Stumbling Towards Green Fuel

[Guest guest]

[There have been some encouraging articles posted here recently about the

alleged virtues of ethanol for fuel. Here’s the other side of the story.]

 

 

 

STUMBLING TOWARDS GREEN FUEL

 

Environmentalists Are Skeptical About Government Investment In Ethanol

 

 

 

by EVE KRAKOW

 

From Nov. 2 to 4, representatives from government and industry are meeting

in Quebec City for the World Summit on Ethanol in Transportation to discuss

ways to promote the use of ethanol fuel. Last week, the government of Canada

launched a three-year, $100-million Ethanol Expansion Program, a component

of its Climate Change Plan for Canada. The government's ultimate target: to

have 35 per cent of our gasoline contain 10 per cent ethanol by 2010.

 

Derived from agricultural crops, ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline, offers

the same engine performance and can be used in blends of up to 10 per cent

in all cars built since the 1970s. It's been around for years, but now the

government is allocating more money for its development as an alternative

fuel. Sounds great, no?

 

But ethanol is not a panacea for our problems, environmentalists warn. Real

greenhouse gas reductions depend on how the ethanol is produced. Plus,

subsidies are still required to make it commercially viable. They say that

government money would be much better spent supporting proven alternatives -

such as public transportation.

 

" On average, it takes a public transit user 40 years to consume the energy

that a motorist consumes in four, " says Normand Parisien, executive director

of Transport 2000.

 

Questionable figures

 

Ethanol fuel is not a new technology; in fact, ethanol blends have been

available at a number of gas stations across Canada (and about five in

Montreal) for years. In Canada, ethanol is traditionally made from the

starch in wheat and corn. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), the federal

agency overlooking our natural assets, estimates that using a 10 per cent

ethanol blend in your car reduces greenhouse gas emissions by three per cent

compared to conventional gasoline.

 

But not everyone agrees with these figures. " The study by NRCan was severely

criticized for overlooking certain elements of the energy chain required to

produce ethanol, " explains Steven Guilbeault, director of Greenpeace Quebec

and the climate change campaigner for Greenpeace Canada.

 

Emerging technologies to produce cellulose-based ethanol are more promising.

These would use agricultural residues such as cereal grain straw, corn

stalks and cobs or even waste from the forestry sector. Supported by the

Canadian government, the Ottawa-based Iogen Corporation has built a

large-scale demonstration plant using this technology. NRCan estimates that

10 per cent blends using cellulose-based ethanol reduce greenhouse gas

emissions by eight per cent.

 

Yet it will be some time before this new technology is widespread. An

ethanol plant slated for construction in Varennes, Quebec, would still use

mostly corn. Moreover, until ethanol can hold its own over gas prices,

government subsidies are required. A spokesperson for Les Pétroles Sonic,

which sells ethanol blends at about 100 gas stations across Quebec, says

they offer only a five per cent blend to keep it profitable. They're still

waiting for the Quebec government to implement a promise to exempt the

ethanol portion of gasoline blends from taxes.

 

Expensive and untested

 

" Ultimately, you want to be able to produce ethanol at a cost that's

competitive with gasoline, on an unsubsidized basis, " says Bill Cruickshank,

a bioenergy research and development specialist at the CANMET Energy

Technology Centre in Ottawa. He says this is one objective of the NRCan

program he manages supporting the research at Iogen.

 

Alain Lefebvre, director of the hydrocarbons development branch of the

Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources, Wildlife and Parks, is a member of the

summit's organizing committee. He argues that in light of our Kyoto

commitments, it's in Quebec's interest to develop ethanol fuel. " If we look

at the technologies currently available that can be easily applied, ethanol

fuel is a logical choice. I agree that the environmental gains are modest,

but when you convert that into megatonnes, it's still substantial. "

 

Others still disagree. They urge the government to invest in electric cars

and public transit, and force car manufacturers to build cleaner-burning

engines. " I think it's imprudent, if not misleading, to put a lot of money

into ethanol as part of our Kyoto commitment plan, " says Guilbeault. " What

if we realize, four or five years down the road, that we've invested

hundreds of millions of dollars into a technology that doesn't deliver? "

 

José Etcheverri, research and policy analyst for the David Suzuki

Foundation's climate change program, qualifies ethanol as, at best, a

remedial solution. " Too often, remedial actions tend to absorb resources to

the detriment of preventive measures. "

 

 

 

http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/2003/103003/news2.html