1 / 1

Economic growth: industry needs power!

Biofuels: To Grow on Land or at Sea? “Plough versus pond”. Terrestrial biofuel crops: e.g oil-seed rape, palm oil (biodiesel); wheat, sugar beet, corn, maize ( bioethanol ). Aquatic biofuel crops: microalgae (biodiesel); seaweed ( bioethanol ).

oriana
Download Presentation

Economic growth: industry needs power!

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Biofuels: To Grow on Land or at Sea? “Plough versus pond” Terrestrial biofuel crops: e.goil-seed rape, palm oil (biodiesel); wheat, sugar beet, corn, maize (bioethanol). Aquatic biofuel crops: microalgae (biodiesel); seaweed (bioethanol). 1st generation biofuels: made from food crops 2nd generation biofuels: made from non-food crops or waste e.g. miscanthus grass 3rd generation biofuels: “advanced and sustainable biofuels” e.g. microalgae. Costs? Of production? Distribution? Price at the pump? Where’s the profit? Social Impacts – the “whys?” Stuck in the past: Is our infrastructure e.g. internal combustion engine a “technological dinosaur”? Consumer demand: transport Infrastructure reliant mainly on liquid fuels. Economic growth:industry needs power! Can biofuels power the ‘new’ economy? Where will they come from? Space: is there enough land to grow food AND fuel crops? Ownership? Who owns what? Farmers own the land; The Crown Estate owns the seabed – but who owns the water? Price rises: fuel and food. Spiralling costs of fossil fuels. Biofuels causing steep rises in basic food stuff! Food security or energy security? “Food versus fuel debate”. An island nation: we must make more use of the sea! Is aquaculture the new agriculture? Labour: New jobs! Diversifying livelihoods. Land-based farming-highly mechanised=low labour costs. Not so for algae farming. Impact of minimum wage? Multiple uses: e.g. seaweed farm: fuel, food, coastal protection, tourism (diving), fish nursery etc = many different stakeholders. Palm oil plantation? Taxation: biofuels from land get tax breaks. Why is it not the same for algae fuels? Politics: EU subsidies? Common Agricultural Policy for farming; nothing for aquaculture Safety: Which is more dangerous, farming on land or at sea? Costs – in money and lives? Knowledge and Technology – the “hows?” Timescale:Agriculture has been around for 10,000+ years. We have domesticated many arable crops. Intensive algae farming about 50 years old with no domesticated strains. We are land farming experts; we are algae farming novices! Can we do it? Farmers farm, fishermen fish. Who grows algae? Fertilisers:nutrients for growth? Cost? Source? Application – how much and how often? Impact? Growing season: how many crops and how often? Water:need to irrigate or fill ponds/tanks? Using drinking water or ‘grey’ water? Harvesting and access:farm mechanisation (tractors, combine harvesters). How to harvest algae? Light:photosynthesis? Natural or artificial? Is light needed – if not why not? Supply chain: we want ‘drop-in’ fuels. Are there ‘designer’ biofuels? Climate change? Replacing fossil fuel use. Reducing CO2 emissions? Fixing/storing carbon? Environmental Impacts – and the “what ifs?” Pollution of land, water and air: which will have the biggest impact? Environmental versus social ethics: Are we prepared for industrial-scale algae farming? Life-cycle assessment or “cradle to grave analysis”: Examining the environmental impacts at all stages of production. Do biofuels do more harm than good? Which is better- land or sea? Habitat loss or habitat creation? Monocultures? Polycultures? Impacts on biodiversity? Genetic modification? GM crops are a reality. Can they be contained? If so, how? Synthetic organisms – there is already an ‘artificial’ algae! Pesticides: Land farming has had its ‘Silent Spring’ moment. What about algae farming? From left to right: EU biofuels directive – oil-seed rape a key feature; legal requirement for 10% biofuel content in petrol by 2020; growing oil rich microalgae in outdoor ponds; oil palm plantation in Indonesia; farming seaweed for bioethanol; the food versus fuel debate. (credits: Green Guide Spain; Wikipedia; Seambiotic; Greenpeace; Bio Architecture Lab Inc; Columbia Daily Tribune.)

More Related