January 2009, there were 170 ethanol plants operating in the United States and 24 more new or expanding plants.

In 2008, the United States led the world in ethanol production, generating 9 billion gallons, or 52 percent of the world production. That is up from 6.5 billion gallons of U.S. ethanol in 2007, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. The U.S. aims for 15 billion gallons by 2015.

THIRSTY WORLD

Freshwater consumption worldwide is expected to rise 25 percent by 2030 due largely to world population growth from 6.6 billion currently to about 8 billion by 2030 and more than 9 billion by 2050, according to Ceres.

Some believe crop biotechnology could offer at least a partial solution, and several companies are racing to develop corn that is drought-tolerant, including Monsanto Co, which hopes to launch a product in 2012.

DuPont Co.’s Pioneer Hi-Bred unit plans to roll out a low-water conventionally produced corn as early as 2010.

Back in Kansas, farmer Rexford would welcome a more drought-hardy corn seed. Water to irrigate his crop is getting harder and more expensive to come by.

Still, farmers need the premiums selling their corn for ethanol can bring, he said, just as much as the nation needs to break free from dependence on foreign oil.

“If farmers go out of business you’ll have a lot worse crisis than an oil crisis,” he said.

(Reporting by Carey Gillam, editing by Peter Henderson and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: Reuters

Impacts of Crops on Land, Environment and Society
Volume 2/Palms, Cotton, Corn and Jatropha
Biofuel Watch Center – NGO Repórter Brasil
Support: Solidaridad, Doen Foundation, CordaidÂ

Executive Summary

Deforestation in Amazon and Cerrado – the Brazilian savanna –, contamination by pesticides, threats to food sovereignty of small farmers and income and land concentration are some of the impacts caused by the expansion of crops that can be used to the production of biodiesel in Brazil. In “Brazil of Biofuels – Palms, Cotton, Corn and Jatropha – 2008”, NGO Repórter Brasil reports on the expansion projects of crops, such as oil palm, in the Amazon, and cotton, in the Cerrado areas of Midwest and Northeast regions.

Regarding oil palm, one of the major concerns is with proposals of a change in Forest Code, which aim at allowing the recovering of legal reserves with exotic species such as oil palm. Such measures might boost monoculture in the Amazon, causing deforestation and bringing impacts upon the forest’s biodiversity. Foreign corporations are starting to implant projects in the region. That is the case of Felda, from Malaysia, in the municipality of Tefé, Amazonas State, and Biopalma, which has Canadian capital, in Pará State.

Cotton advances over Cerrado areas, which don’t count on specific satellite monitoring systems like the ones that cover the Amazon area. According to the Ministry of the Environment, at least six high conservation value areas are at risk in Cerrado due to the growth of cotton crops. When it comes to labour related impacts, five estates that produce cotton are in the “laundry list” of slave labour divulged by the government, and 431 slaves were freed from those areas.

Corn is not used as raw material for fuels in the country, but its use in the US in the production of ethanol explains the advance in the cultivated area of the crop over the past harvest. Such expansion, though, has been threatening the maintenance of traditional cultivating practices, suffocating ancient species of the grain. This impact will be intensified by the recent liberalization of genetically modified corn seeds.

The use of jatropha is still small and only this year the producers managed to register it in the Ministry of Agriculture. But even with the recent regularization, the crop already draws the attention of big investors. Spanish company CIE Automotive supports enterprises, for example, in Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso. Jatropha is coveted for the high oil concentration in its seed, but part of the specialists considers further research to be necessary.

This is the second report of a series produced by the Biofuel Watch Center of NGO Repórter Brasil. The first, launched in April of this year, in Buenos Aires, during the meeting of the Round Table for Responsible Soy, analyzed the impacts caused by soy and castor bean. The next one, exclusively on sugarcane, will be released next December. To produce this report, four researchers from NGO Repórter Brasil have covered 11 Brazilian States – Mato Grosso, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Pará, Amazonas, Maranhão e Tocantins – and 25 thousand kilometers.

http://www.biodiesel.com.ar/download/o_brasil_dos_agrocombustiveis_v2_ingles.pdf

Volume 1/Soy and castor bean
Biofuel Watch Center – NGO Repórter Brasil
Support: Solidaridad, Doen Foundation, CordaidÂ

Executive Summary

By publishing the first volume of the report “Brazil of the agrofuels” – Impacts of plantations on land, environment and society, the Agrofuel Monitoring Centre of the NGO Repórter Brasil starts a systematic support of the impacts caused by crops used in the production of agroenergy. The work, divided in three annual reports, is assessing the socioeconomic, environmental, agricultural effects and those on indigenous and traditional communities of soy and castor bean cultures (volume 1), corn, cotton dendê and babaçu (volume 2), and sugar cane and pinhão manso (jatropha curcas) (volume 3).

Soy

The increasing international demand for agrofuels becomes the most recent incentive factor for the advancement of soy production in Brazil. It is estimated that the country will even beat the USA in 2008 as the biggest exporter and, in six years at the most, it will consolidate the largest grain cultivated area in the world. If on the one hand that expansion generates wealth for some producers and foreign currencies for the country, on the other hand, it has intensified the impacts such as deforestation, pollution of rivers, and concentration of land and worker exploitation, mainly in the Cerrado and Amazon region.Â

Up to now, the main drive of soy expansion is indirect. The increase in the demand for corn-produced ethanol in the USA promoted the plantation of this grain and contributed to stop the soybean area around there. This is added to a scenario of intense worldwide demand for whole wheat for feed, making the international grain prices, which were dropping, start rising again. Facing that scenario, the Brazilian producer decided to plant more. Between the last harvests and that of 2007/08, soy plantation increased by a 20% in the North region (where the biggest part of the Amazon grove is situated) and by a 7,9 % in the Northeast region, mainly in the Cerrado areas of Maranhão, of Piaui and Bahía. In Brazil, soybean is the main raw material used to produce biofuel. Current consumption to supply for the compulsory mix of a 2% in oil fuel and to produce 850 million of litres of biofuel per year is estimated in 3,5 millions of tons of soy, an amount which being small, still does not influence soy prices in Brazil.Â

The future scenario intended for the soy cultivators is a hot market. The intense demand must sustain the process of grasslands substitution from the plantation of grain, which stabilizes deforested areas, many times illegally, and pushes stockbreeding more and more towards the Amazon, thus promoting deforestation of river basins which are fundamental for the Brazilian socio-biodiversity threatened by the indiscriminate plantation of soy in lands which, by law, should have their vegetation preserved, such as marginal plants. They also face the problems brought in by the pollution of their rivers, whose waterheads are located in agricultural areas, such as what happens in the Xingu Indigenous Park.

There are even cases where soy is being produced on lands officially acknowledged as traditionally indigenous by the Brazilian State. For example, there are plantations in the Xavante’s Maraiwatsede Indigenous Land, in Mato Grosso and in various areas acknowledged as traditionally occupied by the Guarani-Kaiowá, in South Mato Grosso.

In spite of the strong mechanization of the sector, slave work has been found in soy farms during the soil cleaning stage for the implantation of plantations. Data coming from the “dirty list” of slave work, a public record of employers who used this type of labour, kept by the Work and Employment Ministry in 2007, show that 5,2 % of the cases took place in the grain sector. Companies and financial institutions have used devices to fight slave work, encouraged by the Brazilian Pact for the Eradication of Slave Work. But there are still failures and the soy harvested by producers in the “dirty list” is still going into the market.Â

In spite of that, labour impacts focus on the low employment generation by means of the mechanization of production (1 to 4 direct jobs every 200 hectares) and on work-related accidents associated with the handling of machines and the use of agro-toxics, highly used in conventional and transgenic production. There is an increasing number of workers and communities surrounding the plantations who feel the effects of defensive farmers. For example, in 2005, 6870 people were searching for health services due to contamination. The soy process, based on a model of large mechanized properties, encourages the concentration of land and the rural exodus. In what respects to the increase in the production of soy, the number of rural properties devoted to grains dropped by a 42% in a decade. The rate was a 16,3% for the other properties. The expansion process has not been a peaceful one: it may be behind at least 4 out of the 16 agricultural conflicts in the State of Mato Grosso in 2007, at least 18 out of the 38 conflicts recorded in Paraná, and at least 2 out of the 105 conflicts which aroused in Para.

If on the one hand, it is early to dimension the weight agro-fuels represent in the agricultural price of commodities, on the other; it is already possible to conclude that the increase in the demand given by them tends to press foods in a scenario where the quotation of products such as soy, corn and wheat reached record steps. The International Monetary Fund estimates the raising of food prices by a 30,4% between November 2004, beginning of rising and December 2007. The choice for the agro-fuels will not initiate hunger in the world, since it affects hundreds of millions of people on a daily basis. But it will certainly make the picture worse.Â

A study such as “Brazil of the agrofuels”, in this delicate moment of the international commercial relationships, is highly strategic in order to identify bad behaviours and it can be used by the interested sectors in the reversion of this negative impacts scenario. Among the recommendations to the public power, there are the cutting of financing and renegotiation of debts with the businessmen responsible for those impacts, and also the prohibition of agricultural expansion in the Cerrado and the Amazon region without research which proves the socio-environmental viability, without properly consulting the local populations and that food sovereignty is guaranteed. For the business sector, a deep care is proposed in their supply chain and the own behaviour of the companies.Â

Castor bean

With the launching of the National Program of Production and Use of Biofuel (PNPB), in 2004, the spotlights turned to the castor bean again, chosen by the federal government as one of the ‘old reliable’ of their policy of social inclusion of family agriculture in the agro-energy productive chain. By government decision, the purchase of castor bean grown by family agriculture, mainly in the Semiarid Northeast area of Brazil, turned out to be tax incentive worth for the biofuel industry.

The project, on the other hand, has not brought concrete results yet for the small farmers, especially in the States located in the Northeast of Brazil. In spite of the efforts to popularize the castor bean cultivation, its productive chain is still too tied to private projects of the biofuel industry and far away from the needs of family agriculture, which generated misunderstandings between the agricultural and processing sectors. But there are exceptions to this rule. When organized farmers take on a productive chain and impose their own management and trading criteria, castor bean has proved to be, indeed, an alternative with a profitability which is social, environmental and economically sustainable.

http://www.biodiesel.com.ar/download/brazil_of_biofuels_v1_ingles.pdf

Source: Reporter Brazil

Brazilian ethanol would win spaces with Obama.Â

Due to the sympathy that Barack Obama has shown for the environmental causes, United States can become a sponsor of the renewable energy.Â

Among the commitments of Obama is the reduction in 80% of the carbon emissions toward the year 2050. Â

BrasiliaÂ

The Brazilian ethanol could win stimulus and space in the American market during the Barack Obama’s government, that has already shown affection to the environmental causes. With that, United States can become a patron of the renewable energy.Â

As one can recall, among the campaign commitments of Obama was the reduction in 80% of the carbon emissions toward the year 2050, the decrease of the dependence of the petroleum imports, the development and implementation of clean energy and to make of United States a leader regarding climatic change.Â

The main economy of the planet has as goal to consume 136 trillion liters of ethanol in 2022. The current consumption is of 30 trillions (against 25 trillions in Brazil). “If Obama maintains those goals of ethanol consumption, he may consider necessary the complementation of the American market with imports and, in that case, the expectation is that he would accept to reduce, for a certain export volume, the rate applied today on the Brazilian ethanol”, affirms the general director of the Icone Institute of Studies of the Trade and International Negotiations, André Nassar.Â

Nowadays, United States applies a rate of US $0,54 per gallon of Brazilian alcohol, what inhibits the entrance of the product in that country.Â

Less emissionsÂ

Nassar believes that the concern of Obama for bigger energy efficiency could also be translated in the participation of United States in the Post-Kyoto Protocol and in a new mechanism of clean development for the carbon trade, with adoption of goals of reduction of emissions of hothouse effect gases. “The Americans have a very heavy energy matrix in terms of emission of CO2. If they had to clean that matrix, that would tend to open opportunities for Brazil, mainly in the ethanol, that is our main source of exportable renewable energy”, he highlights.Â

Besides selling more ethanol to United States, Brazil could attract investments of that country regarding clean energy and also develop associations in transfer, investigation and technology development.  Â

Barriers

As for the myth of the democratic protectionism and what that can represent for the Brazilian agroindustry, Nassar affirms that the granted subsidies and questioned by Brazil are defined in the North American Agricultural Law, the called Farm Bill, and they vary according to the prices in the international market. The current law was approved by middles of last year and will have validity up to 2013. “In terms of agricultural policy and subsidies for grains, the arrival of Obama doesn’t change anything. It is what the law defines and period”, Nassar summarizes.Â

The specialist warns that during the democratic government Bill Clinton, especially in the years 98 and 99, the prices fell a lot and the leader was pressed by the Congress to grant complementary subsidies to the agricultural sector. That, according to Nasser, could happen again, but is not very probable. “The American deficit was never so big and the moments in that they “super subsidized” the agricultural sector coincide with moments of smaller deficit. I believe that, if the producers put pressure on Obama, that they request more than what is specified in the Agricultural Law, they won’t get it.”Â

Source: América Economía

Biofuels: The Ledesma Company will invest 65 Million Pesos in Jujuy.Â

The Governor of the province of Jujuy, doctor Walter Barrionuevo, received Fascio Room to directive of the Ledesma Company and was informed of the project of the company that will invest 65 million pesos to produce biofuels and to market them starting from 2010. Â

In a first stage, the sugarcane plantation surface will be increased in 4 thousand hectares and a dehydrating plant will be settled in the city of Libertador General San Martin that will produce the fuel alcohol. As announced after interviewing with the Leader, by the Director of Ledesma Federico Nicholson, the Administrator of the company Federico Gatti and the manager of Institutional Affairs, Eduardo Nougués.

Nicholson manifested that in the company they are very delighted with this new possibility that will generate direct employment and wealth in the county, highlighting that in spite of the turbulent times as the current ones, Ledesma confirms once more its commitment with the investment and the development.Â

He explained that the project arose last year soon after the National Government’s Law that is regulated. It was established that starting from the year 2010 naphtha have to be mixed with 5 percent of ethanol.Â

Without limitsÂ

On the other hand, the directive assured that the 6.500 job positions will be held since Ledesma is thinking of growing in production and employment.Â

The alcohol dehydrating plant will begin to operate in 2010 and it is possible for it to have more alcohol and sugarcane production in the coming years, because the ethanol fuel program is a program to which we don’t see limit and for the Argentinean northwest it is significant because besides employment and wealth, from the environmental point of view it is very positive.

“When replacing a fossil fuel for a renewable fuel, it is convenient from the environmental point of view”, he expressed.     Â

First stageÂ

In this year the cultivation area will be increased in around 4 thousand hectares and a dehydrating plant will be installed to produce fuel alcohol, besides carrying out investments in the current still.Â
This way, Ledesma will produce in 2010 around 55 million liters of alcohol to destine to the internal market hydrated alcohol and to the new fuel alcohol market.Â

This volume would mean an increase of around 40 percent in Ledesma’s current production of alcohol.  Â

New processesÂ

On the other hand, Eduardo Nougués, Manager of institutional Affairs of the company, indicated that there will be an increase of employment sources for these new processes, where it will be worked “to drum roll” to have the enough cane and to have the still enlarged and the dehydrator built.Â

Federico Gatti specified that Ledesma offers the leadership in all its enterprises as for production, process and technological development, overturning it in benefits for the community of Jujuy.Â

He remembered that for being a centennial company, it has experiences in this type of business and it is under conditions of entering to the biofuels market with good product quality and with qualified human resources for the clients’ satisfaction, Gatti concluded.Â

Source: La Hora de Jujuy

The fair achieved the support of San Lorenzo’s Chamber.Â

It will be held from April 3rd to 5th and the prices of the stands didn’t raise. It is expected to gather more than 120 companies and to be a thermometer of the cord activity.Â

Puerto San Martin has already set date for the fourth edition of the Expopuerto, the most important party in the area, where the small, medium and big industries that integrate the productive chain, show their potential. The event will held from the 3rd to 5th of April in the Parque Linda Vista. Â

This year the municipality of this town strongly bets on the confirmation of most of the companies of the area, like it is the case of the oil factories, which have already participated of previous editions. The query arises due to the current crisis that some companies are going through and it is ignored how they will act: if they won’t be presented or, on the contrary, if they will want to show their products even more, keeping in mind that to this fair attend a great number of businessmen with intentions of knowing the activities of other plants.Â

“This year we are working together with the Chamber of Commerce of Puerto San Martin and San Lorenzo, which gather the different companies of the region and in spite of the world financial problem, we expect the companies to join to the proposal. Up to now, most of those that participated the last year, already confirmed their presence”, indicated Carlos De Grandis, intendant of this that town.Â

During the year 2007, 120 companies were the ones that exposed their activities and around 40.000 people who visited the exhibition stands, transforming this party into one of the most important of the region.Â

This year, the thematic will be similar to the previous editions; from the month of December that the office that organizes the exhibition is to the search of the Grain industries, Oil factories, Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Gas Industries, meat processing plant, Pharmacists, Minings, among others.

Its organizers affirm that the objective of the exhibition is “to offer a social and commercial interaction space between the productive forces and the community to impel the invigoration of the productivity and competitiveness of the companies of the region.”Â

As complement and to bring near the spectators that are not businessmen, the exhibition offers diverse shows with well known artists, handicrafts fair, interactive games, traditional foods and even parachute jumping among other attractions.Â

The prices don’t go upÂ

On the other hand, from the organization they indicated that the prices of the stands won’t suffer big modifications in order for the small companies to participate. The communal boss highlighted the necessity to attract these new biodiesel companies: “We have the hope that they will be all the companies of the city, the oil factories and especially those of biodiesel, which have not been able to start with their production due to the crisis; but we want them to show to the city and the region what it is about and what benefits they bring”, he sustained.Â

In another order of things, De Grandis showed his concern for the present time of the industries resided in the city; most of them off on vacations and others that still don’t start as those of biodiesel Explora and Unitec Bio.Â

“The situation is not easy, and now the problem of the lowering of the river is added, where when not having the river the 32 feet of draught it impedes the entrance and exit of the ships. There are forecasts that indicate that in March the situation would be reactivated a little more; I hope aren’t mistaken”, he concluded.Â

Anabela TramontiniÂ

Courtesy of Punto Biz for Nextfuel Argentina/Biodiesel.com.ar

In the Fair of Detroit the presentation of hybrid and electrical vehicles was the tendency marked by the companies before an adverse economic panorama.Â

The vice-president and general manager of Toyota Bob Carter presents the Toyota Prius , a gas-electrical hybrid of third generation. Picture: EFEÂ

DETROIT, (AFP). – The electric and hybrid vehicles continue encouraging the recovery hope of the automotive market in crisis times. It is for that reason that the makers multiply announcements and reveal prototypes to seduce the public in the fair of Detroit with numerous prototypes of big manufacturers as Daimler, Toyota or General Motors that respond to the climatic concerns and the high price of the fuels. Â

“The technology today is ready for the production in series” of electric vehicles, affirmed Thomas Weber, in charge of technological matters of Daimler. This German group presented an electric prototype called BlueZero, with a 200km autonomy and fed by battery. The objective is to market 10.000 units towards 2011-2012.Â

Meantime the Chinese manufacturer BYD’s president, Wang Chua-Fu, presented on Monday in the automotive fair inaugurated on Sunday, a vehicle prototype 100% electric, the “e6?, with an 402 Km autonomy by battery load. Wang also informed that BYD wants to market in the United States by 2011 its hybrid vehicles, particularly the F3DM, which has just been introduced in the Chinese market.Â

The American manufacturer Ford had announced on Sunday a development program of this technology type that will be carried out in next four years in North America. “The next generation of rechargeable hybrid vehicles and fed by battery are the natural stage in our investigation toward a bigger consumption economy”, declared Derrick Kuzak, vice-president of Ford and in charge of the development of the products.Â

These initiatives nevertheless could need the government’s help in case the prices of the fuels lower after having reached so high prices, added Bill Ford, executive president of Ford.
The financial crisis and the credit contraction sank the sales of the sector 18% in United States in 2008, what has been the most spectacular fall in 29 years.

In this context, the manufacturers bet on the green revolution to leave the crisis. General Motors also promised that it will introduce in the market by 2011 a rechargeable mini hybrid, the Spark, although the prototype was not revealed.Â

Of their side Chrysler presented three hybrid prototypes (that work with gasoline and electricity), a sedan, a Jeep and a sport car that “clearly demonstrate that the company is moving towards putting electric vehicles in the garages of the consumers”, according to the president Bob Nardelli.Â

The Japanese Toyota and Honda also compete in the land of the hybrids: the first one revealed the new version of their emblematic Prius, while the second one proposed a new model of its sedan Insight. Daimler presented an electric automobile prototype baptized Blue Zero.Â

Source: La NaciónÂ

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