Biofuels: They Could Lead To A Future Water Crisis?

Garry White - Thu 16 Aug, 2007

The experts will look at the impact of the expected mass production of biofuels such as ethanol for the automobile industry on future water scarcity. According to the Stockholm International Water Institute, which organised the conference, agricultural demand for water will double by 2050 due largely to the anticipated needs of the biofuels sector. So, not only are biofuels an energy inefficient way to burn food, but they could lead to a future water crisis. David Trouba, a spokesman for the Stockholm International Water Institute, put it very well. He asked: Where will the water to grow the food needed to feed a growing population come from if more and more water is diverted to crops for biofuels production?"

Apparently, this week is World Water Week...
That allows a gaggle of “experts” to take a nice trip to
Stockholm on expenses and chat about water sustainability
over plates of pickled herring.

Forgive my sarcasm, but I am always unsure as to what
these events achieve, but one of the main items on the
agenda has caught my eye and I salute the watery Swedes
that organised this event, the 14th such symposium. Let’s
hope they make a stir.

The experts will look at the impact of the expected mass
production of biofuels such as ethanol for the automobile
industry on future water scarcity.

According to the Stockholm International Water Institute,
which organised the conference, agricultural demand for
water will double by 2050 due largely to the anticipated
needs of the biofuels sector.

So, not only are biofuels an energy inefficient way to
burn food, but they could lead to a future water crisis.
David Trouba, a spokesman for the Stockholm International
Water Institute, put it very well. He asked: “Where will
the water to grow the food needed to feed a growing
population come from if more and more water is diverted
to crops for biofuels production?"

It’s not just been a bunch of bearded experts at a fringe
conference that have been expressing concern over the
impact of biofuels on future water supplies. It is
starting to become a mainstream issue. Democratic senator
Matt McCoy of Des Moines Iowa has been raising the issue.

The prospect of introducing laws to force ethanol
facilities to recycle water has already been discussed.
"As it relates to water, I'm more concerned about the
production of ethanol right now" said the Senator,
"That's got me very, very concerned."

Iowa’s 27 ethanol plants use groundwater from underground
aquifers... these aquifers provide drinking water as it
bubbles into streams...

Of course, these companies have to have a license to pump
the groundwater, but guess what, that license only costs
$25... That’s just three-and-a-half times what it costs
to buy a bottle of Evian Water in Vancouver... (I just
still can't get over it!)

It takes around 4 gallons of water to produce one gallon
of ethanol... using ethanol to power the average US car
for one year would require a staggering 11 acres of
farmland... this works out to be the same area needed to
grow a year's supply of food for seven people, according
to David Pimentel a leading agricultural expert from
Cornell University.

He also calculated that it needs 131,000 British thermal
units (BTUs) of energy to make one gallon of ethanol.
One gallon of ethanol has an energy value of only 77, 000
BTUs. This means that 70% more energy is required to
produce ethanol than the energy that actually is in it.
Every time you make a gallon of ethanol there is a net
energy loss of 54,000 BTUs.

So, ethanol as fuel does not make sense from an
agricultural, water strategy or on an energy efficiency
front. It is a massive white elephant.

However, it appears that certainly in places like Iowa
the biofuels debate is being driven by politics and not
science. Iowa is a relatively poor part of the US where
unemployment is a problem.

State Senator David Johnson, who is also the top-ranking
Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said
he will not support regulations on how ethanol facilities
use water until he sees proof that Iowa's aquifers are
in trouble.

"My concern is that we continue to find ways to
revitalise rural Iowa and we've hit on something here
with biofuels and renewable fuels," Johnson said in
an interview.

So with ethanol factories being a political way to try
and regenerate rural areas in the US, maybe World Water
Week should be held in Des Moines instead of Stockholm
next year. But, as ever, politics will be in the driving
seat; until it all goes wrong, of course.

Regards,

Garry White
For The Daily Reckoning

Garry White is the UK editor of Outstanding Investments, a newsletter specialising in natural resource and biotechnology investment. This essay was re-published from his free eletter, Garry Writes.

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