Water and Ethanol
Posted on September 29, 2007
Filed Under All, Politics, Technology, Green Tech |
The front page of The New York Times has an AFP photo that sums up an intersection of issues and technologies that are going to drive the world’s affairs in the months and years to come, IMHO.
The photo shows Somalis, displaced by fighting that is in part caused by the migration of populations displaced by a drop in already-marginal water supplies, gathered around a U.N. food distribution operation. The accompanying article points out that food distribution to the world’s poorest will shrink greatly this year because of sharply higher food prices.
The rise in corn and soybean prices is being driven in part by the ethanol-production craze in the U.S., while climate-change driven drought - another water issue - has caused wheat prices to rise. Water shortages and the unintended consequences of ethanol production from food crops is causing a tragedy that could lead to greater world instability. China, the U.S. and the U.N. are already locking horns over events in Africa.
Technology alone can’t solve this issue, but the least we can do is try to move technologies that can help - like celulosic ethanol production and better water management technology - from the lab to the field. If you figured in the cost of massive population displacement, celulosic ethanol’s higher cost vs. corn might well be offset. So-called ‘Translational Technology,’ moving from lab to production, should be a focus for Green Tech investors…
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4 Responses to “Water and Ethanol”
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Chris:
Good argument for what has been sort of a disappointing technology (ethanol) cost-wise. Well done.
Incidentally, this happens on the web sometimes: I’m stumbling through a number of links, led only by curiosity to see what’s there, and suddenly stumble across a distantly famiiar name.
Like yours. I used to know a Chris Gulker, a photographer who also tended bar occasionally at Pasadena’s Loch Ness Monster Pub, many, many years ago.
You he?
One and the same…
[…] We made mention of the potential for climate change and conflict in an earlier post…Â […]
[…] This morning’s New York Times has a front page article describing the rapidly-escalating crises - including food riots - caused by, among other things, the diversion of food crops - like palm oil and soybeans - to energy production. American farmers’ wholesale switch to heavily-subsidized corn for ethanol, has caused a 20% dip in soybean oil supplies, which is having global consequences, as is the sharp rise in corn prices. The rise in oil prices is causing producers to level virgin forest to plant palms. […]