Biofuels and cow fart

Finally, here is a sobering study by experts from the College of Agriculture of U.P. Los Banos on the technical and economic prospects of jathropa, hyped to be a boon not just for local farmers, the environment, and for the ill-advised policy goal of energy self-reliance. Professors Ted Mendoza, Oscar Zamora and Joven Lales are in the crop science faculty of the agriculture college, and one would expect them to jump on the bandwagon of biofuels consultancy if they were so inclined. My only beef is, they should have spoken up much earlier. Because they didn’t, we have had to contend with a lot of cow fart from government.

Humble enough to admit what they have not studied, they proceed to illustrate why government claims about extra-ordinary profitability for farmers planting jathropa don’t stand closer scrutiny. They say, essentially, that with the most optimistic assumptions, the claims of government stink. But read the report for yourself.

Environmental activists are right to demand that government study options for energy supply now and in the future, but they should also remain vigilant and identify hype. In my case, I still have not wiped off all the egg off my face in regard to natural gas vehicles, promised by government to have been operational in 2005. In December 2004, using data from government, I made a presentation in Agra, India optimistic about the economic viability and positive environmental impacts of the program, to an enthusiastic audience. Three years later, the program has yet to materialize because of hitches in infrastructure and financial and economic problems with the supplier of LNG. Other participants in the Better Air Quality (BAQ) conference joked that I was taking my paper too seriously, because I did not even find time to visit the Taj Majal.

A brief historical review should make us wary of astounding claims on alternative fuels. In 1982, at the height of the Marcos government’s alcogas program, which entailed the blending of anhydrous alcohol with regular and premium gasoline, I was making the rounds in Negros and Panay trying to address the problems of water intrusion into the gas station tanks and engine incompatibility. At the time I was disgusted to find out that the sugar planters, for whom the project was meant to help, were among the most stubborn oppositors.

The program was heavily subsidized for their benefit. I remember I and my colleagues driving around Iloilo City and Bacolod at night and being offered child prostitutes for about P2 a piece because of the slump in world sugar prices. One would think that in these times, government would be studying not only the technical aspects of the biofuels program but also the equity implications. I will leave that for another post.