Of food and fuel: obesity rates keep rising in the US - by 2015, 75% of adults overweight, 41% obese
In the food versus fuel debate, some myths must be dispelled, such as the idea that there is somehow not enough food being produced for all people on the planet. Or that biofuels will threaten future food supplies. The fact is that there is an overabundance of extremely cheap food, but that it is badly distributed. It is well known that food insecurity is not the result of a lack of food (material scarcity), but of lack of access to food. 800 million poor people can't feed themselves because they don't earn enough income to buy food which is so abundant in this world (earlier post).
Our view, which has recently gained interest at the EU level, is that biofuel production by the world's 2 billion farmers in the South offers an opportunity to raise their incomes - the critical factor enabling the reducing of food insecurity. Studies on the potential of biofuels clearly show that we can feed the world's rapidly growing populations, and at the same time produce an abundance of bioenergy (earlier post). In the 20th century, world agriculture was aimed at securing sufficient production of food - a goal that was fully achieved (we currently produce food for 9 billion people). The 21st century must be aimed at distributing it in more equitable ways. Farm subsidies and trade barriers (to e.g. biofuels) in the wealthy West keep many developing countries in poverty and has turned them into net food importers, while these countries should in fact be major agricultural exporters (they have the agro-ecological potential). Infrastructural problems, lack of investment, political instability, bad governance and unfair socio-economic policies on the part of developing country governments are other key factors driving food insecurity and undernutrition in the South.
In the West, the overabundance of extremely cheap (subsidized) food is now so large that it has led to a health crisis of major proportions: the obesity pandemic. Speaking of distributing food in wrong ways, new research shows some staggering figures on how this global epidemic keeps expanding in the United States.
According to a just released meta-study [*abstract] carried out by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Human Nutrition, America's obesity prevalence increased from 13 percent to 32 percent between the 1960s and 2004. The prevalence of obesity and overweight has increased at an average rate of 0.3–0.8 percentage points across different sociodemographic groups over the past three decades. 66% of U.S. adults are currently overweight or obese (2003-2004). By 2015, 75 percent of adults and nearly 24 percent of U.S. children and adolescents will be overweight or obese. The meta-analysis was published online in advance of the 2007 issue of the journal Epidemiologic Reviews.
The study authors included 20 journal papers, reports and online data sets in their meta-analysis. In addition, data from four national surveys—NHANES, BRFSS, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System and National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health—were included in order to examine the disparities in obesity. They defined adult overweight and obesity using body mass index cutoffs of 25 and 30, respectively. Children at risk for overweight and overweight were classified as being in the 85th and 95th percentiles of body mass index, respectively. The key findings include:
biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: agriculture :: food production :: food insecurity :: obesity :: pandemic :: United States ::
References:
Note: Unlike definitions for adults, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses “overweight” to refer to the highest body mass index for children and adolescents. Therefore, it is inaccurate to use the term “obese” when referring to elevated body mass index in this age group.
Youfa Wang and May A. Beydoun, “The Obesity Epidemic in the United States—Gender, Age, Socioeconomic, Racial/Ethnic and Geographic Characteristics: A Systematic Review and Meta-Regression Analysis” [*abstract], Advance Access published online on May 17, 2007, Epidemiologic Reviews, doi:10.1093/epirev/mxm007.
John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Obesity Rates Continue to Climb in the United States - July 10, 2007.
Article continues
Our view, which has recently gained interest at the EU level, is that biofuel production by the world's 2 billion farmers in the South offers an opportunity to raise their incomes - the critical factor enabling the reducing of food insecurity. Studies on the potential of biofuels clearly show that we can feed the world's rapidly growing populations, and at the same time produce an abundance of bioenergy (earlier post). In the 20th century, world agriculture was aimed at securing sufficient production of food - a goal that was fully achieved (we currently produce food for 9 billion people). The 21st century must be aimed at distributing it in more equitable ways. Farm subsidies and trade barriers (to e.g. biofuels) in the wealthy West keep many developing countries in poverty and has turned them into net food importers, while these countries should in fact be major agricultural exporters (they have the agro-ecological potential). Infrastructural problems, lack of investment, political instability, bad governance and unfair socio-economic policies on the part of developing country governments are other key factors driving food insecurity and undernutrition in the South.
In the West, the overabundance of extremely cheap (subsidized) food is now so large that it has led to a health crisis of major proportions: the obesity pandemic. Speaking of distributing food in wrong ways, new research shows some staggering figures on how this global epidemic keeps expanding in the United States.
According to a just released meta-study [*abstract] carried out by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Human Nutrition, America's obesity prevalence increased from 13 percent to 32 percent between the 1960s and 2004. The prevalence of obesity and overweight has increased at an average rate of 0.3–0.8 percentage points across different sociodemographic groups over the past three decades. 66% of U.S. adults are currently overweight or obese (2003-2004). By 2015, 75 percent of adults and nearly 24 percent of U.S. children and adolescents will be overweight or obese. The meta-analysis was published online in advance of the 2007 issue of the journal Epidemiologic Reviews.
The obesity rate in the United States has increased at an alarming rate over the past three decades. We set out to estimate the average annual increase in prevalence as well as the variation between population groups to predict the future situation regarding obesity and overweight among U.S. adults and children. Obesity is a public health crisis. If the rate of obesity and overweight continues at this pace, by 2015, 75 percent of adults and nearly 24 percent of U.S. children and adolescents will be overweight or obese. - Youfa Wang, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and an assistant professor in the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of International HealthThe obesity pandemic is no laughing matter, because here too, the problem is strongly correlated with the socio-economic status of people. Some minority and low socioeconomic status groups—such as non-Hispanic black women and children, Mexican-American women and children, low socioeconomic status black men and white women and children, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders—are disproportionately affected.
The study authors included 20 journal papers, reports and online data sets in their meta-analysis. In addition, data from four national surveys—NHANES, BRFSS, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System and National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health—were included in order to examine the disparities in obesity. They defined adult overweight and obesity using body mass index cutoffs of 25 and 30, respectively. Children at risk for overweight and overweight were classified as being in the 85th and 95th percentiles of body mass index, respectively. The key findings include:
biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: agriculture :: food production :: food insecurity :: obesity :: pandemic :: United States ::
- 66% of U.S. adults were overweight or obese in 2003-2004.
- Women 20–34 years old had the fastest increase rate of obesity and overweight.
- 80% of black women aged 40 years or over are overweight; 50% are obese.
- Asians have a lower obesity prevalence when compared to other ethnic groups. However, Asians born in the United States are four times more likely to be obese than their foreign-born counterparts.
- Less educated people have a higher prevalence of obesity than their counterparts, with the exception of black women.
- States in the southeast have higher prevalence than states on the West Coast, the Midwest and the Northeast.
- 16% of children and adolescents are overweight and 34% are at risk of becoming overweight in 2003-2004.
- White children and adolescents had the lowest prevalence of overweight and being at risk of overweight compared with their black and Mexican counterparts.
Our analysis showed patterns of obesity or overweight for various groups of Americans. All groups consistently increased in obesity or overweight prevalence, but the increase varied by group, making this public health issue complex. More research needs to be completed to look into the underlying causes. Obesity is likely to continue to increase, and if nothing is done, it will soon become the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. - May A. Beydoun, coauthor of the study and a postdoctoral fellow in the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of International Health.In a related study, the Johns Hopkins co-authors published a research article in the May 7, 2007, issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition that found people purchase foods based on their income level and perception of a food’s health benefit and cost. Ethnicity, gender and environmental factors also impact people’s food choices.
References:
Note: Unlike definitions for adults, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses “overweight” to refer to the highest body mass index for children and adolescents. Therefore, it is inaccurate to use the term “obese” when referring to elevated body mass index in this age group.
Youfa Wang and May A. Beydoun, “The Obesity Epidemic in the United States—Gender, Age, Socioeconomic, Racial/Ethnic and Geographic Characteristics: A Systematic Review and Meta-Regression Analysis” [*abstract], Advance Access published online on May 17, 2007, Epidemiologic Reviews, doi:10.1093/epirev/mxm007.
John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Obesity Rates Continue to Climb in the United States - July 10, 2007.
Article continues
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
An in-depth look at biorefinery concepts
Put in simple terms, the concept of the biorefinery is based on converting series of renewable biomass streams via biochemical and thermochemical conversion pathways into an optimal range of products: biofuels, power and heat, biomaterials and green platform and bulk chemicals. All this must be achieved in as efficient a manner as possible by integrating conversion processes. In this sense, biorefining is analogous to the operations at refineries in the petrochemical industry.
The first session at the excom meeting provided an overview of the strategies that various countries are using to accelerate the commercialisation of the biorefinery concept, with a main focus on biochemical conversion. In a second session, thermochemical conversion technologies, 'Integrated Biomass Utilisation Systems' (IBUS), and Integrated Cereal Production were discussed. In a next gathering, the experts looked at strategies aimed at making use of entire plants and byproducts, also called 'bio-cascading'. The final session was entirely devoted to Iogen's experience and to the U.S. Department of Energy's activities at its Golden Field Office. What follows are some highlights from these presentations, which allow for a deeper understanding of the challenges ahead for the establishment of biorefineries.
Paths to commercialisation
In his presentation titled Biorefinery, the Bridge Between Agriculture and Chemistry Ed de Jong of the Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) in the Netherlands sketched the relationship between agricultural feedstocks for a bio-based chemical industry.
energy :: sustainability :: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: bioproducts :: green chemistry :: biorefinery :: bioeconomy :: IEA Bioenergy ::
The integrated biorefinery increases the value chain of individual biomass components as well as co-products produced. The biorefinery bridges the gap between agriculture and the chemical industries by providing a stream for biomass feedstocks and producing a menu of finished chemical products. When these products are produced from non fossil-fuelled feedstock, they also strategically achieve country goals of renewable energy production.
In Commercialising Biorefineries: The Path Forward, Larry Russo of the U.S. Department of Energy started out by providing an overview of America's R&D activities that will bring commercially viable biorefineries to the market.
USA biomass R&D effort was further shaped by the announcement of the Presidential Biofuels Initiative. This initiative set the goal in 2004 to achieve biofuels production to displace 30% of the nation’s gasoline use by 2030. This presidential goal is in response to the need for a domestic fuel source to reduce USA dependence on foreign oil. To achieve this goal, USA structured its government-funded research portfolio along five pathways:
- Feedstock R&D
- Biochemical R&D
- Thermochemical R&D
- Products R&D
- Balance of Plant
Through this multiple-pathway approach, USA will deploy integrated biorefineries throughout the country to meet the President’s goal.As the technologies mature and the projects demonstrate proof-of-concept and commercial viability, the government share of the funding is reduced and more of the financial burden is shifted to the commercial sector. This is the case with US DOE 932 solicitation, which aims to provide loan guarantees for the development of commercial biorefineries. These loan guarantees mitigate the financial burden on lending institutions because the USA government is held responsible should the recipient default on the loan.
Although a major portion of USA policy aimed at reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil is centred on biofuels, USA recognises the need for a balanced approach to achieving its goal. USA has begun to examine the need for more flexible fuel vehicles and improvements in the fuelling infrastructure. DOE also is pursuing efforts to improve the efficiency of automobiles for petroleum combustion, as well as the miles-per-gallon that can be achieved with ethanol fuels. USA believes that the goal of reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil can be achieved most readily through these efforts to develop biorefineries while also improving vehicle fuel efficiencies and the fuelling infrastructure.
Bob Wooley, of the United States National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) spoke about Insuring Success through Stage Gate and Beyond. The 'Stage Gate Process' that the DOE is using to track the progress of the projects within its R&D portfolio was the main focus of the presentation.
In the Stage Gate process, it is important to review previously completed work. During this review, it may be determined that a project should be stopped. The process may also determine whether there are incomplete parts and more work is needed, or whether a project could proceed to the next stage. The final assessment is critical to making sure that the best projects are being pursued.
The Stage Gate process is not a new concept. The Independent Project Analysis, Inc. (IPA), originated under the Rand Corporation in the 1970s, has used this process for a variety of research portfolios including evaluating the synfuels industry. IPA independently measures the performance of capital projects and the risk of possible unknown factors, determines what can be done to mitigate these issues, and predicts project success based on the research factors. It makes suggestions on how outcomes of commercial projects can be improved. DOE has enlisted the services of IPA to help implement the Stage Gate Process and manage the DOE biorefinery development projects, to ensure projects will be successful.
Finally, the first session saw Dan Schell, also of the NREL, discussing ways of Proving Biochemical Technologies at the Pilot-scale for Integrated Biorefinery Development.
NREL is in the process of adding new capabilities to its pilot plant to enable it to handle a wider range of preterament chemistries. The laboratory is also adding new unit operations and expanding the instrument and control capabilities. These expansions will enable the lab to provide more useful information to the commercial sector and facilitate the deployment of more technologies into the marketplace.
Thermochemical conversion, process integration
Session two was entirely devoted to different thermochemical biomass conversion technologies and process integration.
One of the challenges facing biorefineries is to develop thermochemical technologies that are technically and economically feasible at the appropriate scale for reasonably available biomass resources. The goal of most biorefineries is to produce cost competitive biofuels at approximately US$1/gallon and to mix them with gasoline to meet industry, federal, and state specifications. To achieve this goal, biorefineries need to integrate bioethanol and electricity combined with heat to create processing efficiencies. Biorefinery production facilities have different phases: the demonstration plant, phase one (generation), and commercial plants. Second generation biorefineries are being set up in York, UK and Salamanca, Spain.
David Dayton, NREL, presented: Pilot-scale Thermochemical Technologies for Integrated Biorefinery Development - The Thermochemical Conversion Platform. In this presentation, Dayton explained that biorefineries utilise two main processes, biochemical and thermochemical, in converting raw biomass feedstocks such as wood chips into finished products such as ethanol.
Multiple feedstocks necessitate multiple conversion processes, which complicate the process. Gasification of feedstocks is a complex function that needs to incorporate varying levels in the processing equipment. In addition, the waste streams make thermochemical processing more expensive because they must be addressed in order for the processing to be economical.
At NREL, most of the work is focused on particulate removal and consolidating as many processes as possible. NREL’s recent focus on fuel synthesis is to produce biofuels from clean syngas. NREL can generate real syngas to test unit operations and study integration issues and catalyst performance issues. Once these technical challenges are addressed and the goals are achieved, major breakthroughs in biorefinery production will ensure that the capacity to produce finished products from renewable resources is available.
In Integrated Biomass Utilisation Systems: Best Basis for Biorefineries, Børge Holm Christensen of Inbicon A/S, Denmark, elaborated the concept of 'Integrated Biomass Utilisation Systems' (IBUS), which began by seeking alternatives for straw and ethanol, has proved to be a good concept.
In integrated production of bioethanol and electricity, a feedstock such as straw loses 55 to 65% of the input energy, and ethanol fermentation loses 3 to 5% of the input energy as heat. The huge loss of heat energy from the global electricity generation can be used to cover the demand for heat energy in future fuel ethanol production. The solution to these losses is co-production.
The IBUS system requires less energy and therefore has low energy costs. Use of low pressure steam from electricity generation means energy can be used without CO2 emissions. It can also recycle the by-products, does not have waste water, and does not emit volatile organic compounds. IBUS can use this pre-treatment process to enter various stages in the biorefinery.
The IBUS concept utilises the surplus steam to produce high-quality solid biofuel increases. The primary result of the EU project is the co-production of biofuels.
Abengoa Bioenergy, a leading biofuel & biorefinery developer and a subsidiary of Spanish group Abengoa, was represented by Quang Nguyen, who explained his company's vision on the Integration of Biomass and Cereal Ethanol Production. Abengoa is a technology company founded in Seville, Spain, and it operates in more than 40 countries. Its approach to biorefineries is to integrate starch-hybrid and biomass. It has strategic interests in producing fuels for future technologies such as hydrogen, and it considers ethanol production the basis for hydrogen fuels.
Abengoa has various gasification, catalyst development, and ethanol reforming projects. One such project is a hybrid starch and biomass commercial plant in a conceptual design phase. Its output will be 700 tons/day, integrated with a cereal ethanol plant.
Biomass conversion challenges for Abengoa and all biorefinery plants are that biomass feedstocks are complex, varying, and bulky; feedstock collection logistics are complex; and the cellulosic biomass feedstocks are more recalcitrant than starch.
Bio-cascading
Three presentations were held during the session on 'bio-cascading'. Bio-cascading - making use of whole plants and not just their easily extractable sugars or starches - will be crucial because biomass resources are limited. Just as petroleum refineries produce gasoline as their main product, but also produce many valuable co-products, so too does the integrated biorefinery attempt to utilise the entire feedstock stream to produce biofuels and valuable co-products.
One goal is to incorporate conversion R&D and demonstrate for adoption in an existing biorefinery facility. The technical challenge is to avoid hydrolysis degradation products and use fibres in corn ethanol products. It is important that by-products from biodiesel and the sugar industry are upgraded. There are also issues of transportation and more efficient processes, which could be overcome by using cheaper and more efficient feedstocks.
Michael Ladisch of the Purdue University in the U.S. co-repsented with Gary Welch of Aventine Renewable Energy on Incorporating Conversion R&D and Testing Adaptation in an Existing Facility. They started by saying that there is a strong motivation to incorporate R&D conversion technologies and adaptation testing in existing facilities in order to reduce the dependence on oil. Another driver is the presidential mandate to reduce USA dependence on oil through the President’s ‘Twenty in Ten’ goal. NREL is working with industry, federal and state government, and universities in a collaborative effort to achieve these goals.
Ethanol, used as fuel additive as well as a stand-alone product such as E85, will help achieve the goals to reduce dependence on oil. Corn to ethanol currently accounts for 13% of all ethanol in USA. However, corn is also needed for food (both domestic and exports) and animal feed, and using it for ethanol has an impact on food costs because it places higher demand on the corn, which in turns raises its price. The amount of corn available to produce ethanol is insufficient; that, and because of its other uses, is why cellulose is needed. Corn will continue to be important, but will only account for a fraction of the production.
Thomas Willke of the Federal Agricultural Research Centre Institute of Technology and Biosystems Engineering, Germany, looked at Upgrading of By-products from Biodiesel and Sugar Industry by Bioconversion and Chemical Catalysis. The presentation offers an overview of the Federal Agricultural Research Centre Institute of Technology and Biosystems Engineering. The Centre has identified several main barriers toward the integrated biorefinery. Biomass transport, pre-treatment, conversion, production, and energy costs are all barriers that must be addressed in order to upgrade by-products from the biodiesel and sugar industries through bioconversion and chemical catalysis.
Some important steps for biorefineries to reduce costs are to combine pre-treatment, conservation, and separation, such as in sugar and starch refineries, Willke concluded. The major challenge is the potential for cost reduction in biorefineries such as in transportation efficiency, more efficient processes, and cheaper and more efficient feedstocks.
Finally, Prabhakar Nair, of U.S.-based UOP LLC, discussed how to Commercialise Thermochemical R&D and Pilot Plant Results. Biofuels have had an increasingly important role in global energy demand, with 12 to 15 percent annual growth, Nair says. There are two major bio-based transport fuels: ethanol and biodiesel. USA and Brazil are primary centres for ethanol production, and Europe is the primary centre of biodiesel production. The market today is driven by subsidies to make it competitive. If the proposed mandates set by USA and the EU are adopted, they will create an additional demand for about 3 million barrels per day of renewable transport fuels by 2020.
UOP is a supplier and licensor of processing technology, which was acquired by Honeywell in 2005. UOP can apply refinery processing technology to renewable feedstocks to help the major biorefining centres in the world.
UOP notes that the current biofuels market is based on sugars and oils alone and thinks long term sustainability will require the use of lignocellulosic feeds.
Biorefinery management processes, and Iogen
This final session of the IEA Bioenergy executive committee's meeting discussed the demonstration commercial plant funded by the U.S. DOE Biomass Programme with Iogen. The Iogen plant uses straw as feedstock and will demonstrate the cellulose ethanol making process.
Another presentation was on the Project Management Center, part of DOE’s Golden Field Office. This centre manages US$1.2 billion in R&D funding for a variety of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects including biomass projects. The presenter provided an overview of the role of this office in managing the DOE biomass projects.
James Spaeth, US Department of Energy, outlined how the DOE's Project Management Center puts in efforts aimed at Managing the Biofuels Portfolio. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has a dedicated field Project Management Center (PMC) at its Golden Field Office (GFO) in Colorado. The PMC function is to oversee laboratories and work with industry and academia to implement a portfolio of approximately US$1.2 billion annually, including biomass projects.
GFO uses common practices and business processes to manage projects and works from basic R&D to commercialisation. Its key functions are to implement directives from DOE headquarters into concrete solicitations and projects. GFO has the same structure as that of headquarters in that it runs solicitations and manages projects based on statements of work, including financials, technical and project milestones, and spend plans.
An important activity of GFO is working with DOE headquarters to enact sections of USA Energy Policy Act of 2005. GFO has played a major role in the selection and management of the activities conducted in the Implementation of Section 932, which calls for financial support to commercialise six biorefinery plants. In addition, GFO has begun to examine how to implement the 942 reverse auction. These efforts will jumpstart cellulosic ethanol production in USA.
The Iogen Story was presented by Maurice Hladik, of Iogen, Canada. Iogen is the well known producer of enzymes used to convert lignocellulosic biomass into ethanol and has been active in producing the biofuel since the 1970s. It has a variety of partners, including Shell and Goldman Sachs.
Picture opening this article: The fermenter of Iogen's biorefinery in Ottowa, the world's first cellulosic biomass conversion facility. Courtesy: Iogen Corp.
References:
All images are taken from the respective presentations.
IEA Bioenergy: The Biorefinery Concept - workshop held in conjunction with ExCo59 in Golden, USA on 25 April 2007.
Article continues
posted by Biopact team at 7:01 PM 0 comments links to this post