Senegal's president explains the urgency of biofuels development in the South
Earlier, we republished Brazilian President Lula's open letter on biofuels, in which he explains how the production of renewable fuels is a crucial strategy for poverty alleviation, rural development and the strengthening of the livelihoods of the weakest in society by redistributing wealth and guaranteeing energy and food security.
Today, we publish President Abdoulaye Wade's letter to the Washington Post, in which he highlights the importance of biofuels as a means to tackle broad development goals. High oil prices can have a devastating impact on the least developed countries, because they are energy intensive and do not have the financial, market and policy instruments with which to ease the burden. As the 1980s demonstrated, well-intentioned development efforts and results can get whiped out all at once, simply because of high oil prices. The production of biofuels now offers a way out for those countries.
As Mr Wade says, this past summer, the Senegalese President convened the first meeting of energy ministers from 13 nations to form the Pan-African Non-Petroleum Producers Association (PANPP), with the intention that it serve as a green version of OPEC. The PANPP is a platform that stimulates South-South cooperation, and is aimed at relieving the burden of oil dependence (see earlier post).
Africa Over A Barrel
By Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal
DAKAR, Senegal -- Although gasoline prices have dropped recently in the United States, many Americans continue to worry about the toll of oil dependence at the gas pump and on the U.S. economy. As an African, I feel their pain -- and then some. While the price of a barrel of crude has recently dipped below $60, oil still costs twice as much as it did three years ago -- and experts fully expect the price to climb higher.
President Bush, a one-time oilman, has warned Americans about the danger of a country's being "addicted to oil." Yet the toll of oil dependence in the United States pales beside the pain that soaring oil prices cause in Africa.
In sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, the oil crisis is not a vexing "cost crunch"; it is an unfolding catastrophe that could set back efforts to reduce poverty and promote economic development for years:
ethanol :: biodiesel ::biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: developing world :: petroleum :: dependence :: poverty :: Senegal ::
In the United States, working men and women fretted when gas prices topped $3 a gallon this year. Here in the capital of Senegal, gasoline costs $5.62 a gallon. Unlike the United States, we are not a rich nation. Imagine having to pay such an exorbitant price to fill up your tank -- but in a country where per capita income is $849 a year. Senegal's electrical utility has been forced to turn off the lights throughout the nation for long periods every day, a crippling problem that could be eased if energy cost less.
The math is not hard to do. Everywhere in West Africa, governments are being forced to reallocate lifeline budget subsidies to counterbalance unprecedented oil and electricity prices. Senegal's direct oil subsidies to domestic consumers have increased fivefold since 2002. Niger's fuel costs have quadrupled. Even in Africa's oil-producing nations, windfall profits from oil have failed to reduce poverty. Per capita income in Nigeria is still $1,400 a year.
If the price of crude oil reaches $100 a barrel within the next year -- as some analysts predict -- a pan-African disaster will be upon us. Richer, oil-producing countries in Africa risk being inundated with mass migrations of people seeking survival.
By draining government treasuries, the soaring price of oil in West African nations has made it all but impossible to proceed with antipoverty efforts, and it is hindering work to increase access to public health services and to reduce the spread of AIDS. It is true that man does not live by bread alone. But being freed from the daily necessities of survival is a prerequisite to educating the workforce and building an economy.
The oil shock wave is undermining American aims on the continent, too. As oil prices go into orbit, America's efforts to promote liberal democratic economies and combat terrorism in Africa are sabotaged. I write this as the head of state of a tolerant, pro-Western -- and predominantly Muslim -- nation.
What can be done? Part of the solution must come from Africa itself. This past summer in Dakar, I convened the first meeting of energy ministers from 13 nations to form the Pan-African Non-Petroleum Producers Association (PANPP), with the intention that it serve as a green version of OPEC. The members of PANPP aspire to become leaders in the field of biofuels and alternative energy strategies, following in Brazil's footsteps. But the development of a biofuel industry, particularly cellulosic biofuels made from agricultural wastes and prairie grasses (which President Bush touted in his State of the Union address) could take a decade or more to come to fruition. Africa needs help today.
As a stopgap measure, I propose that our organization ask African oil-producing nations, as well as the international community and major oil companies, to chip in from recent windfall profits to reduce the increase in oil prices that has taken place since 2003.
If ever there were a time when major oil companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, Total and BP could contribute to stabilizing West Africa by reducing the oil surcharge, it is today. As a champion of market economies, I can appreciate that companies do not easily part with profits. But the continued cost of the oil crisis in Africa could easily destabilize oil-producing nations and shrivel downstream markets for the oil companies elsewhere in the continent. It's in the interest not only of America but also the petroleum industry not to have an Africa in ruins.
The writer is president of the Republic of Senegal.
Article continues
Today, we publish President Abdoulaye Wade's letter to the Washington Post, in which he highlights the importance of biofuels as a means to tackle broad development goals. High oil prices can have a devastating impact on the least developed countries, because they are energy intensive and do not have the financial, market and policy instruments with which to ease the burden. As the 1980s demonstrated, well-intentioned development efforts and results can get whiped out all at once, simply because of high oil prices. The production of biofuels now offers a way out for those countries.
As Mr Wade says, this past summer, the Senegalese President convened the first meeting of energy ministers from 13 nations to form the Pan-African Non-Petroleum Producers Association (PANPP), with the intention that it serve as a green version of OPEC. The PANPP is a platform that stimulates South-South cooperation, and is aimed at relieving the burden of oil dependence (see earlier post).
Africa Over A Barrel
By Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal
DAKAR, Senegal -- Although gasoline prices have dropped recently in the United States, many Americans continue to worry about the toll of oil dependence at the gas pump and on the U.S. economy. As an African, I feel their pain -- and then some. While the price of a barrel of crude has recently dipped below $60, oil still costs twice as much as it did three years ago -- and experts fully expect the price to climb higher.
President Bush, a one-time oilman, has warned Americans about the danger of a country's being "addicted to oil." Yet the toll of oil dependence in the United States pales beside the pain that soaring oil prices cause in Africa.
In sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, the oil crisis is not a vexing "cost crunch"; it is an unfolding catastrophe that could set back efforts to reduce poverty and promote economic development for years:
ethanol :: biodiesel ::biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: developing world :: petroleum :: dependence :: poverty :: Senegal ::
In the United States, working men and women fretted when gas prices topped $3 a gallon this year. Here in the capital of Senegal, gasoline costs $5.62 a gallon. Unlike the United States, we are not a rich nation. Imagine having to pay such an exorbitant price to fill up your tank -- but in a country where per capita income is $849 a year. Senegal's electrical utility has been forced to turn off the lights throughout the nation for long periods every day, a crippling problem that could be eased if energy cost less.
The math is not hard to do. Everywhere in West Africa, governments are being forced to reallocate lifeline budget subsidies to counterbalance unprecedented oil and electricity prices. Senegal's direct oil subsidies to domestic consumers have increased fivefold since 2002. Niger's fuel costs have quadrupled. Even in Africa's oil-producing nations, windfall profits from oil have failed to reduce poverty. Per capita income in Nigeria is still $1,400 a year.
If the price of crude oil reaches $100 a barrel within the next year -- as some analysts predict -- a pan-African disaster will be upon us. Richer, oil-producing countries in Africa risk being inundated with mass migrations of people seeking survival.
By draining government treasuries, the soaring price of oil in West African nations has made it all but impossible to proceed with antipoverty efforts, and it is hindering work to increase access to public health services and to reduce the spread of AIDS. It is true that man does not live by bread alone. But being freed from the daily necessities of survival is a prerequisite to educating the workforce and building an economy.
The oil shock wave is undermining American aims on the continent, too. As oil prices go into orbit, America's efforts to promote liberal democratic economies and combat terrorism in Africa are sabotaged. I write this as the head of state of a tolerant, pro-Western -- and predominantly Muslim -- nation.
What can be done? Part of the solution must come from Africa itself. This past summer in Dakar, I convened the first meeting of energy ministers from 13 nations to form the Pan-African Non-Petroleum Producers Association (PANPP), with the intention that it serve as a green version of OPEC. The members of PANPP aspire to become leaders in the field of biofuels and alternative energy strategies, following in Brazil's footsteps. But the development of a biofuel industry, particularly cellulosic biofuels made from agricultural wastes and prairie grasses (which President Bush touted in his State of the Union address) could take a decade or more to come to fruition. Africa needs help today.
As a stopgap measure, I propose that our organization ask African oil-producing nations, as well as the international community and major oil companies, to chip in from recent windfall profits to reduce the increase in oil prices that has taken place since 2003.
If ever there were a time when major oil companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, Total and BP could contribute to stabilizing West Africa by reducing the oil surcharge, it is today. As a champion of market economies, I can appreciate that companies do not easily part with profits. But the continued cost of the oil crisis in Africa could easily destabilize oil-producing nations and shrivel downstream markets for the oil companies elsewhere in the continent. It's in the interest not only of America but also the petroleum industry not to have an Africa in ruins.
The writer is president of the Republic of Senegal.
Article continues
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Micro-biogas plants for energy independence at the household level
We have been following the green gas's tracks and saw how it is becoming an important element in large-scale energy systems. In Europe, biogas is more and more seen as a viable transport fuel (in fact, of more than 70 different transport fuels and fuel paths, 'Compressed Biogas', CBG, is the cleanest). A German government energy advisor even thinks the green gas can replace all of Germany's natural gas imports in the long term (earlier post). European researchers are developing dedicated biogas crops that yield more energy per hectare than any liquid biofuel. Some countries in the South are planning to mix biogas into the natural gas grid.
But the elegance of much smaller biogas systems can hardly be ignored, especially when they are introduced in the developing world. They utilize household waste and generate a clean energy source that can substitute for fuel-wood. This way, they take away some of the pressures on local forests. The gas also tackles the important issue of indoor smoke pollution and sooth particles, which form a real killer in the kitchen. Finally, traditional wood stoves contribute considerably to climate change (earlier post), so replacing them by biogas systems at the household level benefits the fight against global warming.
We want to highlight two interesting developments in small-scale biogas technology, one that centers around lowering the cost of a biogas plant, and one that increases its efficiency. Cooperating with African engineers, a company called Superflex has succeeded in constructing a simple, portable biogas unit that can produce sufficient gas for the cooking and lighting needs of an African family.
The plants are likely to reach a production price of around 190-250 US$ since all materials involved are relatively cheap. A copy of the system in Cambodia made from local materials cost even less, around US$50, which might be reasonable for an African family living on less than a dollar a day.
Another development comes from West-Bengal, India, where a US sponsored research program has resulted in an efficient biogas powered micro-turbine system that was scaled down to meet the energy requirements of a typical village:
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: developing world :: micro-turbine :: waste :: biogas ::
A demonstration plant was built in the village of Purulia. The micro-turbine project, touted as the first of its kind in India, will generate 30 kilowatt of power and cater to about 100 families and a local dairy farm. The project was initiated in September 2003 when the US-Asia Environmental Partnership forum provided funds for a pre-feasibility study on the potential of micro-turbine technology based on biomass/biogas applications.
The entire project was coordinated by the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency headed by director, S P Gon Chowdhury.
Micro-turbine technology is an efficient, compact, ultra-low emission way to produce electricity and heat for combined application. The US-Asia Environmental Partnership pursued the pilot project involving the micro-turbine technology from the US. It was expected that it could answer India’s quest for decentralised energy generation and make power available to the 94,000 remote non-electrified villages in the country. Micro-turbines are small power generating systems that produce between 25-500 kilowatt of power.
Article continues
posted by Biopact team at 3:02 PM 0 comments links to this post