Monday, December 03, 2007

The Energy Crisis Will be Solved…

The November issue of the Smithsonian Magazine features a story critical of the biofuels movement.

According to the article, American farmers planted 15 million additional acres of corn this year. As a result of corn being diverted to fuel production, the price has doubled over the last two years and we are beginning to see shortages.

Tyson Foods executives warned of rising prices for poultry after spending an extra $300 million this year for feed. Protesters are mobilizing in Latin America as prices of this staple food crop rise.

The solution to the energy crisis we confront will not be found in corn, on trees or inside our garbage. There is no silver bullet. It will be solved with a variety of solutions.

In Guatemala, Coffee Kids partner, STIAP, has been working toward energy independence since 2005. The group of farmers is based in a far-flung community in a land unmarred by power lines.

Up until 2005, they powered their community with generators using diesel fuel trucked into the community. Their odyssey to energy independence came about through a fortuitous meeting with a local university and an idealistic, young American.

With their help STIAP began working on a biodiesel generator. At the same time, XelaTeco, a business incubated by the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG – http://www.aidg.org), helped install a micro-hydroelectric plant.

The combination of these two simple technologies has reduced the community’s dependence on outside fuel to almost nil. Check out the article in our summer 2007 issue of La Voz, the Coffee Kids Newsletter for more information.

As an addendum to the Smithsonian article on biofuels, check out the piece here on E85, the new ethanol blend, and how it stacks up against other fuels.