First US sugar-ethanol plant plan progresses
30 December 2008

A new agreement between Pacific West Energy and Kaua'i Island Utility Co-op (KUIC) in Hawaii looks likely to advance plans for a sugar-ethanol plant on Kauai, which could become the first sugar-based ethanol plant in the US.

Washington, US-based Pacific West intends to retrofit Gay & Robinson's Kaumakani sugar mill to produce 15 million gallons a year of ethanol and 30 megawatts of power by burning bagasse.

The proposed quantity of ethanol would supply about 35% of Hawaii’s current use, Maria Tome of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, says.

The bagasse-burning power plant would help the utility reach its goal of generating half its electricity with renewable sources by 2023, KIUC president Randy Hee says.

In a move to encourage local ethanol production, since 2006 Hawai'i has required that petrol sold in the state include 10% ethanol.

A Hawai'i tax credit of $0.30 (€0.21) a gallon of ethanol produced could yield $4.5 million a year for up to eight years, Maloney adds. Additional federal tax credits expire in 2010, but are expected to be extended.

Financing for the project has grown to $125 million.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081021/ap_on_re_us/hawaii_energy

Hawaii (HEC) Outlines Renewable Energy Goals
"Hawaii outlines renewable energy goals"

By MARK NIESSE Oct. 21, 2008

HONOLULU – "Hawaii's largest utility has signed on to a plan to move the state away from dependence on fossil fuels for electricity and ground transportation.

The goal is to create 70 percent of Hawaii's energy use from clean energy sources by 2030. Currently, the state gets about 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources.

Under the latest agreement, Hawaiian Electric Co. commits to not build any new coal plants, integrate up to 1,100 megawatts of renewable energy into the power grid and convert existing fossil fuel generators to biofuels using locally grown crops.

'We don't have years and years anymore to make these changes,' Gov. Linda Lingle said Monday. 'These are not hopes or dreams or wishes, these are our specific plans that we hope to achieve.'

The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is a major step for Hawaiian Electric, said Connie Lau, chairwoman of the board of directors for the utility, which powers Oahu, Maui and the Big Island.

'This is a historic moment for all of us, and it really does take us far beyond what our companies have done historically,' Lau said.

But some of the biggest ideas in the overall deal — including expensive undersea power cables to move wind-generated energy between the islands — lack funding or even cost estimates for how they'll become reality.

http://www.kedb.com/energyconference.asp

Presented by Kaua`i Economic Development Board in Partnership with the United States Department of Energy, County of Kaua`i Office of Economic Development, and Kaua`i Island Utility Cooperative

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18220
The Ethanol Scam

July 19, 2008 By Nicole Colson
Source: SW

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AT FIRST glance, it seems like common sense.

Unless you're delusional or in the pay of the energy industry, you know that the burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of global warming and destructive climate change that is already wreaking havoc around the globe. Not to mention that fossil fuels are a limited resource, costly to extract and refine, and increasingly sought-after by competing nations.

So if a more environmentally friendly fuel could be derived from renewable plant-based sources, wouldn't it be logical to make the switch?

This is the justification for the recent boom in biofuel production in the U.S. and around the globe. Since biofuels (which can be made from corn, sugar cane, soybeans or other organic sources) are produced from "renewable resources," goes the argument, they can go a long way to helping break America from its 21-million-barrels-a-day oil habit and provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels.

Biofuels--especially, in the U.S., corn-derived ethanol--are being promoted as the savior of both the planet and humankind.

http://starbulletin.com/2008/05/22/news/story04.html
Bioenergy plan in works

By B.J. Reyes
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Biofuels, criticized by some as contributing to worldwide food shortages by diverting crops from grocery stores, are getting a closer look in Hawaii as the state continues searching for ways to curb its reliance on imported oil.
The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism held its first public meeting yesterday toward developing a statewide bioenergy master plan.

"I hope we get a comprehensive, collaborative plan regarding bioenergy -- the sources of the energy, the usage of the energy and the integration of the energy into our electricity and transportation fuel systems," Gov. Linda Lingle said after addressing the meeting of about 200 people in the Capitol auditorium.

Changing the state's energy demand has been a focus of the governor and the Legislature as they look for ways to reduce the state's need for imported fossil fuels, such as crude oil, coal and natural gas.

To achieve that goal, the state has tried to spur development in renewable energy sources, such as wind, wave, solar, geothermal, wave energy and agriculture-based fuels.

Bioenergy refers to the conversion of biomass -- trees, grasses, algae, ocean plants, agricultural and food processing wastes, manure and garbage -- to fuel.

Published on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 by The Guardian/UK
An Unsustainable Scam
Editorial

Just in time for April Fool’s Day comes news of the latest scam in the biofuels industry. As we report today, cargo loads of biofuel are being shipped from Europe to the US where they are topped up, allowing traders to claim a subsidy from Washington, and then shipped back. Despite the dateline, this is no prank - it accounts for up to 10% of all biofuel exports from America to Europe - even though it makes a mockery of the notion of a green fuel.

The attraction of biofuels is obvious: they offer a simple solution to one of the thorniest problems of our times. If the fossil fuels we use, especially for transport, emit too much carbon then, runs the thinking, swap to low-carbon fuels made from potato or rapeseed. Clean and cheap, biofuels are a godsend for governments facing stiff targets on reducing carbon use. And so they set quotas or introduce subsidies to encourage take-up of this miracle fuel. From today, 2.5% of all petrol and diesel sold in the UK must be made from biofuels. And the EU plans to raise that to 5.75% by 2010.

Published on Friday, February 8, 2008 by The Los Angeles Times
Biofuel Crops Increase Carbon Emissions
The conversion of forests and grasslands into fields for the plants offsets the benefit of using the fuel, researchers find. Greenhouse-gas output overall would rise instead of fall.
by Alan Zarembo

The rush to grow biofuel crops — widely embraced as part of the solution to global warming — is actually increasing greenhouse gas emissions rather than reducing them, according to two studies published Thursday in the journal Science.0208 07

One analysis found that clearing forests and grasslands to grow the crops releases vast amounts of carbon into the air — far more than the carbon spared from the atmosphere by burning biofuels instead of gasoline.

“We’re rushing into biofuels, and we need to be very careful,” said Jason Hill, an economist and ecologist at the University of Minnesota who co-authored the study. “It’s a little frightening to think that something this well intentioned might be very damaging.”

Even converting existing farmland from food to biofuel crops increases greenhouse gas emissions as food production is shifted to other parts of the world, resulting in the destruction of more forests and grasslands to make way for farmland, the second study found.

The analysis calculated that a U.S. cornfield devoted to producing ethanol would have to be farmed for 167 years before it would begin to achieve a net reduction in emissions.

Published on Thursday, January 24, 2008 by BBC News/UK
Brazil Amazon Deforestation Soars

The Brazilian government has announced a huge rise in the rate of Amazon deforestation, months after celebrating its success in achieving a reduction. 0124 04

In the last five months of 2007, 3,235 sq km (1,250 sq miles) were lost.

Gilberto Camara, of INPE, an institute that provides satellite imaging of the area, said the rate of loss was unprecedented for the time of year.

Officials say rising commodity prices are encouraging farmers to clear more land to plant crops such as soya.

The monthly rate of deforestation saw a big rise from 243 sq km (94 sq miles) in August to 948 sq km (366 sq miles) in December.

“We’ve never before detected such a high deforestation rate at this time of year,” Mr Camara said.

His concern, outlined during a news conference in Brasilia on Wednesday, was echoed by Environment Minister Marina Silva.

Expensive soya

Ms Silva said rising prices of raw materials and commodities could be spurring the rate of forest clearing, as more and more farmers saw the Amazon as a source of cheap land.

“The economic reality of these states indicate that these activities impact, without a shadow of a doubt, on the forest,” she said.

The state of Mato Grosso was the worst affected, contributing more than half the total area of forest stripped, or 1,786 sq km (700 sq miles).

The states of Para and Rondonia were also badly affected, accounting for 17.8% and 16% of the total cleared respectively.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE:
How Green Are Biofuels?
Jörn P. W. Scharlemann and William F. Laurance *

Global warming and escalating petroleum costs are creating an urgent need to find ecologically friendly fuels. Biofuels--such as ethanol from corn (maize) and sugarcane--have been increasingly heralded as a possible savior ( 1, 2). But others have argued that biofuels will consume vast swaths of farmland and native habitats, drive up food prices, and result in little reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions ( 3 - 5). An innovative study by Zah et al. ( 6), commissioned by the Swiss government, could help to resolve this debate by providing a detailed assessment of the environmental costs and benefits of different transport biofuels.

To date, most efforts to evaluate different biofuel crops have focused on their merits for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions or fossil fuel use. Some studies suggest that corn-derived ethanol in the United States ( 7) and Europe ( 8) consumes more energy than it produces; others suggest a modest net benefit ( 2). Relative to petroleum, nearly all biofuels diminish greenhouse-gas emissions, although crops such as switchgrass easily outperform corn and soy ( 9). Such comparisons are sensitive to assumptions about local growing conditions and crop by-products, but even more important, their focus on greenhouse gases and energy use is too narrow.

Published on Friday, January 4, 2008 by The Guardian/UK
Burning Biofuels May Be Worse Than Coal and Oil, say Experts
by Alok Jha

Using biofuels made from corn, sugar cane and soy could have a greater environmental impact than burning fossil fuels, according to experts. Although the fuels themselves emit fewer greenhouse gases, they all have higher costs in terms of biodiversity loss and destruction of farmland.0104 06

The problems of climate change and the rising cost of oil have led to a race to develop environmentally-friendly biofuels, such as palm oil or ethanol derived from corn and sugar cane. The EU has proposed that 10% of all fuel used in transport should come from biofuels by 2020 and the emerging global market is expected to be worth billions of dollars a year.

But the new fuels have attracted controversy. “Regardless of how effective sugar cane is for producing ethanol, its benefits quickly diminish if carbon-rich tropical forests are being razed to make the sugar cane fields, thereby causing vast greenhouse-gas emission increases,” Jörn Scharlemann and William Laurance, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, write in Science today.

“Such comparisons become even more lopsided if the full environmental benefits of tropical forests - for example, for biodiversity conservation, hydrological functioning, and soil protection - are included.”