Martin Steele sent me this:
á WESTERN MORNING NEWS ~ WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 4 2002
Biofuels hold key to future of British farming
National Farmers' Union president Ben Gill writes about the future
biofuels hold for British farming and how the industry will develop
during the coming century
CAST your mind to the future. Vehicles could be running not on
diesel, but on oil extracted from a common British crop,. You could
be walking on carpets, the fibres of which are made from hemp - and
listening to music on headphones made from maize. Sounds far fetched?
Believe it or not, this could be reality sooner than you think. why
should we bother to develop such Strange-sounding products? The
answer is climate change.
The British have always worried about the weather,But it Seems that
today we have more than good reason. It was once the exception when
we had an inch of rain. Yet in the past few weeks alone we have been
deluged. People were killed, trains disrupted and the country thrown
into chaos in this year's autumn gales. Outside the United Kingdom
the ancient cities of Prague, Vienna and Budapest were devastated by
recent floods. One third of the entire USA was declared a drought
area, while other parts were flooded. In the southern hemisphere,
Australia is experi­encing a severe drought, a leading factor in
the outburst of the country's bush fires.
á These events are all Symptomatic of climate change - a
misunderstood phenomenon which does not mean we shall all soon be
enjoying tropical conditions, but one that leads to extreme weather
patterns of storm and drought. The effects of climate change on
farming have already been pronounced. Crops are literally washed or
blown away, or their quality is severely degraded. But climate change
will soon disrupt the way we all live our lives.Yet the pace at which
these problems are being addressed is lamentable.
A cynic might suggest that this is because it is unattractive in the
short-term political perspective to address what is a long-term
issue. To suggest we need to reduce our dependence on oil, when any
significant benefits will not be realised for decades possibly not
even in our lifetimes - requires a clear vision of the objectives and
an appreciation of the magnitude of the problem. So what's the real
problem? A key element is the rising level of carbon dioxide and
other pollutant gases in our atmosphere. where are the gases coming
from? Simply from our increasing use of fossil fuels, principally
oil, as a source of energy - but also as the raw materials for the
industrial and consumer goods we con­tinue to consume so
voraciously. Does this mean that we have to take a backward step in
our standard of lving? No, but it does mean we have to be cleverer
about how we get our energy and raw materials. That is where British
farmers come into the equation. In some countries the production of
so-called biofuels from farm crops is already quite well developed.
'Twenty per cent of our arable land could be
switched from food to non-food uses'
Rapeseed oil can produce a substance called bio-diesel, while sugar's
and starchy crops like wheat can be fermented and distilled into
bio~ethanol - the equivalent of petrol. With the same tax relief that
these other coun­tries give to alternative fuels - and with
smaller tax breaks than those given to liquid petroleum gas in cars -
this could be a reality in the United Kingdom in less than two years.
Furthermore the extra revenues that the Trea­sury would derive
from the new business activity created from this industry would go a
long way to compensating the revenue deficit. More than 10,000 jobs
could be created through the growing and processing of this green
fuel. The potential is much wider than bio-fuels, though. Sony
announced in July the launch of the first Walk-man with a casing made
from maize .Fujitsu are also due to follow this development with a
laptop that is made from the same product. And trials are taking
place using oils, starch and fibres from crops in a whole raft of
other ways, from car dashboards to cosmetics to nylon without
nitrogen oxide emissions.
What we need to ensure is that these, and many other exciting
developments, are made from British crops. The potential market is
enormous. Twenty per cent of our arable land could be switched from
food to non-food uses. So what is holding us up? A lack of
direction, a lack of importance and a continuing lack of
understanding & of the long-term strategic importance of this issue
by the Treasury, which continues to focus on short-term issues. We
need a coherent Government and EU policy to encourage
entrepreneurial development in this whole area. The consequences
could be amaizing for rural communities, the environment and society
as a whole.
Biofuels at Journey to Forever
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html
Biofuel at WebConX
http://webconx.green-trust.org/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm
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