The Chinese auto industry is booming, as you are surely aware by now. While many are concerned with the emissions of those vehicles, as they should be, there are myriads of other related problems to worry about. One problem which is cropping up relates to tire production, which, of course, requires rubber.

Apparently, China's been importing lots of rubber for its growing number of tire factories from other countries which have already cleared land for the production of rubber. In order to reduce the amount of rubber that they need to import, China is looking to produce more rubber locally, but only has a limited area suitable for growing the rubber trees. For that reason, a good deal of rainforest land is being cleared to make way for more rubber plantations. The China Rubber Industry Association forecasts that natural rubber output will grow by 30 percent to 780,000 tons by 2010.

[Source: Just-Auto]

CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, which is Australia's national science agency, released a report that speaks quite in favor of biodiesel but raises the alarm on the raw materials used for production. Something someone at OECD (although not OECD itself) said as well.

The report states that either pure biodiesel or a significant blend actually lowers greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The process is remarkably good when used oil is the source for making biodiesel. Locally grown canola and tallow are also efficient ways of obtaining fatty acids for biodiesel production (the latter when coming from waste).

Another story is palm oil, which is often produced in rainforest (or we should say former rainforest) areas. The report shows a very interesting graphic on how much oil palm-trees yield: at 10 years time after planting, production is maximum, but the crop is not sustainable until the trees have been in the ground for 50 years. This means that GHG gases that were produced to plant, fertilize and harvest are higher than any possible CO₂ captured by the trees. What's even more, it's known that those crops are replacing rainforest mostly by fire.

Nevertheless, there's a reasonable spot for crops which are about 20 years old, which means that oil obtained from crops planted before 1990 could be acceptable.

[Source: CSIRO (Thanks to Nathan for the tip)]

The price of palm oil, which has gained favour over the last few years as a cheap biodiesel feedstock, is soaring. Another relatively new use of palm oil is as a trans-fat substitute for use in processed food. But the oil palm, grown mainly in Malaysia and Indonesia, is not well liked - it has been blamed for rainforest destruction, the death of orang-utans, air pollution and exploitation of workers.

Europe in particular is fueling the growth in biodiesel production which in turn is encouraging the growth of more oil palm plantations. Meanwhile, Malaysian exports of palm oil to the U.S. increased by 65 percent last year as consumers turned away from trans-fats.

A controversial Chinese-funded plan to strip 1.8 million hectares / 4.5 million-acres of forest for a massive new oil palm plantation in Indonesia is causing alarm. But while land clearing in Indonesia is rampant, the locals are unapologetic claiming that Europe cleared its own forests for commercial gain.

Environmentalists meanwhile are concerned about the impact such practises are having. In their article, Physorg quotes Meena Raman from Friends of the Earth Malaysia as saying "It's a huge push to have a monoculture crop replace biodiverse rainforest and indigenous people. Palm oil is just a quick fix for biofuel."

Analysis: While a legitimate and sustainable palm oil industry exists in Malaysia and Indonesia, massive destruction of forests to export biodiesel to Europe is really just Europe exporting its environmental problems to South East Asia. The Philippines is so concerned about similar problems occurring in their country that they have embraced jatropha curcas as a plant which can be used as a biodiesel feedstock and grown in non-forest areas.

Related:

• Chinese biodiesel industry unfazed by oil price falls
• Celsias turns a jaundiced eye on biofuels
• South East Asia expanding biodiesel feedstock production

[Source: Physorg.com]

Here's a twist to the biofuel movement. Expanding the use of biofuels could result in burning down rainforests to facilitate growing more crops.

For example, there are plans to open 6 million hectares (a hectare is 10,000 square meters) to biofuel plantations in Indonesia, and environmentalists worry that suppliers will burn down trees to clear land for palm oil and sugar fields. Burning down trees that absorb greenhouse gasses would wipe out any climate-change advantage associated with burning cleaner fuels in automobiles.

Just another example of how delicate the balance of nature is.

Here are some related stories on this balance:

• Forest conservation beats fuel conservation
  
• USDA grants $4.2 million to turn biomass into fuel, reduce fire hazard
• Biofuels just another politically-expedient attempt to look green

[Source: Reuters via alertnet.org]