World Grain - July 2011 - 40

BIOFUELS QUARTERLY

Ready for an
T
he tone was more serious this year at the annual World Biofuels Markets Conference, held March 22-24 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The need for liquid transport fuels dominated thinking, delegates were reminded again and again of Brazil’s huge role in the industry, and talk was that secondgeneration biofuels is going to be big. It’s not quite there, said Heikki Malinen, president and chief executive ofﬁcer (CEO) of engineering and consulting group Pöyry Plc. “At the moment, all the biggest business opportunities are for consultants. Much more work has to be done to ﬁnd other resources that don’t divert food production,” he said, adding that the industry has to be sure not to use up scarce water resources and also push for energy efﬁciency. “At this nascent stage the role of government will be essential.” CLIMATE REVOLUTION Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, painted a picture of an economic revolution in which biofuels will play a vital role. “We’ve had two events in the last two-and-a-half years which signal the end game for the great industrial-age based on fossil fuel,” he said. “In July 2008, oil went over $80 a barrel. At $125 a barrel, there were food riots in 22 countries.” When oil peaked at $147, that was the economic earthquake, Rifkin said. The ﬁnancial crisis was an aftershock. “We have hit peak globalization,” he said. “Peak oil per capita happened 30 years ago.”
(Above) Attendees of the World Biofuels Market Conference heard how biofuels will play a vital role in an economic revolution.
40

by Chris Lyddon

Speakers at 2011 World Biofuels Market say it’s time to move on from being a fossil-fueled world
He also pointed out the need to tackle the problem of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. “There’s the possibility of a mass extinction this century,” he said. “It’s when energy revolutions coincide with communication revolutions that economic revolutions can happen. We have enough energy for all our species until kingdom come.” The revolution would involve converting every building into a power plant, which would jump start a construction boom, Rifkin said. Buildings are converted and collect the energy including biofuels. That includes, for example, garbage. “What we don’t need we share collaboratively across continents with grid IT,” he said. “Here in Europe, and hopefully around the world, we are on the cusp of a great leap forward.” But the industry would have to cooperate to make it happen, with all renewable energies coming together, Rifkin said. British politician Tim Yeo insisted on the need to cut carbon. “We have to decarbonize the process of generating energy,” he said. “We have to decarbonize the built environment. We have to decarbonize transport. We have to decarbonize deforestation.” Yeo said climate change isn’t a threat to the survival of the
July 2011 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - July 2011

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