World Biofuels markets ’more upbeat’ this year
The NFU’s chief adviser for renewable energy and climate change, Jonathan Scurlock, was invited to participate in a panel session at the World Biofuels Markets 09 conference and exhibition.
The NFU’s delegates were surprised to find the industry in an upbeat mood, having weathered a tough year for economics and public relations in 2008. One presenter (from New Energy Finance Ltd.) reminded delegates that the fundamentals have not gone away - oil at $45-50/barrel was a high price just 4 years ago - $45 oil in the depths of a major world recession is remarkable.
The Conference did see an absence of even the more moderate NGO critics of the biofuels industry, which resulted in little debate on sustainability standards or feedstock preference.
Even Dr Jeff McNeely, chief scientist at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, was muted in his keynote critique of bioenergy, with recommendations that the NFU would also support such as increased yields, restoration of degraded land and ’cascading’ use of biomass resources.
Furthermore, Oliver Bach of the Rainforest Alliance described how this certification scheme (which currently applies to a limited range of tropical food and non-food products) plans to converge with the emerging criteria for biofuel feedstocks.
There was keen interest in the sessions on algal biofuels, with two algal start-up companies sponsoring the event. Representatives from Boeing chaired some sessions, underlining the interest of the aviation sector (which is now being driven by its imminent inclusion in emissions trading schemes) - but little new evidence was presented of the required cost or scale-up breakthroughs (lunch with long-time US algal expert John Benemann confirmed this).
The most interesting possible spin-off for UK agriculture could be the future availability of algal protein as a deforestation-friendly alternative to soya in livestock feed, but the co-production of algal fuel and feed is still a long way off. Discussions with growers and processors of novel oilseeds such as jatropha, pongamia and safflower confirmed that these feedstocks are more likely candidates for next-generation biofuels.
Bob Geldof’s plenary speech on the first full day of the conference contained some useful quotes - "biofuels are part of the development mix"; "we need a more nuanced debate on biofuels"; "traditional wood fuels must be modernised" and "many argument against bioenergy are ideologically inspired and ignore poverty matters".
Brazilian Minister Andre Lago confirmed that gasoline is now an alternative transport fuel in Brazil (since >50% met by bioethanol) and that 17% of electricity in Sao Paulo state is from bagasse (sugar cane residue) as a co-product of the bioethanol industry. Brazil is aiming for 15% electricity from bagasse by 2015 or 2020, and is aware of the development potential of such technology transfer to African countries.
In the parallel sessions, Raffaello Garofalo of the European Biodiesel Board emphasised the need for the biofuels industry to work in partnership with farmers to deliver on sustainability. The bioplastics forum discussed the complexities of communicating distinctions between degradable biobased and durable biobased products, including their suitability for both industrial and home composting and anaerobic digestion.
There were several presentations on Argentinian soya growing using no-till techniques, claiming that this practice is already economically driven by reduced input costs, and yields up to 75% GHG savings (Argentinian scientists are to verify these results with the EU Joint Research Centre) - this could have substantial implications for EU biodiesel feedstocks.
