Waking up to biofuel boom
Their preferred option for developing the factory sites at Mallow and Carlow is probably to hitch a lift on the booming property market and take a windfall by selling off the land to the highest bidder.
Meanwhile, more adventurous companies are aiming to get in the ground floor of a biofuel boom.
Some of the world’s biggest companies have announced significant investments in biofuels, among them agri-business multinationals such as Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill. Other major investors include Richard Branson, Bill Gates, and the global investment firm Goldman Sachs.
Several leading car makers, including Ford, General Motors, and Volkswagen, have announced plans to dramatically increase production of flexible-fuel vehicles.
There is substantial government investment around the world in researching new biofuel technologies, which could accelerate the industry into the future.
The US Departments of Agriculture and Energy say that advanced biofuels could replace 37% of their transport fuel use within the next 25 years, rising to 75% if vehicle fuel economy is doubled. The biofuel potential in Europe is estimated to be in the range of 20% to 25%, according to German government agencies which contributed to the new Worldwatch Institute report on biofuels.
World production of ethanol more than doubled between 2000 and 2005, while production of bio-diesel quadrupled. But biofuels still only provide 1% of the world’s liquid transport fuels.
Biofuel can solve many pressing international problems. It could end the over-dependence on oil which has left the global economy at risk of disruption. It could also cut production of greenhouse gasses which damage the world climate.
That’s why countries like Sweden plan a big role for biofuels in their programme to end their dependence on fossil fuels by 2020. From the rural economy point of view, biofuel would mean secure jobs.
The ethanol industry, for example, already directly provides nearly 200,000 jobs in the US and half a million jobs in Brazil.
Biofuel will be on Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan’s mind whenever her consent is sought by Greencore for disposal of their Carlow and Mallow buildings, lands, machinery and plant.
Greencore cannot sell off Irish Sugar sugar assets without the Minister’s consent.
She will be aware that the two sugar plants could be converted for ethanol production from beet for about e60 million, representing a huge financial and time saving compared to putting biofuel plants on greenfield sites.
She will also be aware that Ireland needs to do more on the biofuels front, following warnings of a crippling fuel crisis because of our chronic over-dependency on imported oil and gas and coal — importing 90%, compared to an EU average of 50%. Only 2.2% of our fuel needs are met by renewables such as timber and wind.
Against that background, using the Mallow and Carlow plants to produce ethanol from beet looks favourable.
Ethanol can be blended with conventional fuel. For several years, France produced 70,000 tonnes of ethanol per year from sugar beet.
German beet growers just recently signed up with ethanol companies, and beet for ethanol could also fit in Ireland.
In fact, Ireland has many of the attributes to be a biofuel leader — available farmland and water, and huge self-sufficiency in food production.
And the plants are ready and waiting at Carlow and Mallow to be the centres for a new Irish industry of strategic and economic importance.
