‘Gasahol’ caution is urged

Press, 2 October 1979, Page 11

‘Gasahol’ caution is urged

A Washington-based reearch group has cau- . .ioijed against the precipirate large-scale use of ethj anol to run cars. I Ethanol, or ethyl alco- : hoi, can be produced from i a wide range of fermented I vegetable crops, agriculI tural wastes, or municipal ' garbage. It is then used as i a petroleum supplement | by being mixed with petrol to produce a blend popularly called "gasahol' in the United States. A New Zealand Government report has urged an immediate start on the production of fuels from vegetatation and has said a big plant producing ethanol. should be built. Discussing alternative

fuels in a paper entitled “The Future of the automobile in a fuel-short world,” the Worldwatch Institute says that the ultimate potential for ethanol as a fuel for cars is likely to rest on the availability of raw materials.

"In particular, the largescale diversion of crops to distilleries will raise serious concerns about competition between food for people and fuel for automobiles.” Noting that Brazil is the leader in alcohol production (from sugar), the Worldwatch paper adds that Brazil is fortunate in having a large sugar surplus and more land that can be used to grow crops.

“Few other countries have that luxury,” it says. “The United States does have a substantial grain surplus that could be converted into alcohol, but diversion of a significant part of the surplus could result in less food being available for export in lean years.” Worldwatch says that means the buying power of American motorists could override the basic food needs of people in the developing world. “Such questions need careful thought before rushing headlong into the large-scale use of ethanol to run cars.” The paper adds that governments that turn to alternative liquid fuels, including those from energy crops, will often face difficult political chcrices.

"A commitment to »nv of these alternative fuels promises to alter the relationship between the food tnd energy sectors.” Worldwatch is an independent non-profit research organisation created to analyse and to focus attention on global rroblems. Its paper on the car and car fuels was written by ts director. Mr L. Brown, ind two other researchers. They note that a second alcohol, methanol, has a promising potential in the long term. Produced from wood, its use would not compete so directly for food resources, the researchers say. because it could be produced from wastes such as wood chips and other sawmill products. But methanol technologies, they say, are not as advanced as those for ethanol, and methanol corrodes some of the metals used in car engines. New' Zealand’s recent “Energy Farming” report also recommends building Of an experimental plant in the North Island to produce methanol. Worldwatch says that ethanol is now meeting 14 per cent of Brazil's automotive fuel needs. In mid-1979 gasohol with 10 per cent alcohol was being sold in 28 states in the United States, and in lowa, where it is most widely used, it accounted for 2.5 per cent of total petrol sales. National use is expected to reach 100 million gallons, less than 0.1 per cent of total consumption. But a Department of Energy review of the potential for alcohol fuels says that if all land idle under farm programmes w’ere used to grow energy crops, and if large quantities <Jf organic wastes were used to make alcohol, the United States could produce 4.8 billion gallons of ethanol a year —about 5 per cent of the present petrol consumption Congress is studying a bill authorising $BOO million in Federal loans and loan guarantees to stimulate development of plants making alcohol fuel from farm and forest products arid wastes to supplement the nation's fuel supply.