Biomass : To Win the Future 9780739173725, 9780739173701

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Biomass

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Biomass To Win the Future Shi Yuanchun

LEXINGTON BOOKS

Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK

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Published by Lexington Books A wholly owned subsidiary of Rowman & Littlefield 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowman.com 10 Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL6 7PP, United Kingdom Copyright © 2014 by Lexington Books All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. The English edition published in agreement with China Agricultural University Press. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sheng wu zhi neng juan. English. Biomass : to win the future / [edited by] Shi Yuanchun. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7391-7370-1 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-7371-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-7372-5 (electronic) 1. Biomass energy—China. 2. Energy development—China. 3. Biomass energy industries—China. I. Shi, Yuanchun. II. Title. TP339.S4413 2014 662'.88—dc23 2013022641

™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

Foreword: Ten Years in the Past

xiii

Acknowledgments

xix

Part I: General Reviews 1

2

On Energy

3

1.1. The Source of Energy 1.2. The Ghost of Fossils, Originating from Heaven While Refined by Earth 1.3. The Rise of Coals 1.4. The Global Game on Oil 1.5. The Theory of “Spike Values” and “Ratio of Storage to Production” 1.6. The Crisis of Exhaustion 1.7. The Future for Energy References

4

15 18 19 22

Resource and Environmental Crisis

23

2.1. 2.2. 2.3. 2.4. 2.5.

24 27 30 31 33

The Classical Model of the Circular Economy The Focus on Global Warming Troublesome Sulfur Dioxide and Dust Awakened Human Society International Society in Action

6 8 12

v

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Contents

2.6. Commencement of the “Post-Kyoto Era” 2.7. Hopes on Green Products 2.8. China’s Dilemma and Determination References

35 37 39 41

The Twenty-first Century: The Era of Multienergy

43

3.1. Global Hydrogen Energy Mania 3.2. New Energy: A Late Bloomer 3.3. Nuclear Power: Wishing You a Good Trip 3.4. Hydropower: Thriving along the Watercourse 3.5. Wind: Regional Dominating Energy 3.6. Solar Energy: From Heat to Electricity 3.7. Biomass Energy: Unparalleled with Distinctive Features 3.8. Renewable Energy Family 3.9. The Era of Multi-Energy in the Twenty-First Century References

44 46 48 50 51 53 55 56 59 61

4 Biomass and Biomass Industry

5

6

63

4.1. The First Workshop of Nature 4.2. Biomass Industry 4.3. Facts and Figures about Biomass Materials 4.4. Biomass Industry: Kills Three Birds with One Stone 4.5. A Bird’s-Eye View on Biomass Industry 4.6. Milestones from 1895 to 2010 References

64 66 67 71 73 75 81

Brazil Miracle

83

5.1. Start-Spangled Drama 5.2. Poverty Gives Rise to Desire for Change on a Different Path 5.3. A Brand-New Industrial System 5.4. A Green “Saudi Arabia” in Latin America 5.5. Lula da Silva: President Promoter 5.6. The Blue Sky and White Clouds above St. Paul 5.7. Two “Golden BRICs” References

84

Grand Blueprint of the United States

99

6.1. The Deep-Seated Corn Complex of the United States 6.2. A Sapient Presidential Executive Order 6.3. Following the Footsteps of a Predecessor to a New High Level 6.4. Is It Possible for a Billion-Ton Annual Supply? 6.5. High Hopes for the Second Generation of Biofuel

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6.6. 6.7. 6.8. 6.9. 6.10.

7

8

9

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Duck Firstly Knows the Warmth of River Water in Spring Obama and His Secretaries American Bioenergy Industry in Financial Crisis ARPA-E Plan and an Authoritative Report The Journey toward the Centurial Energy Restructuring and Upgrading References

113 115 117 117

Second- and Third-Tier Countries in Biomass Industry

123

7.1. A Flourishing Flower Garden 7.2. European’s Involvement in Energy Shortage 7.3. Germany Forging Ahead 7.4. Who Will Be the First One to Bid Farewell to Oil Time? 7.5. Biomass Japan 7.6. India with a Slow Yet Sure Step 7.7. ASEAN in Action 7.8. Forerunners of Africa 7.9. China with a Good Startup References

124 126 128 129 131 133 134 136 137 140

A Dazzling Array of Biomass Product (I)

141

Part I Liquid Biofuel 8.1. New Chapter of Wine Culture 8.2. The First Generation of Biofuels: Fuel Ethanol 8.3. Cellulosic Ethanol: A Rising Star 8.4. Biodiesel: Endowed with Multiple Advantages 8.5. Biodiesel: Dragged Down by Raw Materials 8.6. The Second Generation of Biofuel: Ready for Boom Part II Gaseous Biofuel 8.7. Rural Household Biogas: The Legend of Cinderella 8.8. Industrialized Biogas: A New Star 8.9. Industrialized Biogas = Natural Gas 8.10. Biomass Gasification and Hydrogen Production References

142 142 143 146 149 150 153 155 155 157 158 159 162

A Dazzling Array of Biomass Product (II)

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Part III Solid Biofuel 9.1. Biomass Combustion and Biomass-Coal Combustion: More Daunting Than Imagination 9.2. Briquette—Bio Coal 9.3. 97 Percent! Bioenergy Combine 9.4. Two Cases

163

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Part IV Bio-Based Products 9.5. Plastic: Great and Terrible Invention 9.6. Substitutes of Great are More Than Great 9.7. Mission Facing China: Biodegradable Plastic Film 9.8. Bio-Based Chemical Products: Perpetual Foundation References

170 170 173 175 176 181

Q&A about Environmental and Ecological Effects

183

10.1. An Uncut Gem Does Not Sparkle 10.2. Positive? or Negative? 10.3. Reduce Emission? or Increase Emission? 10.4. Eventful Early Spring in February 10.5. Amazon, What Is Wrong with You? 10.6. An Article Worth High Attention 10.7. New Achievements of Biofuel in Emission Reduction 10.8. Down-to-Earth Efforts, Learn from Imperfection 10.9. Out of the Trap of Debate References

184 186 190 192 193 195 198 200 203 205

11 Q&A about Effects on Food Security 11.1. A Story of Poles Apart 11.2. A Globally Surging Food Crisis 11.3. Authenticity of the Food Supply Shortage (Shi, 2008) 11.4. Impact of Corn Ethanol on Food Price 11.5. Have Corn Exports Fallen on the U.S. Side? 11.6. Grain or Nongrain? Food or Nonfood? 11.7. Why Has Biofuel Been Forgotten? 11.8. A Justifiable Defense for Bioenergy 11.9. Words and Acts of Two Presidents in the Food Crisis References

207 208 210 212 213 214 216 217 219 220 222

Part II: Focus on China 12

The Dilemma and Transformation of China’s Energy

225

12.1. The Severe Energy Prospect of China 12.2. Deep-Seated “Coal-Rich Complex” in China 12.3. China’s Three Kinds of Strategic Positioning for Coal 12.4. China’s Reliance on Overseas Oil and Natural Gas 12.5. Energy Transformation: Inevitable Trend of the World 12.6. An Abundant Clean Energy Resource in China 12.7. China’s Weak Awareness in Energy Transformation 12.8. Can But Quit References

226 227 230 231 235 238 243 247 250

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Contents

13 Energy Agriculture: A Dose of Good Medicine for Ailments Troubling China’s Agriculture, Rural Areas, and Farmers 13.1. 13.2.

An Inherited Problem for a Long Time The Lingering Ailments Faced by China’s Agriculture, Rural Areas, and Farmers 13.3. The Unworkable Remedy: Migrating Farmers to Towns (Shi, 2006; Shi, 2007) 13.4. Makeshift: Far from Enough for Severe Illness 13.5. Agriculture Has Its Own Way for Development 13.6. The Fundamental Way Out: Agriculture-IndustryBusiness Integrated Operation Mode 13.7. Rural Industrialization in Japan 13.8. Agricultural Development: A Modern Version of Lord Ye’s Love of Dragon 13.9. Energy Agriculture: A Dose of Good Medicine 13.10. “I Have a Dream” References 14

15

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253 254 257 259 261 264 267 270 271 274 277 280

Bio-energy: China Has to Face

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14.1. The Uniqueness of Biomass Energy 14.2. Unparalleled Agriculture-Friendly Nature 14.3. Controversy between Coal-Based and Biomass-Based Products 14.4. Groundless Charge of Threat to Food Security 14.5. Totally Different Fates 14.6. A Threshold Cannot Be Bypassed 14.7. Why Is Biomass Energy Disfavored in China? 14.8. Horse Talent Scout and Swift Horse References

284 285

Biomass Resources in China (I)

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Section I. Agricultural and Forestry Organic Waste Resource 15.1. Crop Straw 15.2. Animal Manure 15.3. Forestry Residue 15.4. Industrial and Urban Organic Waste 15.5. Summary of Organic Waste Resources Section II. Marginal Lands Resources 15.6. How Many Usable but Unused Lands Are Suitable for Agriculture Cultivation? 15.7. How Many Usable but Unused Lands Are Suitable for Forest Cultivation?

300 300 303 305 307 309 311

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15.8.

16

How Many Existing Forest Lands Are Energy Woodlands? 15.9. How Many Existing Arable Lands Can Be Used for Energy Crop Lands? 15.10. Summary of Marginal Land Resource References

318 319 321

Biomass Resources in China (II)

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Section III Biomass Raw Material Plants in China 16.1. Three Major Sugar Biomass Plants (Sugarcane, Sweet Sorghum, Jerusalem Artichoke) 16.2. Two Major Starch Biomass Plants (Potato, Cassava) 16.3. Oil Biomass Plants 16.4. Cellulosic Biomass Plants Section IV Summary and Comments on Biomass Resources in China 16.5. The Combination between Land and Plants 16.6. The Current Status of Biomass Resources 16.7. The Prediction on Biomass’s Development Potential in 2030 16.8. The Good Match between Material Resources and Energy Products 16.9. The Comprehensive View on China’s Biomass Resource References

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17 “Straw Mine”: Ten Folds of Shendong Coalfield in Output 17.1. 17.2. 17.3. 17.4.

18

316

324 327 329 334 338 338 340 340 343 344 345 347

A Late-Arriving Surprise A Successful Realization of Concept Bioresources Are Around Us A Campaign for Comprehensive Use of Straw Is Underway 17.5. Turning Concept to Productivity 17.6. Strategy and Connotation for the Straw Industry 17.7. Option and Technology for Straw Industry as Bioenergy Resource 17.8. Power Generation by Straw Direct Combustion: We Cannot Afford to Reject It Too Early 17.9. Let Pellets Serve Small Boilers 17.10. Let “Green Power” Substitute for Thermal Power References

348 349 351

From Straw Burning in Open Fields to Green Power

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18.1. “Fairy Tale” of Denmark 18.2. Ancient Method v. Brand New Technology 18.3. Bring Farmers a Happier Life

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Contents

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18.4. Great “Breakthrough Approaches” for Constructing New Socialistic Countryside 18.5. Troubles and Innovations: Straw Collection, Storage, and Transportation 18.6. Prospect: Combined Heat and Power and Integrated Development 18.7. Numerous Significant Achievements 18.8. Pioneers Who Are the “First Ones Daring to Eat Crabs”

377 378 380

Sandy Land Control and Green Power

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19.1. One Photo and One Government Work Report 19.2. One Proposal and One Article 19.3. Achieve a Win-Win Outcome on Desertification Control and Energy Base Development 19.4. A Promising Land in China 19.5. An Unexpected Surprise from Practice 19.6. New Story about “Go to Xikou” in the Twenty-first Century 19.7. What Is Li Jinglu Thinking About? 19.8. The Woman behind the Successful Man 19.9. Under the Guidance of Qian Xuesen’s Thoughts References

386 388

20 Biofuel Ethanol in China: China’s Fuel Ethanol Blazing Trail Hard 20.1. 20.2. 20.3. 20.4. 20.5.

Wake up Early But Get up Late From the Brilliant Fall into Cold Winter “The Last Dinner” A Hard Struggle for Tuber-Crop–Based Ethanol A Door Opened for Sweet Sorghum–Based Fuel Ethanol (1) 20.6. A Door Opened for Sweet Sorghum–Based Fuel Ethanol (2) 20.7. What Is the Potential of National Land Resources? 20.8. The Big Challenge of Cellulosic Ethanol 20.9. Dialectics of the 1st, 1.5, and 2 Generation of Bioethanol 20.10. Pines Remain at Ease though Clouds Fly with No Stand References 21 Biogas: Today and Tomorrow 21.1. Biogas at the Very Beginning: A Substitute for Kerosene 21.2. Biogas at Present: Core Link of Chinese Ecologically Recycled Agriculture 21.3. Attribute and Formation of Biogas 21.4. Effect and Limitation of Rural Household Biogas

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21.5. 21.6. 21.7. 21.8.

Five Traditional Feedstocks of Biogas Production Boundless Prospects of Biogas New Resource, Dedicated Energy Crops Biogas and GHG Emission Reduction

22 On Ten Major Relationships Governing Biomass Industry Development in China 22.1. 22.2.

Relationship between Bioenergy and Other Energy Relationship between Environmental Consequence and Benefit to the Rural Society 22.3. Relationship between Resource Shortage and Resource Abundance 22.4. Relation between the 1.5 Generation and 2nd Generation of Ethanol 22.5. Relationship between Diversified and Key Solid Biofuel Resources 22.6. Relationship between Household Biogas and Industrial Biogas 22.7. Relationship between Energy Products and Nonenergy Products 22.8. Relationship between Process Manufacturing and Raw Material Production 22.9. State-Owned Enterprises and Private Sector 22.10. Domestic and Abroad Concluding Remarks of the Section—Biomass: To Win the Future

434 435 438 439 441 443 444 445 446 448 449 450 451 452 453 454

Part III: A Glimpse into the Future 23

Ultimate Beauty of Green Civilization

459

23.1. Magnificent Agricultural Civilization 23.2. Splendid Industrial Civilization 23.3. Energy Crisis and Three-Step Transformation 23.4. Ever-Severe Nonenergy Crisis 23.5. Transmigration of Hydrocarbon and Carbohydrate 23.6. Biorefinery 23.7. Bioindustry 23.8. A Green Tomorrow 23.9. Ultimate Green Civilization References

460 462 464 465 468 471 472 475 477 478

Index

481

About the Author

509

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Foreword: Ten Years in the Past

I

have devoted myself to agricultural research and education for more than a half century. Almost a decade ago, I was involved, by chance, in the hottest and most sensitive field—the energy issue. In 2003, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China organized a strategic research committee to draft the guidelines on The National Medium- and Long-Term Program for Science and Technology Development, and I was designated as the leader responsible for the field of agriculture. It turned out to be a rare opportunity for me to get focused on reading various literature and to begin contemplation. Why was it difficult to modernize agriculture and make farmers rich in China? A planned economy, in my view, had a lot to do with these problems. Spurred by the economic model, China’s dual economic structure channeled farmers and nonfarmers to different development tracks. The same scene also could be found in the differentiated development of the rural society and urban society. As a result, 0.8 billion farmers in China were bound to a limited area for the production of low-value-added grain and agricultural produces. To break this blockade, the scope of traditional agricultural production should be extended to the agricultural product-processing sector. During that time, Professor Roger Ruan from the University of Minnesota came to visit me. Both of us engaged in delightful exchanges and discussed the recent development of biomass in the United States of America. After reading at once the documents left by Dr. Ruan, which included Executive Order 13134: Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy endorsed by then U.S. president Bill Clinton and related material, xiii

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a surge of ecstasy in discovering a “New Continent” overwhelmed me. I felt especially passionate about the following paragraph: Current biobased product and bioenergy technology has the potential to make renewable farm and forest resources major sources of affordable electricity, fuel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other materials. Technical advances in these areas can create an expanding array of exciting new business and employment opportunities for farmers, foresters, ranchers and other business in rural America. These technologies can create new markets for farm and forest waste products, new economic opportunities for underused land, and new value-added business opportunities. They also have the potential to reduce our Nation’s dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, water quality, and flood control, decrease erosion, and help minimize net production of greenhouse gases.

Excited by these enlightening remarks, I came to the realization that apart from the traditional agricultural production, a big, new field—energy agriculture—was to be tapped for agriculture to meet its full potential. Therefore, with tremendous interest, I embarked on the journey to explore this novel and promising field. I have thrown myself into the field for six years with ever-increasing devotion. I am also glad to have witnessed the great transition in which people in the world started to take serious efforts to address climate change and to adjust energy consumption structure further. And I am glad to have taken part in the great reform China has gone through. The first decade of the twenty-first century will be remembered for human society’s achievements, among others, in arriving at and implementing the Kyoto Protocol and ushering in the post-Kyoto era. As the first joint effort from the international society to deal with global climate change, the draft of the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 as a legally binding agreement under which thirty-eight industrialized countries would reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent compared to the year 1990. The significant events following suit were: the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report on global climate change in April 2007, which warned again the severity and consequence of global climate change; the G8 Summit held in Germany in August 2007, in which heads of eight leading industrialized nations pledged to give priority to combat global climate change and opened the discussion on the post-Kyoto era; the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007, which was centered around the theme of “save our planet from the devastating effects of global warming”; the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, which attracted representatives from 194 countries, includ-

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ing 119 heads of state, to address a grave issue—how to save our planet for ourselves and future generations with joint efforts. In that decade, the movements on energy conservation and emission mitigation, as well as the campaigns for the replacement of fossil energy by cleaner energy as represented by bioenergy, gained tremendous momentum. Bioenergy in the United States has achieved rapid progress thanks to the advocacy of Bill Clinton in the president’s Executive Order and the great efforts led by George W. Bush. The bills of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which were signed into law by President George W. Bush, have pushed bioenergy to a leading position as a substitute for fossil fuels. President Obama also further elevated the clean energy economy to a new high level with its significance in the national strategy. Now the contribution by bioenergy is equivalent to one hundred million tons of standard coal, accounting for 4 percent of the total energy consumption. Bioenergy has overshadowed hydraulic power, and it has ranked in the top place among all renewable energy in the United States. In this decade, the production of ethanol as biofuel in the United States has increased from 31.8 million tons to 4.39 million tons, surpassing Brazil, the former forerunner. Also in this decade, efforts in biopower, the cogeneration of heat and power, straw briquettes, the industrial production of biodiesel and ethanol as biofuel, and the use of biogas are booming throughout the European Union as a result of the serious implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. For example, the production of biofuels reached 5.38 million tons of the standard oil equivalent in 2006. For a better environment, biodiesel has been chosen by the European Union as a major biofuel, with huge research and development investment. The production of ethanol as a biofuel has also increased from less than 0.5 million tons to 3.13 million tons in 2006. Regretfully, the European Union still fell short of the targeted goals in spite of all efforts made. In 2007, the European Union Commission convened a meeting to find out the reasons behind the failure, and they set up new goals and proposed new measures for the days to come. I felt moved by the sincerity shown, and I believe such initiatives have set a good example for all of us to follow. In the same period, Brazil also grew famous for its ethanol production from sugarcane, with output soaring from 10.27 million tons to 19.8 million tons during the decade from 1999 to 2009. A complete system extending from a raw material base to wide domestic application as a vehicle fuel and export commodity has been set up across the country, making ethanol production the pillar of the national economy. In 2009, ethanol substituted for 56 percent of the gasoline consumption in the nation, and it contributed an emission reduction equivalent to 42.33 million tons of carbon dioxide

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(CO2). More than seven million flexible fuel vehicles and twelve thousand small aircrafts were fueled by ethanol nationwide. Brazil has made itself to be the best example of what a cleaner energy economy is like. China had enjoyed a good start in the first five years during the past decade. In his address to the academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering in a conference held in 2001, Premier Zhu Rongji noted that China, with a great amount of aged grains on hand, also could follow the path of the United States in turning aged grain into ethanol. Encouragingly, ethanol production projects were later included in the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2001–2005), and four ethanol production plants were established, with the annual production capacity soaring to one million tons within less than three years. In 2006, China produced 154.4 million tons of ethanol-blended gasoline, ranking as the third-largest manufacturer in the energy sector in the world. In addition, the policy environment was positive, too. Following the Renewable Energy Law of the People’s Republic of China, which was passed by the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee in 2005, the Outline of National Planning for the Development of Renewable Energy was released in 2007. In short, renewable energy and bioenergy have enjoyed a healthy and benign development in China during the first five years. Though China had made rapid progress in biopower during the latter half of the last decade, its production of ethanol almost came to a halt, and fulfillment of bioenergy projects such as straw briquettes was behind the goals. While bioenergy was neglected by and large, wind and solar energy enjoyed a frenetic development and bubbly prosperity. I was at a loss for the sudden change that biomass suffered, and I fight for it through all the channels I can resort to by writing letters to the premier, debating with dissenters in conferences, publishing articles in the media, and other efforts. Unfortunately, all of these had little influence on the policymakers. However, I was consoled by the glistening hopes I came across in the small- and medium-sized private enterprises. Relying on their own capital or bank loans, these enterprises struggled to blaze a path for the development of the biomass industry despite great adversity. During the journey, some of them have opened up a new world, some of them still hang in there, and some of them have fallen down. What they have done was not for fun or concept play. Rather, they devoted what they had to an uncertain outcome. They are the grass roots and backbone for the development of China’s biomass industry. They will go down in history as unsung heroes. I sincerely hope to see more and more of my colleagues in scientific and technological circles joining hands with these unsung heroes.

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With the intention to arrange my collected material and data, to comb my ideas and thoughts, and to record historical moments of the epochal transition, I take great pleasure in writing this book. Thanks to this book, I also found an ideal outlet to recall my experience and to express my feelings as a witness and participant of the great reform staged in China. In General Reviews, part I of this book, I share with readers the information I have collected during the past decade and some of my opinions. In Focus on China, part II of this book, I recall my participation and involvement with the great reform taken in China; in A Glimpse into the Future, part III of the book, I take a flight into the future for exciting possibilities. I have changed the title of the book several times, and I finally decided to choose Biomass: To Win the Future. That is because first, I believe that the biomass industry, as a newborn baby of the era, will bring benefits to mankind, so we should acclaim its arrival and make it known to more people. In this sense, the book is a proclamation for the new baby. Second, I sincerely hope that people who are interested in biomass industry and come from all walks of life, including entrepreneurs, scientists, educators, farmers and foresters, government officials, journalists, writers and artists, pick up the tools on hand and knock over every difficulty to enhance public awareness and inspire decision makers. In this sense, the book is a mobilization to all. As for myself, I have been involved in the field of biomass industry for six years, and I have fought for it with articles and speeches as my weapons for six years. My fight will be unending. In China, the human factor often plays too great a role in social matters and makes them quite elusive. As an old Chinese saying goes, “man proposes and god disposes”; human calculation might work for a while, yet it is the objective laws that govern all things among the universe. Since I do believe that the biomass industry is the future power of social development, I chose, with confidence, To Win the Future as the title of the book. In addition, I firmly believe that the fundamental driving force for the development of biomass comes from grass roots, small- and medium-sized private enterprises. Hence, I deem it my mission to arouse the public, make the public aware of the importance of biomass, and get its support. The book is written for the general public. Because its target readers are laymen, the book has to be easily understandable and highly readable. It is a failure if the book is boring or hard to read. The book consists of three parts with twenty-three chapters and two hundred sections. Though chapters and sections are threaded with an underlying consequence, much like a TV series would be, each chapter can be read independently from the others, just like an opera highlight of a separated scene. Therefore, references are attached at the end of each chapter for the reader’s convenience. Some information

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might occur repeatedly in different chapters for the sake of making each chapter independent and complete. It is worth mentioning that chapter 8 and chapter 9, which focus on the introduction of biomass products and technology, are specially written for entrepreneurs with interests in biomass industry. Chapters 15 and 16, which present the scene of biomass resources in China, are especially targeted for the readership of entrepreneurs and those who hold the view that “China faces a shortage of biomass resources,” so those chapters are quite professional with rich details. I am afraid that my views might be different from those of others on certain matters, and some of my remarks might be critical in tone, or even poignant to a certain degree. I seek your indulgence for the harshness of expression, if any. My sincere thanks go first to Professor Cheng Xu and Professor Li Shizhong, who have unreservedly provided me with literature, documents, research results, and their valuable ideas and opinions. I cannot imagine that the book would have been finished successfully without their kind help. My deep gratitude is also extended to Professor Li Yunzhu, my wife, for spending much time on data processing and figure drawing. Besides, she is the first reader and sincere critic of the book. I also owe a lot to Ms. Cong Xiaohong and Mr. Tian Shujun, two great editors at China Agricultural University Press. Since the manuscripts were not submitted at one time and there are many figures and tables to be arranged, it has been an additional burden on them. Their excellent work and great help is gratefully acknowledged. Finally, I would like to thank all of the people who helped me in the publication of the book. Although I have been involved in the fields of agricultural science and education for decades, I am a newcomer in the field of energy. I sincerely welcome criticisms from both readers and experts in the field for any mistakes I have made in the book. Shi Yuanchun 2010 Autumn, Beijing

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Acknowledgments

W

ith one year of dedicated translation, revision, and editorship, the current English version of Biomass: To Win the Future is finally presented to professionals working in biomass energy research, development, and business, and to a much broader public audience who is concerned with the issues regarding energy, the environment, and sustainable development. First and foremost, I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to Professor Baoguo Li, a distinguished professor in soil and water sciences at China Agricultural University (CAU), for without his excellent organization and maintenance of a highly qualified and efficient translation team, such an onerous job could not have been imagined and implemented so successfully. He was also deeply involved in the jobs of translation, revision, and the final proof readings. Second, I give special thanks to Dr. Feng Huang (CAU), Professor Jinguo Wang (CAU), and Professor Tusheng Ren (CAU) for their enormous amount of work in translating individual chapters, revising entire manuscripts, and editing the final submitted version, and proofreading as well. My special thanks also go to emeritus professor at North Carolina State University, Jason Shi, without whose encouragement this English version would not have been possible. I appreciate his valuable suggestions on revising for the English language. I also appreciate the extraordinary job of revising the entire English manuscripts by Mrs. Zhen Zeng, a senior translator affiliated with Beijing Yuanpei Century Translation Company,

xix

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Acknowledgments

Ltd. Her careful and rigorous revisions rendered the current English version more readable for an international audience. Many thanks also go to the talented translation team, the members of whom work in the research field of biomass energy, natural resource and environmental science, soil and water sciences, and forestry sciences, and coming mostly from CAU and the China Academy of Forestry Sciences. So, thank you, Professor Gu Feng, Professor Yizhong Lv, Dr. Guitong Li, Dr. Feng Wang, Dr. Sen Lu, Dr. Yuntao Ma, Dr. Yajing Wang, Professor Baogui Zhang, Dr. Meng Mao, Dr. Zizhong Li, Dr. Chongyang Shen, Dr. Huiyong Zhuang, Professor Laihua Liu, Dr. Zhenwen Wang, Professor Xu Cheng, Ms. Jia Huang, Ms. Chenjia Liu, and Dr. Shirong Zhang. Last but not least, thanks Mrs. Xiaohong Cong and Mrs. Junguo Song, senior editors affiliated with China Agricultural University Press, the publisher of the Chinese version of the book, for their coordination and editorship in the final submitted English version. Moreover, Sabah Ghulamali and Justin Race, senior editors at Lexington Books, gave me a big hand in dealing with issues regarding editorship and intellectual property. Their contribution is of great value in getting the book published for an international audience. My final deep gratitude goes to my wife, Professor Yunzhu Li—without her constant help and devotion to both the Chinese and English versions of the book, it could not have been presented to both the Chinese and global audience in its present form.

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I

GENERAL REVIEWS

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On Energy

Dao generates one; one generates two; two generates three; three generates all things in the universe. —Laotze

T

he basic element of the universe is the materials that are in constant movement. Any form of movement requires energy, both internally and externally generated ones. The survival and reproduction of human beings is also a form of material movement. Then the question is thus: Where is the energy coming from? The answer is: Food. Hence an old Chinese proverb, that says, “Food is of utmost importance for human’s survival.” Numerous human activities require wood, from the ancient method of fire generating through awing wood, to the necessary food for living, from ancient artwork making, and to modern refining and metallurgy. Food and firewood are the sources of energy driving the material movement of the agrarian society for a thousand years. Science and technology is advancing, and human society is developing. In an industrial society, steam engines and weaving machines cannot be driven by firewood, and coal thus became the major driving energy. With the development of the automobile and the airplane, petroleum replaced coal as the major power. Then with the progress in science and technology, coal and petroleum were converted to high-quality electric power, which is much cleaner and more convenient. Coal and petroleum drove industrial manufacturing, without which human beings are not able to enjoy the fruits of modern civilization. 3

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The history of the industrial society is no more than two hundred years old. It’s unbelievable that we are talking about their exhaustion and alternative choices after we had enjoyed their blessings brought to us for so long. When will coal, petroleum, and natural gas be used up? What are their alternatives, and where are they? How is the current energy use mode transformed into another mode? These questions have become a great event and a proposition presented to human society. The trick in winning short-track speed skating or the Formula 1 Grand Prix is to master the superior skill of turning. A turning point usually appears in the development of a country, in a family, and in a person. If they can avail themselves of a favorable situation, they will be successful. If they fail in mastering the opportunity of the turning point, they may not achieve their goal and even totally fail. Shifting from firewood to coal is a turning point; from coal to petroleum and natural gas is another. Hence, from fossil energy to the next-generation energy is a new point of turning. It is a key point for the development of human society and a country.

1.1. THE SOURCE OF ENERGY Based on the philosophical saying of Laotze, a great Chinese philosopher, Dao or the Way of moving of the universe is able to beget one, and one begets two, two begets three, and three can generate all things in the universe. The idea underlying the saying is that everything in the universe starts from the original point of universal truth, and indefinite points allow things to evolve and develop. Such a viewpoint of development inspired the logics of Georg Hegel and the theory of the evolution of the universe. And it also reveals the truth of the source of energy that will be elaborated in the chapter. In the innermost interior of the sun, hydrogen is constantly fusing into helium, emitting a enormous energy of 3.75 × 1026 watt, which diffuses with electromagnetic waves. The part of energy that reaches Earth is just 2.2 billionth of the total energy that is emitted by the sun, or, in other words, five hundred million tons of standard coal are sent to Earth. On entering the atmosphere, 53 percent of the energy is taken up and reflected by it, with another half (8.1 × 1016 watt) entering onto Earth’s surface. The part that falls on land surfaces (one-fifth of the total energy and equivalent to 1.7 × 1016 watt) is thirty-five thousand times the total consumed energy by human beings (Luo et al., 2005). In sum, energy that is consumed by human beings is just a tip of the iceberg of the total solar energies. Based on the law of the conservation of energy, the total energy possessed by the universe or an isolated system is constant, which can be

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On Energy

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converted and moved but cannot be created and destroyed. Likewise, the energy from the sun is also constant, but it can be subjected to constant transformation and evolution. Earth is a globe; rays of sun directly emit to the equator, where the incidental angle is minimum. The higher the latitude, the larger the incidental angle. Hence, the solar energy that is received from the sun decreases. In addition, the change of day and night and the four seasons, together with the highly differing receiving capabilities of objects on Earth’s surface, highly vary the spatial distribution of received heat, the ways of heat exchange, and heat levels. The average annual temperature at the equator is 25°C, while at the Antarctic it is –33° C. The difference gives rise to movement. The heat differences near the surface generate wind, which can be converted to kinetic energy; that is, wind power. Wind is able to set the sail or to turn a millstone, but more importantly wind can be used to generate electricity. Based on estimates made by the World Energy Council, 27 percent of the land area of the world is suitable for developing a wind power plant, a site where the distance to the surface is 10 meters (m) and the average annual wind speed is bigger than 5 meters per second (m/s). It’s thus estimated that generated wind power capacity is 2.3 × 103 megawatts, or the equivalent of the yearly electricity generation of 20 × 1012 watt hours (Huang and Gao, 2004). Water in liquid or solid form is evaporated to gaseous form due to heat differences on land surfaces. Water in gaseous form falls back onto Earth, flowing from high to low, completing a cycle from sky to land to ocean and back to sky. Just as a Chinese ancient poem says, “The water of theYangtze River always flows eastward into the Ocean and then turns back to land and river channels eventually.” Heat and heat differences caused by solar energy shape a conversion system of potential energy, which takes water as a carrier. In other words, it can be called water power or water energy. Water power is able to pull a water mill to directly do work, and it can also be converted into electric power through turbine engines. It is estimated that the water power held in store in river streams on Earth is 5.05 billion kilowatt (kW), equivalent of 44.28 terawatt (TW) hours of electricity generation. The technologically available capacity for water power is 2.26 billion kW, an equivalent of 9.8 TW hours, 18 percent of which has been developed (Zhang, 2005). Light and heat emitting from the sun can also be directly received by receivers or be concentrated by specialized equipment. In addition, light and heat can be converted to electricity through the light-electric effect of semiconductors (photovoltaic power generation), which is the commonly known solar energy heat and power generation. Currently solar heating has been gaining more widespread use than solar power generation because the latter is more expensive.

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Solar energy that enters into Earth’s atmosphere can be converted to kinetic, potential, heat, and electric power through the carriers of the atmosphere, water, and specialized equipment. However, it lacks carriers and mechanisms to store and reconvert energy. Only when green plants appeared on Earth could solar energy be converted to chemical energies, which are ready for storage and conversion through the photosynthesis of plants. Hence, an energy and material recyclying system took shape on Earth’s surface. Enormous amounts of plant fossils were concentrated and preserved in the lithosphere of Earth. Then they were transformed into coal, crude oil, and natural gas under geologic processes, which were the precious treasures of fossil energies and biofuel energies endowed by the earth. The biosphere, together with the lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrologic sphere, constitutes the four great spheres of the earth. The biosphere is able to generate two hundred billion tons of biomasses every year (or 170 billion tons) (Wu, 2006), almost tenfold the annual global energy consumption. Currently, less than 7 percent is available for human use and consumption. Solar radiation is the sole sustainable source of energies received by Earth. It is the ultimate source of all renewable energies on the earth— wind power, solar power, water power, and biomass energies—while green plants are the only carrier that is able to capture, convert, store, and reconvert solar energies. Meanwhile, it is also the ultimate source of fossil energies and biomass energies.

1.2. THE GHOST OF FOSSILS, ORIGINATING FROM HEAVEN WHILE REFINED BY EARTH Since the remotest ancient, the changes of the earth and biomes were gradual and negligible for each passing year or decade. Owing to the short life span of human beings comparing to the history of the earth, human beings considered the constancy of the earth and universe. As a matter of fact, however, all changes originated from infinite and cumulative progress.

This passage is quoted from Yan Fu, the first translator of Evolution and Ethics by Aldous Huxley in Chinese. Associating flourishing green plants with jet-black coal and oil is really a hard thing, requiring establishing a thinking of infinite and cumulative progress. The title of this section refers to the quest for the process of converting plant-based energies originated from heaven into coal, oil, and natural gas that were refined by the earth. Fossils are the traces and relics left from ancient plants, fishes, animals, and human beings in remote geologic history. They scattered and spread in the stratum over different geologic ages. Searching for fossils in ocean-

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like stones is really a labor- and time-consuming job for geologists. The formation of concentrated ore deposits of coal, oil, and natural gas requires a favorable climate and niche, together with the booming of plants and animals. In addition, it also requires the special geologic environment that is conducive to its conversion and preservation. Hence the process of forming fossil energies can be considered the perfect collaboration between heaven and earth. The ages of fossils of photoautotrophic bacteria and algae are as old as three billion years, and they were found in the Westland Islands of South Africa. They thrived on the earth around seven hundred million years ago, and they offer the largest source for oil and natural gas formation. Green plants that can produce enormous amounts of biomass began their evolution around four hundred million years ago when they left the seas and resided on lands. Three booming periods occurred for advanced plants. The first thriving as represented by fern plants took place in the Carboniferous-Permian periods some 360 million to 250 million years ago. The second plant explosion as represented by gymnosperm occurred in the Jurassic-Cretaceous period around two hundred million to sixty-five million years ago. The third flourishing as represented by angiosperm occurred in the Tertiary period around sixty-five million years ago. The three periods just coincided with three coal-accumulation periods in geologic history. Hence, the stratum in Carboniferous, Permian, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary is the most concentrated place for coal accumulation, while oil and natural gas mostly occurred in the stratum of the Jurassic and Cretaceous period (Wu, 2006). The conversion of dense and flourishing plants into coal, oil, and natural gas has to undergo fairly complex biological and geological processes. Biological processes refers primarily to the conversion of residual fibers, lignin, protein, and fat into intermediary products such as sugar, phenol compounds, amino acids, and fatty acids, respectively, under the fermentation of aerobic microorganisms upon plant deaths. If sufficient oxygen was provided, the process could continue until all residual materials were reduced to carbon dioxide and water, which are eventually emitted to the atmosphere. If insufficient oxygen was provided or the process was under waterlogging conditions, the anaerobic microorganisms would undergo a series of complex reduction and condensation reactions, the products of which would be humic acids, and the process is so-called peatification. Peat and peat soil resulting from peatification formed sedimentary organics, which became the raw materials for coal, oil, and gas formation. Hence, the geologic process forms coal, oil, and natural gas. During the lengthy geologic periods, peat and sedimentary organics as the raw materials of coal, oil, and natural gas were buried by other sorts of sediments and were subjected to tectonization such as depression, uplift,

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Chapter 1

and fold, and evolution under the condition of crust subsidence. With each one-hundred-meter increase of burial depth, ground temperature will increase by 3°C. If the burial depth reached as deep as three thousand to four thousand meters, ground temperature will be 200 to 300°C. The sediments of varying thermal conditions underwent differing chemical evolutions and the dynamo metamorphism caused by static pressure and tectonization. As a matter of fact, the essence of coal and oil and gas formation under high temperature and high pressure exerting on sedimentary organic matter is the process of the incessant enrichment of carbon and the shedding of hydrogen, oxygen, and other hetero atoms. Oil and natural gas are usually associated with the coal-forming process and are the derivatives of coal formation by sedimentary organic matters (table 1.1). Owing to its liquid and gas features, it requires geologic conditions that are able to migrate, trap, and accumulate oil and gas. Coal is composed of complex organic matters and inorganic minerals of varying contents. With the deepening of the metamorphism of coal, carbon content increased and hence the calorific value of coal. Oil and gas are composed of saturated hydrocarbon (i.e., alkanes and cycloalkane) and aromatic hydrocarbon, with carbon and hydrogen accounting for 97 to 99 percent of the total elements. Hydrocarbon compounds comprising one to four carbon atoms are usually gaseous (natural gas), while those comprising five to fifteen carbon atoms are usually in liquid form (oil). Those comprising more than sixteen carbon atoms are usually in solid form (paraffin). Plants are able to capture solar radiation energies and convert it into carbohydrate while it transforms carbohydrate into hydrocarbons such as coal, oil, and natural gas through geologic processes.

1.3. THE RISE OF COALS Coal was highly cherished by human beings in its early stage, and numerous documents have recorded its multiple uses and applications (Wu 2000). It is said that in the Han Dynasty around two thousand years ago, Han Wu Di (The Martial Emperor) pointed at a chalk of coal and asked his ministers, “What is this dark stone?” All of the ministers looked at each other with surprise, not knowing what to say. Even the most erudite minister, named Dongfang Shuo, had no idea and said, “We are too ignorant to recognize it and Your majesty can ask persons coming from the territory to the west of our Great Dynasty (Middle Asia).” The tribute ministers from middle Asia answered, “It is the relics left from the conflagration of the ending of the great devastation of heaven and earth.” In the East Jin Dynasty about 1,800 years ago, a book titled Records of Yezhong depicted the Bronze Peacock Terrace, which was designed and constructed by Cao Cao, the renowned

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Product

Stage

Table 1.1.

biomass

Highly matured stage

Coalification stage

threshold of oil generation

coking coal

meagre lean coal

deadline of oil generation

Wet gas + condensate gas

Middle-rank coal

fat coal

Oil + wet gas

gas coal

metaanthracite

deadline of gas generation

Dry gas

High-rank coal

anthracite

Overmatured stage

lean coal

Metamorphic stage

Formation of oil and natural gas

Matured stage

long flame coal

Low-rank coal

lignite

Dry gas

peat

Unmatured stage

Paludification stage

Diagenetic stage

Process of coal formation

Processes of coal, oil, and gas formation (Chen et al., 2004)

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statesman in the Wei kingdom about 1,900 years ago, as “three terraces [that] rose highly above mountain and cloud on which there was a icy chamber in which a couple of wells some 50 meters deep can be found to store ice and graphite. Granite can be used as a pen and is also called stone charcoal as the heat that it emitted cannot be easily exhausted.” In another book titled Anecdotes in Tianbao Period (AD 742–756) of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907), it recorded, “The Kingdom of Xiliang paid tribute of one hundred charcoals, with each being one foot long. It is black in color and as hard as stone and is named Auspicious Charcoal. When it was burnt in the stove, blaze was generated without smokes. Each piece of charcoal can be burnt for ten days and the the heat it generated can prevent anyone to approach.” In grand families of fortune and fame, the smoke of the coal was removed to leave only ashes, in which fragrant spices were added to shape it into a beast called the beast charcoal. The beast charcoal was used to heat the wines and dishes at banquets. In a poem written in the South and North Dynasty, the poet described the process of grounding coal into ashes, which was subjected to sifting through satin sieves. The fine ashes were then mixed with peach and date juice and molded into little cakes called fragrant, the burning of which can generate fine fogs that permeated through the room. In the Song Dynasty about one thousand years ago, the most distinguished essay writer, poet, and minister, Ouyang Xiu, said when his friend presented a fragrant cake to him, “The fragrant cake comes so late that I was not able to write best with my stroke.” It seems that until the Song Dynasty, coal was still a treasure confined to communities of fame and fortune. Coal started to be used as fuel after the Song Dynasty. Su Dongpo, the most renowned poet and minister in the Song Dynasty, proposed the replacement of firewood by coals in his administration in the Xuzhou Prefecture due to the shortage of firewood. He even wrote a poem expressing his concerns for his subjects, and he sighs about the negligibility of coal in the remote mountains and forests. In the poem he depicted the spectacular event of mining coals and its usefulness in fueling and forging, reducing the wood choppings by preserving precious forest resources in South Mountain in his jurisprudence. As far back as one thousand years ago, this great poet had already realized the importance of replacing wood by coals and proposing resource conservation and ecosystem preservation. Until the eighteenth century, coal became a major power driving steam engines. A whole new era of coal mining and use was ushered in. In 1800, the total global coal output was just fifteen million tons, while in twenty years, from 1850 to 1870, Britain more than doubled its coal output from 50 million to 112 million tons, accounting for 51.5 percent of the global total then. Coal played a crucial role in the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom.

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On Energy

11

In the first twenty years of the twentieth century, global coal output doubled, increasing from 500 million tons to 940 million tons. In 1965 the total output was 3,000 million tons, and in 1985 the number was 4,200 million tons (figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1. Coal production in major countries and the world (top)(Yao, 2005; NBSC, 2009). Changes in constituent of energy consumption in the world (bottom) (Zhang, 2002).

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In 2005 the number rose to six thousand million tons. In the early twentieth century, coal accounted for over 90 percent of the total energy consumption, and the figure was still 75 percent in the 1940s. Coal was the doubtless leader in global energy consumption. The situation, however, was reversed in the 1960s when coal and oil and natural gas halved the global energy use. At the end of the twentieth century, coal was still onequarter of the global total energy use. Globally, coal resources that have been discovered and available for mining is 984.45 billion tons, primarily concentrated in the strip of N 30° to 70°. The United States, Russia, and China are the top three countries in coal resources, accounting for 53 percent of the global total. The first six countries combined (i.e., the top three immediately followed by India, Australia, and Germany) accounted for 77 percent of the global total (Yao et al., 2000). The available coal is larger than the amount of oil and natural gas combined, and the exploitable time is also longer than oil and natural gas.

1.4. THE GLOBAL GAME ON OIL Just like coal, oil and natural gas are difficult to discover and exploit. In the ancient Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, they used the asphalt that was exposed on the surface for illumination. In the ancient Sichuan Province of China, natural gas was used to boil brines. The exploitation of oil occurred one century later than that of coal. But its mining and consumption aroused intense international competition. All countries, large and small, struggled to get it on the global market. As early as 1829, Russia started to extract oil using manual labor. The first widely recognized oil extraction took place in Pennsylvania in 1859 (Wang and Zhou, 2006). Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well by using an internal combustion engine. The first-generation oil products were kerosene extracted from crude oil to replace candle and animal fat. It soon acquired popularity on the market. In 1861, kerosene originating from the United States was exported to Europe, the amount of which reached as high as one thousand tons in 1864. When coal reached its prime in the United Kingdom, the United States crazed for oil, as represented by the founding of Standard Oil Corporation by John D. Rockefeller in 1870. Standard accounted for 90 percent of the refinery in the country in 1890. It is not unique, but it has its counterpart that Russia drilled a couple of oil wells at Baku and exported them by oil tankers and railways to other countries. The United States and Russia thus became competitors in oil extraction and production. By the end of nineteenth century, the United States and Russia combined almost halved the global total oil output of twenty million tons, of which 95 percent originated from the two countries.

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In the early twentieth century, automobiles, tractors, and airplanes were invented successively. Coal, as fuel to drive the large machines, seemed bulky and inconvenient, and it was soon replaced by oil. In 1912, then UK naval minister Winston Churchill decided to replace coal by oil to fuel the Royal Navy’s battleships. The battleships fueled by oil became light and agile, with improved combat effectiveness. From then on oil became a military strategic material. But in the 1920s and 1930s, when oil mining and refining rose substantially, the oil industry in Russia suddenly fell. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom acquired mining rights to oil in Iran, establishing the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. After the First World War, the United Kingdom and France halved the oil resources of the defeated Turkey. Oil companies from the United Kingdom, France, and The Netherlands controlled the newly discovered oil in Iraq. Consequently, world powers reinforced their control over oil wells in the Middle East, specifically Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. Intense competition over oil in the Middle East thus took shape. During the Second World War, one of the primary objectives of the Nazis’ attacks against the Soviet Union was to capture oil wells at Baku. And capturing oil in Indonesia drove the Japanese naval and air force to launch a surprise attack against Pearl Harbor. Oil outputs were substantially reduced at places devastated by the flames of war. But the United States, isolated from major battlefields of the war, enjoyed remarkable growth in oil production, with its oil output increasing by 40 percent. Thanks to the war spreading in the Euro-Asia continent, oil production in Latin America developed fast, as represented by the quick rise of oil wells in Venezuela and Mexico. The two-power pattern of the United States and Russia on the global oil market before the First World War was replaced by troika in oil production, specifically for the United States, the Middle East, and Latin America. The rapid economic recovery from the Second World War pushed up both the demand and supply of oil. Though oil production in the United States grew, its growth rate had been lower than the global average, and its share in the global total dropped from 60 percent in 1947 to 20 percent in 1972. The year 1948 was a watershed year in which the United States became the net oil importer; meanwhile, the oil from the Middle East rose from 6 percent in 1938 to 34 percent in 1972, becoming one of the three oil exporters in the world. Western Europe was the biggest buyer for Middle Eastern oil. The oil trade between Europe and the Middle East accounted for half of the global total trade volume. Some 80 percent of the oil used by Japan came from the Middle East. The flowchart of oil trading around the globe looked like an oil fountain, with the Middle East oil spurting it to the world.

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In the 1960s and 1970s, the conflicts between producers and consumers of oil had been intense. Oil companies in Western countries deliberately repressed the crude oil price in the Middle East, pushing up the prices of manufactured oils. The loss incurred by Middle Eastern countries was nearly US $40 billion in the period between 1953 and 1960. Responding to that, oil exporters established the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1960. In a political declaration released by OPEC, it proclaimed the eternal exercise of hegemony over oil resources for any particular member state. In 1971, OPEC recaptured pricing rights. In 1973, when OPEC was in heated bargaining with Western oil companies, the fourth Middle East war broke out. OPEC declared it would cut off production, invoke an embargo, and raise prices. Oil prices skyrocketed from $3 per barrel to $12 per barrel, triggering the first global-scale oil crisis. As an opposition against OPEC, Western oil consumers as represented by the U.S. organization International Energy Agency (IEA) in 1974, proposed to cancel out high oil prices by market principles. Oil prices fell then. But soon the Iran-Iraq War broke out, triggering the second oil crisis that spread to the world. The price of oil reached a record high of $42 per barrel. Through intense competition and shock between oil importers and exporters, together with the shocks of two crises, global oil conditions and patterns profoundly changed. Oil production in non-OPEC countries rose remarkably, accounting for one-third of the global total in 2000. Russia recovered its leading position in oil exports, and the performance of African countries illuminated the world. Given the economic globalization, the acquisition and merger of giant oil companies has been a popular trend. The top fifty oil companies in 1999 accounted for 86.4 percent of the global total output and 92 percent of global storage. The relationship between importers and exporters is highly interdependent. Mutual dependence and mutual competition characterized a new pattern of global oil companies. Figure 1.2 reflects the evolution of the global oil market,

Figure 1.2. World oil production in 1860–2006 (left)(NBSC, 2009; Zhang, 2002; NBSC, 2005), and share in global total oil output by major countries (right) (Zhang, 2002).

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from the two-power era of the United States and Russia to the unipolar United States, to multiple polar countries. Based on the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) statistics from 1995 and 2000, the global total oil reserve is 454.9 billion tons, and the remaining available for exploitation is 130.4 billion tons. The top five countries having the largest remaining available reserves are all from the Middle East, accounting for 63.8 percent of the global total. Also based on the USGS, the global total of natural gas is 412.9 billion tons (1000 m3 natural gas = 1 tons of standard oil), and the remaining exploitable reserve is 118.8 billion tons, of which Russia has a 40 percent share while Iran has 19 percent. If combining the immediately following four biggest gas countries (Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and the United States), six countries enjoy 82 percent of the global total. God may mostly favor the Middle East, endowing the region with rich oil and gas resources. Because blessings are almost always followed by a curse, the Middle East thus became a nursing bed for war and conflict (Zhang, 2002). Oil is the blood of an industrialized society, driving the progress of civilization. The twentieth century can be deemed a century of oil. It has played crucial roles for over one hundred years. Though oil is still at its prime, the trace of its falling can be also observed.

1.5. THE THEORY OF “SPIKE VALUES” AND “RATIO OF STORAGE TO PRODUCTION” As an old Chinese saying says, “a wealthy family is no better than a frugal calculation of household expenditures,” calculating how much energy is owned by the earth, how much has been used, and how much remains are of the utmost importance for limited fossil energies. Recent years witnessed the heated debates by academic circles over the theory of spike values for oil. The theory was first proposed by Marion King Hubbert, who wrote an article on it. His paper proposed that oil outputs follow a bell-shaped curve, and when the spike value is reached the output will definitely fall afterward. The bell-shaped curve was thus named after Hubbert and was called the Hubbert curve, the spike value of which was called the Hubbert value. To everyone’s surprise, his prediction proved exactly accurate for the 1970s spike oil output in the United States. In the 1990s, a projection on energy situations in the period between 1860 to 2060 conducted in Japan proposed that the spike value would appear in 2020 to 2030, while some petroleum geologists such as Craig B. Hatfield and Richard A. Kerr thought that world oil production would peak in 2008. In 2003, Russell Brown with the Argonne National Laboratory predicted that global oil would decline in the following ten years.

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In 2002, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) predicted that the peak value would appear in 2012 (SRRCRE, 2008). In 2004, the director of the renowned energy consultant PFC, J. Robinson West, thought that then peak value was not far in the future. In the same year, Shell and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) predicted that the peak value will appear in 2030. A professor of the IFP School, Pierre-Rene Bauquis, thought that 2020 may be the year of peak value. In 2001, BP, Inc., predicted that the peak-value year would be 2010. Swedish scholar Fredrik Robelius thought 2015 would be the year (Robelius, 2009). In sum, there were numerous such researches with different resulting figures. Though rich in coal resources on the earth, some energy prediction agencies in Europe also predicted that the peak value for coal output is approaching. Taking the United States into consideration, the country with the numberone coal reserve, its peak value would come in 2025. The above pessimistic figures really disquieted and frustrated scientists, governmental officials, businessmen, and ordinary people as well. However, there are optimistic opinions, thinking that with the newly discovered reserve each year, world energies are far from being on the edge of exhaustion and there are at least one hundred years to go before final exhaustion (Zhang, 2004). In addition, some people consider that the doomsday prediction on energy has been repeatedly occurring in history, and not one of them has proven to be true. In the late twentieth century, the remaining available reserve and output of oil and natural gas usually displayed an upward trend, just like legendary places rich in treasures with infinite exploitation capacity. In an article written by the Italian researcher Leonardo Maugeri in 2006, he proposed that peak oil production was a false alarm and that the petroleum age is far from over. The optimistic opinions were primarily established on newly discoverable reserves. Likewise, China’s peak oil production also received attention, with divergent predictions being released (Feng and Chen, 2009). The Hubbert model predicted that the peak year would be 2005, with a peaking volume of 172.3 million tons. Generalized, Weng’s model calculated that 2022 would be the peak year, with a total output of 190.3 million tons. The Hu-Chen-Zhang (HCZ) model predicted that 2012 would be the peak year, with a total volume of 188.5 million tons. The debate over peak production is so intense that we will leave it for a while. We will then examine the messages conveyed by the newly discovered reserve and ratio of reserve to production. On the one side of the scale of resources is the adding of newly discovered reserves with each passing year, and on the other is the reducing of production every year. Then how can we make an impartial judgment over overall resource situations? The ratio of reserve to production may

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Figure 1.3. World’s remaining recoverable reserve and reserve-to-production ration for oil (left) and natural gas (right) in period 1961–2000 (Zhang et al., 2002).

be able to clarify the confusion. It matters not about yesterday, nor about tomorrow. It only matters today, which is defined as the ratio of residual exploitable reserve to production. It uses a static point of view to examine how many years it would exploit. If connecting the ratios of multiple years, the dynamics and changing patterns of resource reserves can be easily observed. We then plotted both residual exploitable reserves and the ratio against the years from 1961 to 2000 for oil and natural gas (figure 1.3). The residual exploitable reserve in the left panel of figure 1.3 shows that the residual exploitable oil of the world from the 1970s to the end of the 1990s remained constant or rose slightly, keeping at around 130 billion to 140 billion tons, and it suggests that the newly discoverable reserve was able to barely offset the growth in production. The ratio of reserve to production, however, obviously fell, dropping from 88.2 in 1961 to 50 in the late 1970s until the later 1990s (recent value is 42). The figure demonstrates that although the residual reserve remained constant, the ratio declined rapidly due to the excessive growth of production. Human beings only have forty-two rather than eighty-eight years before oil exhaustion. The story of natural gas is totally different (figure 1.3, right panel). The history of natural gas, from exploration to exploitation, was roughly a half century later than oil. Total gas output in 1961 was just 57 billion m3, and in 2000 the figure skyrocketed to 1.76 T m3. The residual reserve rose from 40 billion m3 to 149.4 T m3, demonstrating that the newly discovered reserve exceeded newly exploited volume. The curve of the ratio of reserve to production rose as high as 100 and kept at 75 afterward. Figure 1.3 also proves that oil is already an senile industry, while natural gas is still a young man. It is also notable that the above figures reflect to a large extent the realworld picture under the conditions of a high research level and mature technology in exploration and exploitation. So they are reliable conclusions, better than both pessimistic and optimistic opinions.

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1.6. THE CRISIS OF EXHAUSTION Since the 1990s, numerous articles and papers on projections and prospects of oil and natural gas have been published. In 1998, C. J. Campbell wrote that oil output in 2010 would began to decline and then drop from twenty-five billion barrels to five billion barrels in 2050 (Campbell and Laherrère, 1998). The USGS has made a meaningful basic work based on its reporting in 2000. It made a finer classification on world oil (natural gas included) and natural gas volume. In addition to the remained recoverable volume, two indicators (i.e., reserve growth potential and undiscovered) were also assessed. The three indicators combined almost included all potential and existing volume (table 1.2). The U.S. Energy Information Administration (USEIA) predicted that the annual growth rate for oil and natural gas would be 1.9 percent and 2.3 percent respectively in the period between 2002 to 2025, based on USGS’s work in 2000 (USEIA, 2006). Proceeding from this estimated rate, the global residual reserve plus newly discovered potential (total of 229.7 billion tons) would be exhausted in thirty-nine years. If adding the reserve awaiting discovery (357.4 billion tons), the number of years is fifty-five, while for natural gas, the figures are forty-seven and sixty-three years, respectively. The figure for natural gas by the Statistical Review of World Energy 2005 released by BP, Inc., was 66.7 years, quite close to the results released by International Energy Outlook in 2005. As far as coal is concerned, it is predicted by IEO that its consumption would increase from 5.26 billion tons in 2002 to 7.25 billion tons in 2015, with an average annual growth rate of 2.5 percent, while in the period 2015 to 2025 its annual growth rate would be decreased to 1.3 percent, with a total consumption of 8.23 billion tons in 2025. Hence, IEO 2005 proposed that the current coal reserve would be used up in ninety years. Table 1.2.

Global reserve and constitution of oil and natural gas Oil *

Item Undiscovered Reserve growth potential Remaining recoverable reserve Accumulated recovered Total resource

8

10 ton

Natural Gas** %

8

10 ton

%

Total 8

10 ton

%

1,277 993

28.1 21.8

1,471 1,037

35.1 24.7

2,748 2,030

31.4 23.2

1,304

28.7

1,188

28.3

2,492

28.5

975 4,549

21.4 100.0

496 4,192

11.9 100.0

1,471 8,741

16.9 100.0

* Natural gas liquid (NGL) is included; ** natural gas unit conversion: 1000 m3 natural gas is equivalent to one ton of standard oil. Source: USGS, 2000 and Zhang, 2002.

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The above research fruit and predictions were released from authoritative agencies such as IEO, USGS, and BP, who enjoy full and accurate data, complicated and reliable calculation, and rich experiences as well in estimating and predicting the available reserve, consumption, and ratio of reserve to production. Fossil energies are nonrenewable, and its reserve will be exhausted one day. It is really sad that the generation enjoying its convenience has to talk about its exhaustion and funeral affairs. Though sad, it is absolutely necessary, because it is closely related to the rise and fall of human society in the future. The senior global energy analyst, Matthew Simmons, had insightful opinions on that in his recent book titled Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy (Simmons, 2006). Saudi Arabia enjoys the largest oil reserve in the world and is also the embodiment of oil. He insightfully and boldly challenged the widely held proposition that Saudi Arabia is able to boost its per-day crude oil outputs to fifteen million barrels or twenty million barrels and keep at this level for fifty years. He seriously pointed out that global oil demand is already at a record high; meanwhile, Saudi Arabian oil is depleted every passing year. He also indicated that the advent of the twilight of Saudi Arabian oil production marks the coming of a world with a shrinking oil supply. He finally believes that the world is stepping into a serious energy crisis. Matthew Simmons’s proposition is just like salt spread on the wound of depleting fossil energies. He again pointed out in his preface for Chinese translation that growth that relies heavily on energy consumption may fetter economic growth. And he also proposed that human beings have to design a blueprint to step out of the vicious cycle of consumption and depletion and keep sustainable economic growth. Fossil energy has ever been the pillar supporting industrialization and modern civilization. It is like a magnificent mansion built two hundred years ago. Now it will falter and fall. How can human beings address this?

1.7. THE FUTURE FOR ENERGY The first world oil crisis in 1973 and the second oil crisis caused by Iran-Iraq War were all caused by high oil prices. But the current and coming crisis is the result of resource depletion and consequential environmental crisis. Responding to the situation, George A. Olah, the 1994 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, indicated that most chemical compounds human beings currently consume derive from petroleum, while the population increases continuously. The conflict between increasing energy consumption and decreasing nonrenewable fossil energies is a serious problem presented to human beings, and we have to find out effective solutions to address

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it to maintain the consumption level developed countries have already arrived at and developing countries are striving to reach. The Chinese Academician of Sciences, Zhu Qingshi, also pointed out in 1998 that fossil energies and their chemical derivatives brought both unprecedented prosperity and unbelievable pollution for human beings. He also proposed that regardless of whether human beings can resolve the pollution problem or not, we have to find solutions to more effectively use energies stored in biomass rather than simply burn them. Besides scientists, statesmen also take their actions to a national level. Bill Clinton pioneered the action by proclaiming an executive order, Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy. Then George W. Bush Jr. led a wave of hydrogen energy use. In his State of the Union Address in 2006, President Bush said: Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.

The Obama administration also prioritizes energy independence, cleaner energies, and climate-change mitigation and adaptation as the pillar of the Obama version of the New Deal. The European Summit held in March 2007 set up three goals, with each involved 20 percent. In 2020 greenhouse gas (GHG) has to be reduced by 20 percent; energy efficiency has to be increased by 20 percent; and the share of renewable energy consumption in the total energy consumption has to reach 20 percent. Sweden is the pioneer in leading the energy revolution of Europe. Oil accounted for 77 percent of the total energy consumption in Sweden in 1970, while in 2003 the number was only 32 percent. Prime Minister Göran Persson declared in his address to the World Bioenergy Conference in 2006 that more than 25 percent of Sweden’s energy needs are satisfied by bioenergy and that Sweden will break her oil dependence in 2020. Sugarcane ethanol substituted for 50 percent of the total of gasoline in Brazil in 2007–2008, with an GHG emission reduction of 25.8 million tons. Bioenergy has become the number-one industry in Brazil. Wind power has been rapidly developing in Germany, Denmark, and Spain. The global installed capacity for wind power has increased from 2.5 gigawatts (GW) (1 GW = 1 × 109 watt) in the early 1990s to 50 GW at present. The installed capacity in Germany alone is 1.7 GW, accounting for 7 percent of the total electricity needs. The global total installed solar

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collector is 154 × 106 m2, equivalent to an installed heat capacity of 107.8 GW. In 2005, installed solar collectors in China in 2005 was 75 × 106 m2, accounting for 48 percent of the global total. As far as solar electricity generation is concerned, the United States constructed nine solar power plants in the deserts of southern California in 1991, with an installed capacity varying from 10 meagwatts (MW) (1 MW = 1 × 106 watt) to 80 MW. In 2010 the desert will welcome the world’s largest solar heat power generation equipment, which is composed of two thousand solar discs with twenty-five thousand watts each. The total power generation capacity is 500 MW. Hydropower is a renewable energy in traditional energies. Global hydropower capacity exceeded 10 × 109 kilowatt hours. Some 18 percent of hydropower has been exploited. Nuclear energy is another form of clean energy. Nuclear power accounted for 80 percent of the total electricity generation in France, and the number for Sweden and Belgium was 50 percent, Germany and Japan 30 percent, and the United States and the United Kingdom 20 percent. In an era of transitional energy, numerous entrepreneurs dream of being a present-day Edwin Drake or John D. Rockefeller, who successfully capture the highland of new energies. The ethanol plant invested in by Bill Gates, with an annual output of three hundred thousand tons of ethanol, is located near San Francisco. Vinod Khosla, founder of Sun Microsystems, invested venture capital in the bioenergy field. The oil industry as represented by Marathon, Inc., also stepped into bioenergy development. Automobile giants such as Ford, General Motors, and Daimler-Benz pioneered the development of automobiles driven by novel fuels. Oil giants such as Shell, BP, and SinoPetro all expanded their business into renewable energies, paving the way for their future strategic transition from oil to new energy production. Scientists thought even bigger and farther for tomorrow’s energy. They not only attempted to extract hydrogen from water but also established an international collaboration project, International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), in which will be invested US $10 billion and take over thirty-five years to develop. In 2006, all partner countries, including China, issued a common declaration as that in Paris. In recent years, the moon landing has been recovered again in many countries—the United States, the European Union, Russia, China, Japan, Germany, Brazil, and India—with the objective of not only uplifting their aerospace science and technology but also of exploring and exploiting helium-3, which is rich on the moon and an attractive energy solution for human beings. Strong winds usually foretell the coming of great storms. Human society is drawing blueprints for tomorrow’s energy and preparing a new era of cleaner and sustainable energies.

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REFERENCES Campbell, C. J., and J. H. Laherrère. “The End of Cheap Oil.” Scientific American, March 1998, 78–83. Chen, J. L., Z. J. Shao, and Y. Qin. Energy Geology. Jiangsu: China Mining Polytechnic University Press, 2004. (In Chinese) Feng, L. Y., and D. E. Chen. International Oil Economics. Beijing: Petroleum Industry Press, 2009. (In Chinese) Huang, S. Y., and W. Gao. Introduction to Energy. Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2004. (In Chinese) Luo, Y. J., X. N. He, and C. G. Wang. Application Technology of Solar Energy. Beijing: Chemical Industry Press, 2005. (In Chinese) NBSC (National Bureau of Statistics of China). China Energy Statistics Yearbook 2004. Beijing: China Statistics Press, 2005. (In Chinese) NBSC (National Bureau of Statistics of China). China Energy Statistics Yearbook 2008. Beijing: China Statistics Press, 2009. (In Chinese) Robelius, F. “Giant Oil Fields—The Highway to Oil: Giant Oil Fields and Their Importance for Future Oil Production,” doctoral thesis, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, 2007. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?search Id=1&pid=diva2:169774, accessed July 2009. Simmons, Matthew R. Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy. Translated by X. J. Xu. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 2006. SRRCRE (Strategic Research Group on China Renewable Energies). China Academy of Engineering Consultant Group for Key Projects. Series on Development Strategy of China Renewable Energy. Solar Energy. Beijing: China Electric Power Press, 2008. (In Chinese) USEIA (United States Energy Information Administration). International Energy Outlook 2005, translated edition. Beijing: Science Press, 2006. (In Chinese) Wang, C. L., and S. Zhou. Story on Oil Searching. Beijing: Petroleum Industry Press, 2006. (In Chinese) Wu, Q. Y. Basics of Life Sciences. Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2006. (In Chinese) Wu, X. Y. Brief History on Coal Formation and Utilization. Beijing: Coal Industry Press, 2000. (In Chinese) Yao, Q. et al. Cleaning Coal Technology. Beijing: Chemical Industry Press, 2000. (In Chinese) Zhang, C. Developing and Using Hydropower. Beijing: Chemical Industry Press, 2005. (In Chinese) Zhang, K. et al. Development Strategy for China Oil and Natural Gas Industry. Beijing: Geologic Press, Oil Industry Press, China Petrochemical Press, 2002. (In Chinese) Zhang, X. Z. “Participation of Multiple Disciplines in Solving China’s Energy Supply.” Proceedings of Workshop of Agro-forestry Engineering 10 (2004): 17–21. (In Chinese)

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2

Resource and Environmental Crisis

Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human conquest over nature. For each such conquest takes its revenge on us. —Friedrich Engels

M

aterial production is the most basic social activity of human society. In primitive society, people had few needs and dependence on material and energy due to low productivity, while in an agricultural community, people mainly depended on light, heat, water, gas, and other renewable natural resources to cultivate plants and feed animals on the land. This pattern of production has continued for thousands of years already. By comparison, industrial production cannot be made possible without enormous consumption of nonrenewable resources and energies. Only within the short span of two hundred years, important raw material resources were consumed by half, and some were even depleted, which in return led to serious pollution jeopardizing human survival. The process of industrial civilization also caused a scene of resource exhaustion and environmental pollution. This is an unsustainable process and a horrifying reality independent of people’s will. The twentieth century witnessed not only the golden years of industrial civilization but also the most serious survival and development crisis people have faced over thousands of years of history. It was as Engels had warned: Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human conquest over nature. For each such conquest takes its revenge on us (Engels, 1883). 23

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The United Nations warned in 1987 that the world would face severe challenges in population growth, resource depletion, food security, and environmental degradation. I would like to, with the same grave mood and eager aspiration, discuss such pressing crises and ponder the future of human society in this chapter.

2.1. THE CLASSICAL MODEL OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY While picking asters beneath the Eastern fence, my gaze upon the Southern mountain rests. —Tao Yuanming Golden-coated plums rival for abundance with mellow-smelling apricots in the fruit garden. Fully-blooming buckwheat flowers offer an interest contrast to sparsely-scattered flowers in the farmland. Lonely fence idles its time away in the sunny afternoon without anybody passing nearby, except of the rejoyful dragonfly and butterfly visiting occasionally. —Fan Chengda Lush Cropland is rolled out at the foot of Ehu Mountain, where captive breeding poultries enjoy their leisure afternoon in a Hush village with doors half opened. Drunk villagers leaning against their family members are winding their way back home, when the Spring Gathering in Worship of Harvest God is over amidst the sunset. —Wang He

These idylls never fail to capture our hearts with their peaceful leisure and tranquil beauty. The traditional model of agricultural manufacturing, which boasts a long history of thousands of years, is also a positive contributor to the harmonious coexistence of material, energy, resources, and environment. With plants and animals as major products, agriculture is an industry in which living material are generated with the indispensable catalyst of solar radiation. Thanks to the additional investment of human mental and physical strength, plants that grow based on the mechanism of photosynthesis can absorb more energy and therefore generate more output than under natural circumstances. Blessed with photosynthetic capacity, plants are capable of turning water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates with the aid of light energy. At the same time, life elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, calcium, and magnesium, which are deposited in soil, will be converted to organic compounds of

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plant bodies. Therefore, primary production, namely plant cultivation, is taking place during the process when light energy is converted to chemical energy. It then makes secondary production possible by passing on energy and substance to animals. After the completion of the life cycle, this energy and substance will return back to the soil and be ready for the commencement of the next round of the production cycle. In such a way, life abounds everywhere and forever. In the time-honored traditional agriculture, plant and animal output are improved through seed selection, fertilization, intensive cultivation, pest control, and other agricultural activities during the natural recyclying system of energy and substance. In the production process, all animal and plant debris, human and animal feces, plant ash, and leftovers are used for fertilizer production and pig feedstuff. Even humans have to return to the soil after death. The contribution made by humans and animals during the production process also is an indispensable component of the energy conversion cycle. As a closed-off recyclying system of energy and substance with renewable natural resources and biomass as its carrier, traditional agriculture is not intervened by any exogenous energy and substance. This is the very reason why traditional agriculture can thrive as a permanently self-sustaining cycle for thousands of years, without soil fertility and production output diminished. “The union of heaven and human”—one of the highly esteemed traditional philosophies in Chinese culture as proposed by the ancient sage Chuang Tzu in his works of On Arranging Things, has also been upheld by agricultural practices for centuries. Other classic works, with remarks such as “crop is created by earth, nourished by heaven and cultivated by human,” reveals the scientific relationship between Heaven, Earth, and human. China’s traditional agriculture highly values the great combination of “appropriate material, appropriate time, and appropriate land” and such concepts as “sustained land fertility, precision farming, mutual dependency and repulsion.” All of these old wisdoms are laudable for their promotion of the formation of a basically efficient low-carbon or even negative-carbon recyclying model, which is aimed at the maximum reclamation and recycling, the minimal waste and environmental pollution, the least resource consumption, and the slightest environmental pressure. Despite its low level of technology and productivity, the recycling model has played the backbone role behind the agricultural civilization of the nation during the past two thousand years, and it also made itself a reference example of harmonious coexistence for today’s modern society. Sure, change is the eternal topic in the development history of human beings. As observed by Karl Marx, in the early stage of the industrialized

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and capitalist society, a great number of farmers were bankrupted and forced to leave the land they were used to, and they were thrown into barrackslike factories. Similarly, the leisure life as narrated by the line “While picking asters beneath the Eastern fence, my gaze upon the Southern mountain rests” and the once closed-off recycling system of energy and substance has disappeared and given way to the influx of self-proclaimed superfertilizer and synthetic pesticides, roaring tractors, formidable electric power, and delicate plastic film. Pushed by these “newcomers,” the old closed-off recycling system of energy and substance is nowhere to be found. Instead, the flow of energy and substance are accelerated abruptly, and the biomass output has increased in folds. However, the excessive use of fertilizers leads to the problem of water eutrophication and the accumulation of nitrosamines. Soil degradation is something inevitable as the result of widespread white pollution of plastic film and the severely dwindled application of organic fertilizer. In addition, a great quantity of organic, synthetic pesticides of great lethality also make natural enemies of pests at the verge of extinction, with pests’ resistance to drugs enhanced and crops’ stress resistance weakened. In addition, the production of fertilizers, plastics, machinery equipment, and electric power also pose great demands on fossil energy and give rise to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). All of these factors constitute the problematic aspect of modern agriculture. Though high tech and high output adapt to the high demand for social development, meanwhile, high resource consumption and high environmental cost make such development unsustainable. Described above is a comparison between traditional and modern agriculture, and the industrial economy and natural resources environment also show the same relationship during the past two hundred years. It is not my intention to preach about traditional agriculture while belittling modern agriculture, or to turn everything back to the old track. What I want to advocate is the concept of harmony between humans and the environment, with traditional agriculture cited as a good example. While low technology and low productivity can render a scene of harmony between human and environment, is high technology and high productivity destined to be accompanied by high resource consumption and high pollution of the environment? Is harmony between humans and the environment nothing but an unattainable goal? My answer is, of course, no! So, how do we get high tech and high productivity to go along with low resource consumption and low environment pollution? How do we render a modern version of the harmonious scene between humans and the environment? How could human society evolve from the unsustainable industrial economy to a sustainable green economy? A much more robust society lies in the answers to these questions.

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2.2. THE FOCUS ON GLOBAL WARMING Not only is resource depletion worrisome but also the rapid environment deterioration also makes us restless. It is not hard for us to imagine how enrapt our ancestors might have been upon their discovery of coal and oil reserves. It is also totally beyond their wildest imagination that the emissions caused by those treasures they found could have produced such a severe environmental consequence as what we suffer today. Though single-atom and diatomic gases in earth’s atmosphere, such as oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, have little effect on solar radiation and Earth’s reflection, gases with three atoms such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and sulfur dioxide are highly selective to solar radiation of different wavelengths. While shortwave radiation can reach through such gases to the earth’s surface smoothly, the long-wave radiation emitted from warmed ground will be absorbed by them significantly. These gases, which are able to reduce the heat loss of earth’s surface, resemble a greenhouse’s glass, and therefore they gain the name “greenhouse gases (GHGs).” According to an article published in the journal Nature by a research group from Yale University in 2007, the climate on Earth’s surface has been under the influence of greenhouse gases for at least 420 million years. During this period, the global temperature would increase by 3°C whenever carbon dioxide content doubled. The experts estimated that the earth’s surface average temperature would stay at –18°C, rather than the present 15°C without the presence of GHGs. If so, could the earth’s biosphere and our human beings enjoy such a flourishing life like today? So GHGs are commendable for their great contributions in this regard. Also, I would like to note that the normal accumulation of greenhouse gases and global warming is a very slow and gradual process in geologic history. It belongs to part of the earth’s normal evolution, compatible with the pace of biological evolution. Yet global warming as a result of greenhouse gases that we are highly concerned about today refer to that atmospheric greenhouse gase increase which is occurring at a alarmingly rapid speed over a very short period of time (in comparison with geological processes), which is the underlying cause of climate warming and the disordered relationship between the atmosphere and biological systems. Industrial production and modern life requires extensive use of fossil fuels, which leaves the chance for carbon and sulfur reserved within coal, oil, and natural gas for hundreds of millions of years in geological time being set free in the form of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other emitted chemicals. It was reported in Climate Change 2007—the fourth scientific assessment report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the authoritative study of global

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climate change—that the global atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide increased from preindustrial 280 parts per million (ppm) to 379.1 ppm in 2005. During the period from 1906 to 2005, the global average surface temperature rose by 0.74°C. Compared with the period of 1980 to 1999, the global temperature will be 0.4°C higher in the next two decades and will increase by 1.1°C to 6.4°C at the end of twenty-first century. The sea level will rise by 0.2 to 0.6 meters by then. Hence the report affirmed that climate change is an inarguable fact. And T. L. Freidman also thought that it is a horrifying known fact (Friedman, 2008). In its yearly report, the International Energy Outlook (IEO) also pointed out that fossil fuels are the major contributor of global warming (EIA 2005). What impacts does global warming bring to the environment we rely on? The report made the following predictions: • Widespread mass losses from glaciers and reductions in snow cover over recent decades are projected to accelerate throughout the twenty-first century, reducing water availability, hydropower potential, and changing the seasonality of flows in regions supplied by melt water from major mountain ranges, where more than one-sixth of the world population currently lives. • Climate change is expected to exacerbate current stresses on water resources from population growth and economic and land-use change, including urbanization. Increases in the frequency and severity of floods and droughts are projected to adversely affect sustainable development. Future tropical cyclones (typhoons and hurricanes) will become more intense. • The resilience of many ecosystems is likely to be exceeded this century by an unprecedented combination of climate change, associated disturbances . . . Approximately 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species assessed so far are likely to be at increased risk of extinction if increases in the global average temperature exceed 1.5 to 2.5°C. • Projected sea level rise will affect low-lying coastal areas with large populations. The health status of millions of people is projected to be affected through malnutrition, diseases, and injury and the altered spatial distribution of some infectious diseases. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s International Energy Outlook (IEO 2005) also proposed that 80 to 85 percent of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming come from fossil energy consumption. Based on the Sustainability and Global Environment (SAGE) model, it is deduced that the global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel witnessed a 2 percent annual growth rate (2002–2005), and it will climb to 38.79 billion tons in 2025 from 24.41 billion tons in 2002 (EIA, 2005).

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Figure 2.1. Changes in average annual near-surface temperature in China and the world in period of 1860–2000. Source: Climate Center of China Meteorological Administration, 2007.

Specifically speaking, the global carbon dioxide emissions as contributed by oil, coal, and natural gas are expected to stay at 5.45, 5.35, and 3.54 billion tons, respectively. Please refer to figure 2.1 for the variations of the annual global carbon dioxide concentration from 1870 to 2000. The U.S. Goddard Institute has studied the data collected by more than eight hundred meteorological stations worldwide during the past 120 years (1880–2000). If the average temperature of the earth during 1950 to 1980 is deemed as a benchmark value, then except that the average temperatures during 1880 to 1930 were lower than the benchmark value, the figures for the years after 1977 almost exceed the benchmark value. What’s more, the sixteen warmest years all fell after 1980. According to IPCC’s prediction, the Earth’s average temperature will rise by 1.4ºC to 5.8ºC in the twenty-first century. Besides carbon dioxide, there are three major greenhouse gases; namely, methane, chlorofluorocarbons, and nitrogen dioxide. Their contributions to global warming are: 49 percent (carbon dioxide), 18 percent (methane), 14 percent (chlorofluorocarbons), and 6 percent (nitrogen dioxide). Methane is the product of anaerobic decomposition of organic matter, and it can be emitted from coal bed gas, natural gas, wetlands, paddy fields, cattle manure, and urban waste. Though the greenhouse ef-

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fect of methane is twenty-one times stronger than that of carbon dioxide, the quantity of the former is far less than that of the latter. While methane can stay in the atmosphere for about ten years, the duration for carbon dioxide is up to one hundred years (Huang and Gao, 2004).

2.3. TROUBLESOME SULFUR DIOXIDE AND DUST Another serious negative impact of coal as fuel is the emission of sulfur dioxide, which is a pollutant to the atmosphere and the driving factor of acid rain. Generally speaking, coal contains 1 percent to 2 percent of sulfur, and about 20 kilograms (kg) of sulfur dioxide will be released into the atmosphere whenever one ton of coal is burned. Sulfur dioxide dissolved in water vapor will generate sulfuric acid, which will make the precipitation acidic. The precipitation with a pH less than 5.6 is so-called acid rain, which is not only harmful to human health but also makes water unusable, destroys forest/vegetation/soil, deteriorates the ecosystem, and erodes metal and other materials. Carried by airflow, acid rain can travel a long distance and results in cross-area and cross-border contamination. Northern Europe, North America, and southwestern China are three major regions with frequent acid rain events in the world. Particulate matter and water vapor, which are engendered in great quantity as the byproducts of coal combustion, will be converted into dust and harmful smog under weather condition of low air pressure and high humidity. In 1930, the smog event in the Belgian Maas Valley led to sixty deaths and the illness of many people. In 1948, seventeen people lost their lives and nearly six thousand people fell sick in the Donora Smog Accident in Pennsylvania. The London Smog Event in December 1952 also shocked the whole world with an even more direful aftermath. From the early eighteenth century to the nineteenth century, London, the cradle of the Industrial Revolution, was buried in soot and steam emitted from numberless boilers there. Charles Dickens vividly depicts a desolate scene in London about one hundred years ago in one of his famous novels, Bleak House: Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls deified among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; . . . Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards.

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China, though only with a half-century-long history of industrialization, also is deeply troubled by the ubiquitous dust. For example, the inhalable particulate matters in cities have seriously exceeded allowable standards. Some 74 percent of the people in urban areas in China breathe air of poor quality at/or below Grade III. The acid rain areas swallow nearly one-third of the total land in the nation. About 32 percent of the water bodies in the seven major river systems fell in Grade IV to V, and 27 percent of that was worse than Grade V (2005). This is the great price China has paid for its industrial development over the past half century.

2.4. AWAKENED HUMAN SOCIETY The famous lines of “extreme joy begets sorrow, extreme prosperity incurs adversity” of Bai Juyi, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, echo the idea of “out of the depth of misfortune comes bliss” as put forth by The Book of Changes, a great classic of ancient wisdom. All of these sagacious remarks reveal a philosophy that is centered on the idea of “things will develop in the opposite direction when they go to the extreme.” Thank goodness that our conscience, rationalism, and courage finally are awakened at this conjuncture when the dark clouds of resource and environmental calamity gravely threaten our health and covetously encroach our home. German chemist Alfred Werner founded synthetic chemistry in 1928. Afterward, Switzerland’s Geigy Corporation launched the first synthetic pesticide DDT in 1940, and it amazed the world with its powerfully destructive effect on pests. American manufacturers produced 4,540 tons of DDT in 1944, and the output of DDT soared by ten times by 1951. In spite of the prevalent rejoicing about the powerful pest killer, oceanographer Rachel Carson published a mind-provoking book titled Silent Spring, which rebuked at the damages caused to the environment by DDT and other organic pesticides (Carson, 1962). This book has gone down in history as a thundering cry against environmental crisis and a sharp spear thrown at environmental destroyers. The book begins with a chapter titled “A Fable for Tomorrow”: Some evil spell had settled on the community: mysterious maladies swept the flocks of chickens; the cattle and sheep sickened and died. Everywhere was a shadow of death. The farmers spoke of much illness among their families. In the town the doctors had become more and more puzzled by new kinds of sickness appearing among their patients. . . . On the farms the hens brooded, but no chicks hatched. The farmers complained that they were unable to raise any pigs—the litters were small and the young survived

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Chapter 2 only a few days. . . . The roadsides, once so attractive, were now lined with browned and withered vegetation as though swept by fire. These, too, were silent, deserted by all living things. . . . No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it themselves.

The rapacious chemical company bosses found themselves trembling at Rachel Carson’s revelation and accusation, maliciously attacking her as “hysteric” and “sensational,” and as a “spinster” and “priestess of nature.” U.S. vice president Albert Arnold Gore wrote in the preface of the book’s second edition: “Silent Spring came as a cry in the wilderness, a deeply felt, thoroughly researched, and brilliantly written argument that changed the course of history. Without this book, the environmental movement might have been long delayed or never have developed. Silent Spring, no doubt, will be forever remembered as the pioneer and vanguard of the Environmental Movement.” In April 1968, more than thirty scientists, entrepreneurs, economists, and anthropologists from ten countries gathered at the Academy of Lynx in Rome to discuss the heavy topic of the “Predicament of Mankind,” and they set up the famous, unofficial international organization the Club of Rome. At the summer meeting in 1970, Professor Jay Forrester from MIT presented a global model to interpret predicaments mankind has encountered from different aspects. Afterward, another classic work titled The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome’s Project on the Predicament of Mankind and written by Donella H. Meadows et al. was published in 1972 (Meadows et al., 1972). Predictions always appear pale in a capricious era. However, the book still has far-reaching influence even today with the observation that major factors affecting social development such as food, nonrenewable resources, and environmental pollution would increase exponentially and by introducing the concept of “the limits to growth.” Two prospects of the world in the future were indicated by the report. One is that the persistent and irreversible trend of the growing population, rapid industrialization, deteriorated pollution, and depleted resources will result in the conflict between population and manufacturing capacity and the consequential setback of human society. Another prospect is that a global equilibrium mechanism will be delicately designed and maintained to ensure that everyone on the earth can be satisfied with his/her basic needs and endowed with equal opportunity to realize his/her full potential. Appalled by the severe scarcity of resources and the cruel damage to the environment, the United Nations convened a conference on the environment at Stockholm in 1972. An unofficial report, Only One Earth, drafted by a committee consisting of 152 members from fifty-eight coun-

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tries, was proposed at the conference. The classic environmental report denounced the grave damages industrialized countries caused to our Mother Earth, and it gave plenty of examples. In 1981, L. R. Brown wrote the following words on the first page of his book Building a Sustainable Society: “We have not inherited the earth from our fathers, we are borrowing it from our children.” The UN Secretary-General, World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), an international committee with twenty-two members under the leadership of Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, submitted a report, Our Common Future, in 1987. The report warned the world that the earth is facing serious challenges in terms of population, resources, food, and environment. Four decades after the publication of Silent Spring, mass movements for environment protection have boomed throughout the whole world. It marked the wide recognition of the public to a new concept and the formal commencement of a new era.

2.5. INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY IN ACTION As avid advocates of the idea of sustainable development, the United Nations and its organizations have organized many events with concrete efforts. In 1991, the FAO/Netherlands Conference on the Agriculture and Environment was held in Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, where the agriculture ministers from around the world witnessed the declaration of the famous Hertogenbosch Manifesto and the proposal of the concept of “Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development.” Sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD) proponents advocate for a sustainable agricultural system fostered by means of enhancing the recycling of organic matters, reducing fertilizer and pesticide use, improving output and quality of agricultural products, and protecting natural resources and the environment. In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Rio Conference, was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The prime minister of China, Li Peng, attended the conference, which was focused on the theme of sustainable development. Both Agenda 21 and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change were passed in the conference. The objectives of the Convention were to have the greenhouse gas concentration controlled at a safe level, thus making natural ecosystems adapt to global climate change, freeing food production from unexpected threats, and securing sustainable economic development.

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The radical change, in which people no longer play the infamous roles as crazy plunderers of natural resources and arbitrary spoilers of the environment but became protectors of the environment and advocates of the sustainable development model, marked awakened human conscience and a decisive revolution of ideas. The first action humans took was targeted at battling against air pollution and global warming. In order to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the draft of the Kyoto Protocol, which specified the emission limits of six greenhouse gases—namely carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride— was adopted at the conference held in Kyoto, Japan, on December 1997. Also in the conference, thirty-eight industrialized countries committed themselves to cutoff six GHGs’ emissions by 5.2 percent from 1990s baseline during 2008 to 2012. To put it more specifically, the European Union, the United States, Japan, Canada, and Eastern Europe were required to reduce 8 percent, 7 percent, 6 percent, 5 percent, and 8 percent of emissions from 1990 levels, respectively. The emissions by New Zealand, Russia, and Ukraine can remain at 1990 levels. Ireland, Australia, and Norway were allowed to increase their emissions by 10 percent, 8 percent, and 1 percent from 1990s levels. No emission limits are compulsory for the developing countries to meet. A decade later at the United Nations World Summit on Environment and Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002, Zhu Rongji, then premier of China, announced China’s ratification to the Kyoto Protocol. It was also ratified by the EU Environment Minister Conference in March 2004 and by the Japanese government in June of the same year. However, the Bush administration refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol in spite of the fact that though only with 4 percent of the world’s population, the United States should be held responsible for 20 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions in the world. The defense sought by the Bush administration for its refusal—global warming is caused by too many uncertain factors and economic costs are too much to bear—reflected the extreme selfishness and irresponsibility of the superpower on the matter of global environment protection. Eight years later, the sitting president Barack Obama brought new hope to the international community by addressing global climate change, with positive efforts. I do not know for sure whether it was out of coincidence or deliberation that in June 2007, shortly after the proclamation of the fourth report of IPCC’s Climate Change 2007, the G8 Summit was held in the seaside town of Heiligendamm, Germany, with the theme of global climate change. The EU and Canada proposed to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent from the 1990 level in 2050. After intense bargaining and under strong pressures, Mr. Bush reluctantly agreed that the United

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States would “seriously consider” the proposal. At last, a compromise was finally reached in the summit. The eight countries agreed to negotiate before 2008 and proposed a new greenhouse gas emission standard for the post-Kyoto era after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. How to deal with post-Kyoto climate change was finally put on the agenda. Mr. Bush, who was criticized for his notorious refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol, proved himself to be a political veteran in later days by deliberately acting as the successor of Angela Merkel in advocating a timely response to global climate change and taking the offensive to hold a conference in Washington in September of that year. In addition to major greenhouse gas emitters, developing countries such as China and India were also invited to the conference as the United States attempted to solicit more support for the long-term strategy it proposed on greenhouse gas reduction. Later, the Twentieth World Energy Congress was held in Rome in November of the same year.

2.6. COMMENCEMENT OF THE “POST-KYOTO ERA” The globally eye-catching Post-Kyoto Era conference was held in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007 with the theme of “save our planet from the devastating effects of global warming,” shortly after the concept of the post-Kyoto Era was proposed at the G8 summit in the town of Heiligendamm. During the conference, the EU, the United States, and developing countries all tried to exert their influences to safeguard their own maximal interests and compromised with each other to find a viable solution. No doubt, the meeting witnessed numerous intense debates, as the United States refused to accept the emission reduction targets set by the conference for the developed countries to meet before 2020 and the EU representatives threatened to boycott the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change to be hosted by the United States in 2008. At the last moment of the conference, parties finally nailed down a compromise protocol. According to the conference, the developed countries should reduce 25 to 40 percent of emissions from the 1990 level before 2020; all participating countries should stick to “common but differentiated responsibility.” It was reaffirmed by the protocol that economic and social development as well as poverty eradication still remained the priorities of developing countries; full support should be extended to the developing countries in mitigating climate change, promoting sustainable development, and developing a healthier economy. After a long period of preparation, the UN Climate Change Conference, which was attended by 194 state representatives including 119 state heads, was unveiled in Copenhagen in December 2009. Aspiring to “save

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the earth” in the post-Kyoto era, it was doubtlessly an attention-grabbing big event in the wake of the Bali conference. If the conference aborted, warned Danish Climate and Energy Minister Connie Hedegaard before its convention, people in the world should spend more time and cost to find another solution, and that is what we cannot afford, so this conference must be anything but a failure. However, the cruel reality was that this conference had much to do with the interests of each participating country. It was a battle between the developed and developing countries, far more than a show of charity. Both the Danish text and Beijing text were proposed in the conference, which was full of tit-for-tat scenes and dramatic confrontations. The focus of debates in the conference remained the same as usual— the leading industrialized countries should face up to and shoulder major responsibilities for the deteriorated environment to which they are major perpetrators. In doing so, they should take the lead in making deep, quantified emission cuts and support the developing countries financially and technically, as this is an unshirkable moral responsibility as well as a legal obligation that they must fulfill. Unfortunately, the developed countries disappointed the whole world with their irresponsible responses in the conference. In spite of such regrets, the conference was lauded for its adherence to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the Bali Road Map, and the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities.” Capping the global temperature to no more than 2°C above the preindustrial level was also ratified as a longterm goal pursued by all parties. Though the Copenhagen Accord did not gain full support from all parties, ally countries have made great contributions in cooperative action addressing climate change. For example, consensus about differentiated obligations were agreed to as follows: while reducing greenhouse gas emissions was a compulsive mission of the developed countries, the developing countries were expected to take mitigation actions under the framework of sustainable development, and the least developed countries and small island states were encouraged to make voluntary efforts with outside assistance. Besides, consensus was also shared by all in terms of long-term goals, funding, and operation transparency. To be honest, climate change has seriously hurt the earth and our living environment. The Copenhagen Conference failed to bring out what the world has long expected. Kumi Naidoo, the executive director of Greenpeace, said, “Not fair, not ambitious and not legally binding. The job of world leaders is not done.” Jeremy Hobbs, the executive director of Oxfam International, thought the $100 billion funding was only a beautiful goal, not a concrete commitment. The business circle also found their ex-

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pectations unmet. The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) commented that the tentative agreement of only two pieces of paper was too weak to provide clear signals to the market and investors. Sure, the Copenhagen Conference has made certain progress, but it also left many regrets. The expected goals were left to the Mexico Conference scheduled in 2010. People hope, when it comes to tackling climate change, that the world leaders can aspire to bigger ambitions with stronger determination and a faster pace. Yet people found that they are required to be much more patient in the face of disappointing realities. Yes, climate change is a systematic problem, and its solution also should be a systematic one, with more complex economic and social factors involved. We know it is anything but an easy one. Just as the Chinese saying states, “good things take time,” the big, great events do need to go through many tests, just as the legendary monk Xuanzang overcame numerous difficulties on a pilgrimage for the Buddhist Scriptures in the west. The world is watching with new hope for the opening of the Cancun Summit.

2.7. HOPES ON GREEN PRODUCTS Since the 1970s, people began to seek alternatives to oil, the clean production of coal, an improved efficiency of industrial energy, a low toxicity of pesticides, the reasonable use of fertilizers, and so on. The awakened human society started to explore the right way toward a bright future. The book Limits to Growth envisions that in a world with limited resources, what could inhibit the growth of population and industrial capital is the negative aftermath of a polluted environment, depleted nonrenewable resources, and dire famine. To avoid this extreme result, we must be well conscious of the necessity to inhibit growth and to make the world a delicately maintained balance between population and the physical materials we need. On the one hand, the “negative aftermath” from resource depletion and environmental pollution is accumulating relentlessly. On the other hand, people are indefatigably in quest of solutions for equilibrium, as proposed by D. H. Meadows. Twenty years later, Factor 4, a report from the Rome Club, gave an optimistic answer: by using the method of efficiency revolution, namely to achieve doubled material wealth with half of the resource consumption at previous levels, the desired equilibrium proposed by Limits to Growth was within people’s reach (von Weizsacker et al., 1995). The report carefully prepared fifty telling examples about

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the efficiency revolution, such as supercars, energy-efficient architecture, underground drip irrigation, electronic books, video conferencing, and car sharing in Berlin. Sure, these examples were quite persuasive, but it was by no means an easy task to achieve the scenes as described in Factor 4. As the book mentions, theory and practice are the same thing in theory but different ones in practice. The book elaborated in great length about the impacts of the efficiency revolution brought by theories, concepts, markets, trade, taxes, and more. It was not difficult to see that the author of Factor 4 still felt upbeat and believed that the moon is of more value than the sun because it shines at night when light is badly needed. In 1997, the Carnoules Declaration further proposed a tenfold increase of the use efficiency of resources, energy, and the rest of substances in one generation’s time. L. R. Brown was concerned more about problems induced by population pressure and bubblelike global economic growth, such as the shortages and degradation of soil and water resources, intensive consumption of fossil energy and greenhouse gas emissions, ecological and environmental deterioration, the decline in food production, hunger and epidemic disease, social disintegration, and unrest. He noted that the aggregate demand of mankind to nature had for the first time exceeded the renewable capability of the earth in the 1980s. He also stressed that such ecological debt has to be paid soon. His comments can be reckoned as another version of “the limits to growth.” In the books of Eco-Economy (Brown, 2001) and Plan B (Brown, 2003), L. R. Brown clearly expressed that the unsustainable “Plan A” at the cost of resources and environment would be replaced by “Plan B.” The ways he proposed to achieve “Plan B” include: improving water and land productivity, halving carbon emissions, stabilizing the population, promoting universal education and health care, and more. He also warned that “the western economic model—the fossil-fuel-based, automobile centered, throwaway economy—will not last much longer.” The “pen” and the “gun,” as summed up by Mao Zedong from his decades-long revolutionary struggle, are two indispensable weapons for revolutionary success. “A regime could be out of guns” is also one of the famous revolutionist’s remarks. Mao’s insights are not only correct for political revolution but also for industrial revolution. For the sustainable concept to spread far and away, publicity efforts for green theory and the market for green products are indispensable weapons we should resort to. The green “regime” also relies on the “gun” of green markets and products, which are rested in the hands of entrepreneurs. As early as the 1980s, when the problem of white pollution (petroleumbased plastics that cannot be degraded even after three to four hundred years) just rose to the surface amid the prosperity of the plastic industry,

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some companies already engaged themselves in the experiment of adding calcium carbonate and starches into the petroleum-based plastics to make the waste plastic smash. Such attempts were followed by the successful invention of degradable bio-based plastics. For example, Cargill Company stood out from others with an annual output of 140,000 tons of polylactic acid products, including cups, plates, bottles, boxes, and other household items as well as textile fabrics and clothing. KTM produced packaging material with polylactic acid as raw material. Japan’s Fujitsu Company was known for its computer cases, which were made from biodegradable plastics generated by cornstarch. Apple in its Environmental Report 2008 stated that it has been engaging in pollutionminimal manufacturing in its products, as represented by a mercuryfree LED backlit display, arsenic-free display glass, brominated flame retardant, and PVC-free internal cables, together with highly recyclable aluminum and glass enclosures. Apple does deserve high praise and admiration in virtue of its attitude and efforts. In addition to green theory and media publicity, what we need badly are green products promoted by forward-looking entrepreneurs, and the wide participation of the public.

2.8. CHINA’S DILEMMA AND DETERMINATION China, on the track of rapid industrialization, is faced with the dilemma of economic development and environment conflict. With 97 percent of energy use being fossil fuels and 73 percent coal, China is trapped in a double disadvantage in terms of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission. According to its output volume in 2005, China’s exploited coal, oil, and natural gas could meet its domestic demands for only fifty-two years, fourteen years, and forty-five years, respectively. Although China is poor in reserves of fossil energy resources, particularly oil, it is one of the major greenhouse gas emission countries in the world. China ranked second place in 1995 with 3.01 billion tons of carbon dioxide emission (EIA, 1995). It was on a par with the United States in 2008 with greenhouse gas emissions approaching six billion tons, and it topped the list in 2009. As China’s energy pillar, coal is the major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the nation, responsible for 70 percent, 90 percent, and two-thirds of the total emission of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide respectively (2003). According to the China Meteorological Administration, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration at the Waliguan station exceeded the global average value (371.1 ppm, IPCC, 2007) and reached 380.4 ppm in 2005.

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Data obtained from the Beijing, Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, and Hubei stations showed that the carbon dioxide and methane concentrations have risen to record levels during 1991 to 2005. In the past one hundred years, China’s annual average temperature has risen by 0.5 to 0.8°C (higher than the world average level) (figure 2.1), and its annual average sea level also has climbed by 2.5 millimeters (mm). China’s annual average precipitation has been reduced by 2.9 mm every ten years after the 1950s, and its acid rain areas occupied more than 30 percent of the total land area. In addition, the mountain glaciers have dwindled rapidly, and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events has increased significantly. China has seen its land, water, and atmosphere deteriorate quickly, and the terrible process continues to accelerate. China has been caught in an embarrassing and dilemmatic situation. On the one hand, China is required to meet its ever-increasing energy demands driven by the accelerated industrialization process; on the other hand, it has been troubled by its deep-seated unreasonable energy consumption structure, which is very hard to rectify. Besides, it also suffers great pressure from the international community for emission reduction. Encountering all these difficulties, the Chinese government has issued China’s National Climate Change Program and Long-term Development Plan for Renewable Energy (NDRC, 2010), and it has doubled its efforts to promote energy conservation and nuclear and renewable energy development in recent years. I would like to cover more topics about the energy dilemma facing China in chapter 12. China stepped into the limelight at the Copenhagen Conference as the center of conflicts, suffering the dual pressures from the developed and developing countries. Yet it also promoted the transition and progress of China’s energy policies. Before the conference, the Chinese government announced that the carbon dioxide emission per unit of GDP in the nation will decrease by 40 to 45 percent as of 2020 from the 2005 level. This indicator, though flexible to a certain degree, still received high praise from the international community. Premier Wen Jiabao said in his address to the conference: China has 1.3 billion of population. China’s per capita GDP had only just exceeded 3,000 U.S. dollars and, according to UN standards, China still had 150 million people living below the poverty line. China faced the arduous task of developing the economy and improving people’s livelihoods. China is now at an important stage of accelerated industrialization and urbanization, and, given the predominant role of coal in our energy mix, we are confronted with a special difficulty in emissions reduction. China had not attached any condition to its target for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions or linked it to the target of any other country. It was with a sense of responsibility to the Chinese people and mankind that the

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Chinese government had set the target for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. This is a voluntary action China has taken in light of its national circumstances. We will honor our word with real action. Whatever outcome this conference may produce, we will be fully committed to achieving and even exceeding the target.

Sure, it is reasonable for China to defend itself on the grounds that current global warming is mainly caused by leading industrialized countries, but the role played by China itself is quite insignificant. This can be proved by such facts as China’s carbon dioxide emission only accounted for 0.3 percent of the world’s total from 1950 to 2002; while America consumed 7.91 tons of standard gasoline on average per capita, China consumed only 1.24 tons in 2004. What’s more, according to the principle proposed by the United Nations Framework Convention, the developed and developing countries should shoulder “common but differentiated responsibility.” However, judging from current reality, China is already the largest greenhouse gas emission country in the world, with its environment deteriorating significantly and its image of “a responsible big country” shadowed. It is time for China to make a serious commitment now.

REFERENCES Brown, L. R. Eco-Economy. 2001. Translated by Z. X. Lin. Beijing: Oriental Press, 2002. (In Chinese) Brown, L. R. Plan B. 2003. Translated by Z. X. Lin et al. Beijing: Oriental Press, 2003. (In Chinese) Carson, R. Silent Spring. 1962. Translated by R. L. Lu and C. S. Li. Changchun: Jilin People’s Press, 1997. (In Chinese) Engels, F. “Dialectics of Nature.” 1883. In Complete Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Translated by the Chinese Communist Party Central Compilation and Translation Bureau. Beijing: People Publishing House, 1985. Friedman. T. L. “Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why the World Needs a Green Revolution—and How We Can Renew Our Global Future.” Translated by Qiu Yuxian. China, Taiwan: Tianxia Yuanjian Press, 2008. (In Chinese) Huang, S. C. “Environmental Impact of Coal Mining and Use in China.” 2003. Unpublished. Huang, S. Y., and W. Gao. Introduction to Energy. Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2004. (In Chinese) Meadows, D. H. et al. The Limits to Growth. 1972. Translated by B. H. Li. Changchun: Jilin People’s Press, 1997. NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission). China Action Plan to Respond Climate Change, 2007. Accessed September 2010. http://www .ccchina.gov.cn/WebSite/CCChina/UpFile/File189.pdf. (In Chinese)

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EIA (U.S. Energy Information Agency). International Energy Outlook 1995. EIA (U.S. Energy Information Agency). International Energy Outlook 2005. Translated edition. Beijing: Science Press, 2006. (In Chinese) Von Weizsacker, E., A. B. Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins. Factor 4: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use—The New Report to the Club of Rome. 1995. Translated by Environmental Engineering Research Institute of Peking University. Beijing: China Industrial and Commercial Joint Press, 2001. (In Chinese) Ward, B., and R. Dubos. 1972. Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet. Translated by Overseas Disasters Series Editorship. Changchun: Jilin People’s Press, 1997.

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The Twenty-first Century: The Era of Multienergy

We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century. —State of the Union 2010 by President Obama The evolution of one system to another is a process of order to disorder and then to a new order and a process of balance to imbalance and then to a new balance. The process of transition, in which such disorders and imbalances take place, is full of ups and downs and intense conflicts. —Shi Yuanchun

M

ore than 2,500 years ago, the Western Zhou, which was once a unified and strong dynasty, was split by five overlords in the Spring and Autumn Period and seven monarchs in the Epoch of Warring States after three hundred years of its establishment. It ushered in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, which is famous in Chinese history as a conflict-fraught era. The period ended up being unified by the Qin Dynasty after four to five centuries of chaos and wars. The eventful period has seen an array of famous prime ministers, such as Guan Zhong; the doctrine of martial wisdom of allying different states for different purposes and classic books on military strategy such as The Art of War; and the appearance of radical reformists such as Shang Yang and advocators for land privatization and business promotion. It also bore witness to famous wars such as the Changshao War, the Battle of Maling, and the War of Changping, as commanded by renowned generals such 43

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as Tian Dan, Zhao Kuo, Wang Jian, and Sun Bin. In terms of technology development, it witnessed significant achievements such as cattle farming, ironware making, iron smelting, salt distilling from seawater, spinning, shipbuilding, and great engineering projects such as Dujiang Weir and Zheng Guo Canal and famous scientific works such as Four Points Calendar and The Artificers’ Record. When it comes to cultural achievement, it saw a group of thinkers with far-reaching influence, such as Lao Tzu and Confucius, who laid a foundation of Chinese civilization, and enduring works such as The Book of Changes, The Book of Odes, The Analects of Confucius, Classics of the Virtue of the Tao, Tian Wen, and Li Sao (the last two are the treasure legacies left by Qu Yuan, a great patriot and poet in China’s history). The evolution of one system to another is a process of order to disorder and then to a new order and a process of balance to imbalance and then to a new balance. The process of transition, in which such disorders and imbalances take place, is full of ups and downs and intense conflicts. The transition process is also the cradle of new thoughts, new events, new heroes, and new milestones. Society evolves in such a way; so does the energy field. Fossil energy has greatly nourished the development of modern industrial civilization and also made itself an energy hegemon in industrial society for two hundred years. However, good times don’t last long. The law of “the fittest survive” is irreversible, and the regime of unsustainable fossil energy has begun to collapse. There will be a reoccurrence of the Spring and Autumn Period in the domain of energy in the twenty-first century. It will be an evolution process from an old order to a new order and a great leap ahead in energy development history. It will, I believe, greatly promote the development of industry and technology, social economy and life, ecological civilization, and environment protection. Many epoch-making events are expected to take place to help shape the Spring and Autumn Period in the domain of energy soon.

3.1. GLOBAL HYDROGEN ENERGY MANIA A mania of hydrogen energy has swept across the world at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Upon taking office, U.S. president George W. Bush proposed to develop hydrogen energy in his 2001 National Energy Policy, which was then developed into a report titled A National Vision of America’s Transition to a Hydrogen Economy: To 2030 and Beyond the following February. Based on this report, the National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap was issued. In his State of the Union 2003 speech, President Bush declared that hydrogen

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energy would enable the United States to “lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles . . . so that the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen and pollution-free.” “If you’re tired of the same old endless struggles, let us promote hydrogen fuel cells as a way to advance into the 21st century,” he added, after he visited a demonstration show of hydrogen fuel cell technology. For a time, great enthusiasm in developing hydrogen and a hydrogen economy was aroused worldwide. Japan, Germany, and China, among others, formulated their own hydrogen development plans. Some fifteen countries, including China, together with the EU, established the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy (IPHE) in 2003. At the Second International Forum on Hydrogen Energy held in Beijing in May 2004, Carl-Jochen Winter, vice president of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy, commented that hydrogen is a sort of clean and sustainable source of energy that will bear significance for twenty-first-century China and the world, just like the great leap in productivity brought about by oil, natural gas, and nuclear energy use in the last two centuries. However, different opinions were held by these cool-minded people. According to them, rather than an independently existent energy source on Earth, hydrogen is a secondary energy, which should be separated from water, natural gas, and biomass in the same way that electrical energy is produced. Furthermore, although hydrogen is a clean energy, the production process requires a large amount of primary energy and causes certain environment pollution. To produce one unit of hydrogen (electrolysis of water) requires about 1.5 units of electricity or three units of coal. It is no wonder that after his calculation Andrew Oswald concluded, “Hydrogen is not a free lunch, and it is not a clean, green fuel.” To many with the same concerns as him, hydrogen is a “water tiger” or “electric tiger.” It was predicted by the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) in 2004 that the transition to a hydrogen economy in the United States would demand at least sixty billion kilograms of hydrogen annually, which must be sustained by the consumption of 72 to 261 billion m³ water. That is to say, compared with the current electricity generation model, a 27 percent to 97 percent increase of water consumption is needed for the purpose. Besides, it also needs to consume 80 percent of the national electricity supply when electrolytic efficiency stays at 60 percent. In addition to high cost, problems such as hydrogen leakage and resulting damage to the ozone layer are looming, too. Even so, there was still much enthusiastic applause. A group of scientists of global reputation submitted a Memorandum of Understanding to the heads of state in the G8 summit and also to the UN in November 2006, urging a commitment to hydrogen energy technologies as a

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permanent solution to the upcoming energy/climate catastrophe. The same arguments could also be found in China. Ni Weidou, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, held that “hydrogen gas, something like electricity as an energy carrier, cannot be obtained without the consumption of primary energy,” and “it is a very confusing idea” that hydrogen energy can be generated “from water to water” (Ni, 2007). However, Professor Mao Zongqiang retorted that although water consumption was inevitable for hydrogen generation, the same quality of water could be produced in the process as the result of hydrogen combining with oxygen of the same volume. So, concluded Professor Mao, is not the so-called confusing idea a fact? At present, the “heavily covered” and “critically argued” topics are about hydrogen-powered vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells. The world’s major auto manufacturers, such as GM, Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, Toyota, and Honda, all have invested heavily in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Cleanfuel-powered vehicles like hydrogen-powered ones and electro-kinetic cells also have attracted the most attention in international auto shows during the past two or three years. Nevertheless, some are still skeptical about their practicality and economic efficiency, because clean fuel for vehicles would lead to more greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. As a saying states, “Everyone only minds his own business,” while the auto bosses care about nothing but profits from auto manufacture and sales, the power plants’ bosses are only concerned about proceeds from electricity generation. But who is responsible for climate change? Therefore, in the era of multienergy, the debate on hydrogen energy will definitely last a long time.

3.2. NEW ENERGY: A LATE BLOOMER Before technical hurdles were overcome, President Bush’s enthusiastic speech on hydrogen energy was nothing more than a fantasy. Things gradually changed with the passage of time. It was mentioned in a report submitted by the U.S. National Commission on Energy Policy in December 2004 that the “National Academy of Sciences estimates a 50-year time horizon for the full development of hydrogen.” In addition, Bush also said something different in his State of the Union 2006 Address that hydrogen energy is an alternative solution for the long run. Bush’s speeches, either with the positive or negative tone, were always vivid and clear. After a long time, enthusiasm for hydrogen and a hydrogen economy were eventually dampened down by rationality. So what we badly need to do now is to overcome the technical hurdles of researches with composure and persistence, not with “boiling” enthusiasm.

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When it comes to new energy in the future, the scientific community places high hopes on technology for controlled nuclear fusion, the socalled man-made sun. The sun is a huge thermonuclear reactor, which acquires and releases energy by fusing smaller atoms into larger. The first human-controlled nuclear fusion was achieved in “Tokamak” invented by the Soviet Union. The current research on nuclear fusion is mainly focused on the fusion reaction between two hydrogen isotopes: deuterium (D) and tritium (T). Deuterium is abundant in ocean water. The energy generated from the fusion of deuterium extracted from one liter of seawater would equal to the energy generated from three hundred liters of gasoline. It is an inexhaustible energy resource with no pollution and no long-lived radioactive nuclear waste. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), an international program with a funding pool up to $10 billion, was signed into effect by participants, including China, on November 21, 2006, in Paris and is anticipated to last for thirty-five years. But some nuclear industry experts believe that nuclear fusion confronts a lot of technical challenges. “Although energy produced in controlled nuclear fusion plants is theoretically ‘inexhaustible and unlimited,’ commercial use of such energy is not expected to be viable before 2050, or 2100 or even later. And the main concern is that its cost will be at least ten times higher than that from current nuclear power,” said physicist He Zuoxiu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in his paper. He also said, “The life circle of material is inversely proportional to its neutron radiation energy intensity. Pressurized water reactors at present can be used for 30–40 years. And the average neutron energy from pressurized water reactors is 0.25 eV, whereas the average neutron energy from fast neutron reactors is 0.1 MeV. As for controlled fusion reactors, the dominant neutron energy is 14 MeV. The damage caused by neutron of 14 MeV to material will be one to two orders of magnitude higher than that done by neutron of 0.25 eV” (He, 2006). Another exciting alternative is helium-3. The moon is rich in helium-3. The abundant material on the moon is another driving force, in addition to putting space technologies into practice and to rival for the race to space, behind the scenes that countries such as the United States, the European Union, Russia, China, Japan, Germany, Brazil, and India have been itching to have a go at “moon circumnavigation” or “moon landing” in recent years. The energy gained from the fusion reaction with the input of per kilogram of helium-3 is 6 × 108 megajoule (MJ) (1 MJ = 1 × 106 J [joule]), and the energy payback ratio is 97:1, whereas the ratio of uranium fission is no more than 20:1. So helium-3 is acclaimed as a safe, clean, and cheap energy source for controlled fusion reaction and can be at the service of human society for a long time (maybe tens of thousands

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of years). Authorities believe that it will be economically feasible to transport liquid helium-3 to Earth by the space shuttle, but this will not happen until at least fifty years in the future. Sure, it is our sincere wish that the Chinese Chang’e space shuttle could fly to the moon and return back with the “wine of helium-3” offered by Wu Gang as soon as possible. Supported by sufficient scientific evidence, scientists have considered as promising and inexhaustible sources for new energy hydrogen in water, deuterium in the ocean, and helium-3 on the moon. The production and application of such new energy will be clean, safe, and stable as a lasting solution to the energy crisis. However, the successful development of such new energy is anything but an easy undertaking, since it will take fifty to one hundred years for formidable technical hurdles to be overcome with scientists’ great efforts and policymakers’ firm resolution. Yet, human beings can, as long as new energy gets commercialized, be free from the worry of a future energy crisis. There is a Chinese saying that “great treasure takes time to take shape.” New energy might probably become the dominating energy in the next century, which is also the common expectation of human society.

3.3. NUCLEAR POWER: WISHING YOU A GOOD TRIP What we mentioned above is nuclear fusion, for which we still have a long way to go. In this section, I would like to explore nuclear fission, the one within our reach and often referred as “nuclear power.” In a nuclear reactor, when a slow neutron bombards a nucleus, which is prone to fission (usually uranium-235 or plutonium-239), the nucleus will be split into two smaller atoms with two or three neutrons released. The energy released by uranium fission per unit is two million times more than that of coal. In 1942, Enrico Fermi’s first nuclear reactor was successfully tested. It was then followed by the first atomic bomb explosion in 1945 and the first commercial nuclear power plant in the United Kingdom in 1956. As of March 2005, a total of 440 nuclear power reactors have been put into operation in thirty countries, with a total installed capacity up to 366.5 gigawatts (GW_, accounting for 17 percent of the world’s electricity consumption and 6 percent of the total energy consumption (Su et al., 2006). Among them, the industrialized countries account for 80 percent. Nuclear energy is commendable for its dual merits, namely being free of greenhouse gas emission and the production of electricity, a high-grade clean energy. In retrospect, nuclear power has gone through many twists and turns during the past half century. As a repeatedly resorted and deserted energy resource, it has been and will be subject to different attitudes and

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policies. The panic caused by the nuclear bomb also will severely defer the development of nuclear power plants. The opposition to the use of nuclear energy has been growing stronger after incidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear power plants in 1973 and in 1986, respectively. Therefore, more stringent requirements were imposed on the construction of public nuclear power facilities, which in return led to the ever-climbing cost and delay in construction plans in the United States and many other countries. To make things worse, Sweden, Spain, and Germany altogether had terminated such construction projects. On the contrary, countries short of fossil energy resources, such as France, Japan, and South Korea, insisted on launching nuclear power programs. As the French put it in the 1970s: “no oil, no gas, no coal, no choice.” Encouragingly, the safety of nuclear power plants has been further secured along with technological progress in automatic control, automatic monitoring, and troubleshooting of the reactor. In the United States, the nuclear power cost has been brought down to the cost of coal power and far less than that of oil and natural gas, thanks to the enhancement of electricity generation efficiency. Nuclear power generation accounts for nearly 80 percent of the total power generated in France, 50 percent in Sweden and Belgium, 30 percent in Germany and Japan, 20 percent in the United States and the United Kingdom, and less than 5 percent in China. No doubt, nuclear power in China is an important alternative to coal power. However, He Zuoxiu also warned: “China is in shortage of natural uranium supply, with proven reserves only sufficient to sustain 25 standard nuclear power plants of 100 million kilowatts.” He also pointed out: “In particular, high attention should be paid to the fact: the need for capital and technical input on the disposal of radioactive waste is often underestimated. This in fact has shifted off the responsibility and aftermath we should bear to our children and grandchildren” (He, 2006). Given the skyrocketing prices of fossil energy and the growing concern of environmental pollution, nuclear power will face a golden opportunity in countries with rapid economic development and huge energy demand such as China, India, and Brazil. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently forecasted that nuclear power might enjoy a twofold increase in the next ten years and account for about 13 percent of the total power generated. The traditional technology and facilities of nuclear power have been quite mature. What people endeavor to explore today is fast neutron nuclear power technology, and it will greatly improve the use of natural uranium resources and ease the shortage of nuclear fuel, especially in China. However, the road ahead will not be easy, and safety issues in nuclear development still remain the major concern. Shell predicted in its forecast on the development of energy technologies by 2050

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that no new nuclear power plant will be established after 2030 (Global Business Environment Shell, 2010). Even so, we still wish nuclear energy a good journey for days to come.

3.4. HYDROPOWER: THRIVING ALONG THE WATERCOURSE Though hydrodynamics have long been used to drive water wheels and stone millers since ancient times, hydropower did not gain its wide popularity and became a major member in the power family until the invention of the turbine and generator. Currently, hydropower satisfies 17 percent of total electricity consumption over the world. In countries with rich water resources such as South America, Northern Europe, and Canada, hydropower even accounts for more than half of the total power generation volume. After its debut in France in 1878, hydroelectric stations with massive dams have become a symbol of modernization and “human’s conquest of nature” in the mid-twentieth century. Super hydroelectric power stations, such as the U.S. Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, the Russian Kuibyshev Dam on the Volga, the Egyptian Aswan Dam on the Nile, the South American Itaipu Dam on the Parana River, Ghana’s Akosombo Dam on the Volta River, and China’s Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, are all known as the world’s great water projects. As data shows (Zhao, 2005), the global reserve of hydropower potentials in rivers is 5.05 billion kilowatts (kWh), which is tantamount to an annual power generation capacity of 44.28 terrawatts (TWh); the installed capacity of the technically exploitable hydropower potential is 2.26 billion kWh, which is equivalent to an annual power generation capacity of 9.6 TWh and 18 percent of whose potential has been exploited. According to the advisory report published by the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2008 (SRRCRE, 2008), the theoretical reserve of hydropower potentials in China is 0.694 billion kWh; the installed capacity of technologically exploitable, economically exploitable, and currently exploiting hydropower potentials are 541.64 million kWh, 401.80 million kWh, and 130.98 million kWh, respectively, and their annual power generation capacity stand at 2,474 billion kWh, 1,753.4 billion kWh, and 525.9 billion kWh. According to the classification standard proposed by the United Nations Development Organization (UNDP), the medium-sized and large-sized hydropower stations belong to traditional energy, and the small hydropower stations fall into the category of new renewable energy. With an installed capacity up to thirty-eight million kWh and annual power generation capacity at 130 billion kWh, China’s small hydropower stations were capable of supplying electricity to half of the territory and a quarter of the population in the nation by the end of 2005 (NDRC, 2007).

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Currently, hydropower is the least controversial renewable energy source with huge exploitation potential. With water as a carrier along the watercourse and backed by mature technology, hydropower can be generated in a clean, sustainable, and cheap way. Meanwhile, it also boasts such merits as being conducive for flood control, irrigation, navigation improvement, and so on. In China, the untapped, economically exploitable hydropower is tantamount to the output of four hundred standard nuclear power plants, with power generation cost only at half of the latter. The twenty-first century, an era for the recession of fossil energy and the intense strife of various energy resources, will provide a rare opportunity for hydropower development along a ramiform watercourse. However, such a huge project will inevitably bring a significant impact to river ecology, changing the living environment of fish and other aquatic creatures significantly, and even resulting in the extinction of some species. Problems such as land occupation as well as resident relocation will occur, too. Yet every coin has two sides. In view of hydraulic engineering’s great contribution to society, these problems can be alleviated to a tolerable degree if treated with great remedy efforts. On one side, we should attach great importance to ecological issues. On the other side, we should not consider the ecological circle and living species as absolutely sacred and inviolable. Though intense human activities have left the original ecological circle beyond recognition, given proper treatments like having natural ecology replaced by optimized artificial ecology can bring ecological balance to our human society. By virtue of the current ecological theory and biological technology, ecologists and biologists are capable of rebuilding and optimizing an artificial river ecosystem. Yet the ultimate outcome depends on the attitude and wisdom of governments.

3.5. WIND: REGIONAL DOMINATING ENERGY Just like water power, the contribution made by wind power to our human society as a driving force for sailing and milling can be traced back to ancient times. Christopher Columbus’s discovery of a new continent and Cheng Ho’s seven voyages to the western seas during the Ming Dynasty could not have been possible without the help of wind power. In modern times, wind force is used to drive a turbine to make a generator work. While water travels along ramiform paths on the earth and generates potential energy from high places to lowlands, wind spreads across spacious regions and generates gigantic kinetic energy. It is worthwhile to notice that not all wind can be used to generate electricity, only wind blowing at the height of ten meters or fifty meters higher above the ground with the annual average speed over five meters per second can be possible.

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According to the World Energy Council’s estimation, the land that can be used as a wind farm in the world accounts for 27 percent of the total land area, with a generation capacity at 2.3 × 106 MW and an annual output at 20M kWh (Huang et al., 2004). According to the results of the Third Wind Energy Resources Survey (2007) by the China Meteorological Administration, the total and technically exploitable wind energy reserves in China are 4.35 billion kilowatts and 297 million kilowatts, respectively, and the total area of wind farms in the nation is about two hundred thousand square meters (mainly in the northern region and the Tibet plateau). The technically exploitable wind energy in the coastal area (20 km off the shore) is 0.18 million kilowatts and covers a wind farm area of thirtyseven thousand square meters. Inner Mongolia, as China’s largest wind power field, with a scene commonly described in verse as “under boundless sky, on vast plains, cows and sheep can be seen when the wind blows and grass lowers,” is endowed with 50 percent of the country’s technically exploitable wind energy (namely about 150 million kW) (SRRCRE, 2008). And Pei County, described as a windy place in Liu Bang’s Song of the Wind, is actually not a wind power field. In this famous poem, the image of wind is only used to show the author’s high ideals. After its first appearance in the late nineteenth century, windpower generation was quickly replaced by cheap and convenient thermal power and water power. Just as the saying goes, “every dog has its day,” the United States revived its wind power generation projects with favorable policy and financial support in the 1970s and 1980s when the oil crisis broke out. The world’s largest wind power plant then was located at a place near San Francisco. At that time, the installed volume of wind power generation in the United States reached 1,000 MW, accounting for 90 percent of the world’s total wind power. Later, the development of wind power generation sank into a new round of fluctuation. It ebbed in the wake of falling oil prices and surged again in recent years along with rising oil prices and the concern for clean energy development. By the end of 2007, the installed capacity of global wind power had reached 94,005 MW, accounting for 1 percent of the total electricity generated in the world. Europe, historically known for its good records in environmental protection, has also been active on the forefront in the wind power field. By the end of 2007, its total installed capacity of wind power had reached 56,824 MW, with Germany ranking first in the world (22,277 MW). Though a latecomer in the field of wind power generation, China has gained rapid development in recent years. By the end of 2007, China’s total installed capacity of wind power has reached 5,906 megawatts, ranking fifth in the world (SRRCRE, 2008). Wind power generation is low in energy consumption as well as free of pollutant discharge and access to water source. Thanks to technical

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development and the enlargement of the manufacturing scale, wind power cost has dropped to a level close to thermal power generation. (Currently, China’s on-grid power price is 0.5 to 0.6 RMB yuan per kWh, and the United States charges even less than China.) Yet wind farms can only be built in sparsely populated areas because wind farms need large areas. The turbine may obstruct people’s vision and be harmful to the birds with its noise. Currently, the world’s major wind farms are mainly situated in offshore areas and seldom found in onshore areas. However, China’s wind energy resources are mainly concentrated on onshore areas than offshore areas. Low stability and storage difficulty and access difficulty to the power grid are major problems facing wind energy. The prevailing power grid in the nation is designed to adapt to the rigorous requirements of thermal power generation. However, the generated power is not continuous and stable, with tameless current, voltage, density, and frequency. Therefore, if under less satisfactory control, wind power will exert a strong impact on the power grid. To solve the problem, viable technical solutions, including the construction of a generation system applicable to water power, solar power, biomass, and other powers, should be well in place. If complex coordination problems and related technical hurdles can be solved, a nonparallel grid could be deemed as a valuable solution, too. What especially matters now is to come up with an energy storage technology with high commercial value. Though it has regional dominancy, wind power still has a long way to go.

3.6. SOLAR ENERGY: FROM HEAT TO ELECTRICITY The sun warms the earth with its radiation energy. Of the 17 × 104 hundred million kW of solar radiation energy that travels through the atmosphere and reaches the Earth’s surface, only 0.015 percent is absorbed by the vegetation and 0.002 percent is used for food and fuel production (Luo et al., 2005). Solar radiation absorbed by land surface varies greatly with different latitude, terrain, season, atmospheric circulation, and sunshine hours. Taking China as an example, the amount of solar radiation in the “extremely abundant area” (I) is over 1,750 kWh per year and per cubic meter and the figures in the “very abundant area” (II), “abundant area” (III), and “general area” (IV) are 1,750 to 1,400 kWh, 1,400 to 1,050 kWh, and less than 1,050 kWh (SRRCRE, 2008). The four areas account for 17.4 percent, 42.7 percent, 36.3 percent, and 3.6 percent of China’s total land area, so China’s solar energy resources are very abundant. According to

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He Zuoxiu, deserts in China, which cover a total land area of 0.85 million square meters, boasts a potential power generation capacity equal to that of 16,700 standard nuclear power stations (He, 2006). Solar radiation power can be used in two ways. The first application is for heating. For example, the “solar collector” optical device captures light and heat radiated from the sun and produces hot steam to drive turbines for electricity generation; the second application is as electricity power. The energy of photons can be transformed into electrical energy directly through semiconductor devices (usually solar cell) by the socalled photovoltaic effect. Though solar power has been commercialized for many years, its cost is too high, almost more than ten times that of thermal power. So it is still in the research and development stage. At present, a solar thermal collector can be promoted as a project with mutual technology and great potential. Such a device has brought solar thermal power to areas of ninety million square meters in 2006 (SRRCRE, 2008). Mainly used as a renewable energy to heat water and air conditioners in buildings at medium temperature, solar thermal will definitely enjoy a great prospect as the least controversial solution to respond to the call of energy saving and emission reduction. In 1991, the United States took the lead in building nine solar thermal power plants with a generating capacity of 10 to 80 MW in Southern California’s Mohaweisha desert. The world’s largest solar-power-generating set, which consists of twenty thousand sun disks of 25 kW and has a power-generating capacity of 500 MW, also has come into service in 2010. In addition, San Diego also will build a solar thermal plant with a power generation capacity of 300 MW. For a better market competitive edge, thermal power plants should have its costs cut down through technical progress and reform. The attitudes held by people toward thermal power generation are quite different. While some are enthusiastic that solar power plants are most likely to develop into a “power plant of maximum scale” (Olah et al., 2007), some deem that “the best harmonious and natural ways for power supply is to provide decentralized power to separate users in ways most adaptable to their demands. Deep contemplation is needed to decide whether it is feasible for China to go for a large-scale thermal power project. It is totally unwise for China to do this just to follow in other countries’ footsteps” (Ni, 2007). Though advocates have great optimism toward solar photovoltaic power generation, it still has a long way to go for its mass commercial production. Many experts feel excited about the prospect of photoelectricity because photovoltaic power generation is a kind of physical transformation directly from light to electricity, which demands neither conversion facility nor consumption of water and other resources. Be-

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sides, no emission and noise will be generated during the transformation process. He Zuoxiu is one of the advocators, with the belief that the cost of a photoelectric cell can decrease by 60 percent to 80 percent by reducing the thickness of a single crystal silicon or polycrystalline silicon or coming up with schemes to produce a special single crystal silicon or polycrystalline silicon (He, 2006). In 2005, the world’s annual output of solar cells was 1,818 MW, with manufacturers mainly from the United States, Europe, and Japan. It is forecasted that this figure will reach 200 GW by 2020. Some of the world authoritative organizations are very optimistic about the outlook of photoelectricity. For example, IEA (International Energy Association) and EPIA (European Photovoltaic Industry Association) both shared the view that 1 percent of global electricity power will be contributed by photoelectricity in 2020, and the figure will rise to 20 percent or 21 percent in 2040. JRC (European Joint Research Centre) also forecasted that the figure will be over 20 percent by 2040, and it will exceed 60 percent by the end of the twenty-first century. From heat to electricity, solar energy is an encouraging prospect.

3.7. BIOMASS ENERGY: UNPARALLELED WITH DISTINCTIVE FEATURES There is a common feature among the above-mentioned nuclear fusion, nuclear fission, helium-3, hydrogen energy, hydraulic power, wind power, solar power, and other renewable energy sources; that is, they all are in physical states and can only can be converted into thermal and electric products. Biomass makes itself distinctive from other counterparts with the following ten features: 1. It is the sole chemical energy converted from solar radiation energy with the vehicle of plants. 2. With plants as its carrier; it boasts great stability and capacity for energy storage. 3. It contains both energy and material carriers, and thus it can be used to produce energy and nonenergy material products. 4. It can be generated from multiple sources such as crop straw, forestry residues, animal feces, organic wastewater, city waste, and various energy plants cultivated on infertile land. 5. It can be used to produce a diversity of energy products, ranging from thermal and electric products in a physical state to liquid bioethanol, liquid biodiesel, solid briquette, gaseous methane, nonenergy biological plastics, and biochemical products.

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6. Biological liquid fuel is the major substitute for fossil fuel. 7. The reclamation of organic waste and pollutants into highly valuable biomass energy also does a good job for environmental protection and resource recycling. 8. All the living matter and energy involved in the production and consumption of biomass energy can enter the circulatory system of the earth’s biosphere. Even the carbon dioxide released during such processes can be absorbed by plants, thus the goal of zero emission and sustainable development can be met in the real sense. 9. Biomass energy can promote economic development of rural areas, bring more income to peasants, and therefore are of great significance for developing countries. 10. With rich resources readily available, biomass is abundant throughout the earth. It is predicted that the global energy output will reach 40.2 billion tons of standard coal equivalent in 2050, about two to three times that of the current world energy consumption volume (IAC, 2007); China’s annual production capacity of biomass resources will approach 1.171 billion tons of standard coal equivalent around 2030 (see chapter 17). In short, biomass energy is endowed with the aforementioned ten features, which are unrivaled by other renewable sources of energy. However, biomass has such disadvantages as low energy density, widely scattered material sources, and sensitivity to seasonal change. In consideration of its great correlation with the food supply and ecology, improper treatment will cause grave negative effects. Yet the good news is that these are resolvable problems with technical advancement. This book is about the biomass industry, and this part is just an opening.

3.8. RENEWABLE ENERGY FAMILY The renewability of renewable energy is attributed to the sustainable supply and transition of solar energy. No matter they are directly converted to heat energy and electric energy, or kinetic energy with air as a carrier, or potential energy with water as a carrier, or chemical energy with plants as a carrier or kinetic energy with sea water as a carrier—all of them are “brothers from one mother” and members of the solar radiation energy family. These “brothers” with different carriers, different conditions needed, as well as different domains occupied demonstrate different characters, advantages, and disadvantages, and they generate different products in diversified modes (table 3.1).

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poor riverside

++++ electricity none monotonic manufacture

Energy storage Development zone

Degree of development Energy products Nonenergy products Environment protection Influence on economy

++ electricity none single manufacture

poor wind farms

air kinetic energy electrical energy

Wind Energy solar radiation radiation energy heat energy, electrical energy poor region with high solar resource abundance + heating, electricity none single manufacture

Solar Energy

Note: more “+” represents higher degree of development; “–”denotes undeveloped.

water potential energy electrical energy

Carrier Storage state Conversion state

Hydro Energy

Table 3.1. The characteristic comparison between different renewable energies

– electricity none single manufacture

poor coastal area

sea water kinetic energy electrical energy

Ocean Energy

++ solid, gaseous, liquid state products biomaterial and biochemical products multiple agriculture, manufacture, transportation sectors

good habitats of plants

plant chemical energy multienergy state

Biomass Energy

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Water power stands out from all renewable resources with the longest history and the most matured technology. With 5.05 billion kW of water resource available in the world, nearly half of it can be used for power generation, and 18 percent of them have been put into use in this field. China has used 30 percent of its water resource for power generation. Wind resource is abundant in both China and the world, yet with very low utilization rate when it comes to power generation. For example, theoretically speaking, the quantity of wind resource is sixfold of that of water resource. Yet the wind resource that has been exploited for power generation is only three-fourths of water resource. Given its short history in the field power generation, wind power still enjoys a vast space for development. Biomass takes the lead among all resources in terms of theoretic quantity and utilizable quantity across the world. It is also true for China, as its biomass reserve is higher than the sum of wind resource and water resource. Renewable energies are different from each other, and each has its own superiority. As far as China is concerned, wind energy and solar energy are mainly concentrated in northern areas; hydro energy is abundant in western areas, solar thermal collectors have found a wide application in urban buildings; and biomass energy is widely available across the whole country. Therefore, the development of renewable energy should pay great attention to local conditions and market demands. In the places where conditions permit, two or three renewable energy sources could be developed side by side. For example, both solar energy and wind energy are applicable for four major deserts of China, namely Hulunbuir, Hunshandake, Khorchin, and Mu Us. In ancient China, there is a legend about the nine distinctive sons of dragons. It is said that Yuzhi, the son with Hercules’s might, found his favorite place under stele; Chi Wen, the son fond of looking into the distance from a high place, gladly settled himself under the roof; Paolao, the rackety son, stayed happily within the big bell; Bi An, the son with a great sense of justice, served devoutly above the gate of the prison; Baotian, the son with a huge appetite for food and water, lived a satisfying life on the cover of a pan and the end of a bridge; Pafu, the son with a deep love for water, stretched himself along bridge railings; Yazi, the battlesome son, found weapon storehouses to be his ideal residency; Suanni, the son addicted to fireworks, placed himself near the censer; and Jiaotu, the son unpleasant with intruders, guarded wittily over the door head. The legend can find its echo in the renewable energy family, whose members serve different purposes in light of their own advantages.

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3.9. THE ERA OF MULTI-ENERGY IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY In the course of energy development, there were three landmark events in the 1870s, namely the global coal output exceeding two hundred million tons in 1870, the founding of Standard Oil Company by Rockefeller in 1870, and the discovery of the first batch of oil wells drilled in Baku, Russia, in 1871. If these events are taken as the beginning of the fossil energy era, the dominance of fossil energy has lasted for 140 years up to now. However, as a result of excessive consumption and the deteriorating environment in an industrial society, fossil energy is doomed to gradually fade out in this stage of history and be replaced by new and renewable energy in a new epoch. The replacement of energy resources is a very long and intricate process. After the 1970s, the oil crisis became a frequent scene in the world. And fuel ethanol started to make itself a phenomenon in both America and Brazil. Europe also became known for its electricity generation as fuelled by biomass and wind energy. However, these new and renewable energies found themselves quickly defeated by fossil energy as long as the oil price went down again. They struggle to move on just like a challenging novice getting up repeatedly in the face of a boxing champion with steely will and visible wounds. In the twenty-first century, the tension between fossil energy and the environment is growing. Under such context, renewable energy sources are gaining more attention and investment from society. As a result, the annual bioethanol output has approached sixty million tons. In Brazil, the cost of sugarcane-turned-ethanol has a competitive edge over oil ($50 per barrel), even without government subsidies. At the same time, the nuclear energy, wind energy, and solar energy supply is also developing rapidly. The era of energy diversification is arriving! The “boxing champion” is waning in his seniority, and the “challenging novice” will have its time soon. The twenty-first century sees a soaring demand on energy. Fossil energy, backed with a high-performance price ratio and an existing mature market system, will remain in the dominant position for quite a long time. However, it is doomed to make way for clean energy, which is now enjoying strong momentum for rapid development. It is predicted that the energy family will experience a long-term flux in its composition structure. In essence, solar energy, wind energy, and biological energy have their own merits and demerits, and each remain unparalleled in certain application fields. However, a much more complex scene will take shape when

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various economic and social factors, such as technical know-how, market competitiveness, management competency, policy guidance, and government assistance, are included. Any driving force, whether it is a very important technological breakthrough, or the implementation of a new policy or plan, or the emergence of a star enterprise and an entrepreneur, or an unexpected accidental event, might cause the old system to be out of balance. It is the very charm of the dynamic twenty-first century with its multienergy development. The three factors—enterprise, technology, and policy—are the basic driving force in the long run for the evolvement of a complicated and changeable system. While enterprises are responsible for production and sales of energy products, technologies make the improvement of performance-price-ratio of such products possible; policies provide a sound environment for both enterprises and technologies to make progress. Therefore, only with the collective wisdoms of entrepreneurs, technical experts, and policymakers could energy products find a competitive edge in the marketplace. By analyzing these three factors, we can find the underlying reasons behind the success or failure of any type of energy, any energy company, and any energy product. On the national level, government is the decision maker of the nation’s energy development strategies and tactics as well as the playwright and director for the multienergy development of the twenty-first century. The United States, Brazil, and Europe now are resorting to their national tools to promote the structure transformation of energy resources. Saudi Arabia oil minister Sheikh Yamani once warned with great philosophical wisdom in the wake of the first oil crisis in the 1970s that the Stone Age did not end for the lack of stone. Sure, the end of the Stone Age was not caused by a stone deficiency but the invention of copperware and ironware; the end of the agricultural society was not stemmed by a bad harvest but by the emergence of modern science and technology and the Industrial Revolution. In fact, any old thing will be replaced by a progressive thing far before the arrival of its doomed day. This is also true for energy. Countries taking the initiative to replace fossil fuels with advanced clean and sustainable energy will gain the upper hand in the energy transformation and become a forerunner in the new economy of the twenty-first century. How can China, a country with high energy demand and rising energy consumption, a country with fossil fuels as its major energy resource, a country with poor petroleum resources and more than 50 percent of its oil imported from overseas, a country with the largest emission of greenhouse gases, blaze a trail for its multienergy development in the twenty-first century? Then, which strategy should China resort to—run out of stone in the first place (including foreign stone), or quicken its pace

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to enter the “Iron Age” by means of “metal making”? China must be cautious about its choice, which will bring great differences in its rising.

REFERENCES Global Business Environment and Shell International. Energy Needs, Choices and Possibilities, Scenarios to 2050. Accessed July 2010. http://www.s-e-i.org/reports/ shell2050.pdf. He, Z. X. Is Nuclear Energy or Renewable Energy Dominating in Solving China’s Future Energy Problems? Proposals by the Chinese Academician of Sciences, 2006 (15). (In Chinese) Huang, S. Y. et al. Introduction to Energy. Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2004. (In Chinese) IAC (InterAcademy Council). Lighting the Way: Toward a Sustainable Energy Future, 2007. Accessed August 2010. http://www.interacademycouncil.net/ 24026/25142.aspx. Luo, Y. J., Z. N. He, and C. G. Wang. Application Technology of Solar Energy. Beijing: Chemical Industry Press, 2005. (In Chinese) Mao, Z. Q. “An Energy Strategy without Gaseous Energy Is an Incomplete Strategy.” China Science and Technology Daily, March 5, 2007. (In Chinese) NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission). China Medium- and Longterm Development Plan on Renewable Energies, 2007. Accessed July 2010. http:// www.sdpc.gov.cn/zcfb/zcfbtz/2007tongzhi/W020070904607346044110.pdf. (In Chinese) Ni, W. D. “Current Situations and Strategic solutions for China Energy Issue.” Science and Technology Daily, January 25, 2007. (In Chinese) Olah, G. A., A. Goeppert, and G. K. Surya Prakash. Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy. Translated by J. B. Hu. Beijing: Chemical Industry Press, 2007. SRRCRE (Strategic Research Group on China Renewable Energies). China Academy of Engineering Consultant Group for Key Projects. Series on Development Strategy of China Renewable Energy. Hydropower Energy. Beijing: China Electric Power Press, 2008. (In Chinese) SRRCRE (Strategic Research Group on China Renewable Energies). China Academy of Engineering Consultant Group for Key Projects. Series on Development Strategy of China Renewable Energy. Solar Energy. Beijing: China Electric Power Press, 2008. (In Chinese) SRRCRE (Strategic Research Group on China Renewable Energies). China Academy of Engineering Consultant Group for Key Projects. Series on Development Strategy of China Renewable Energy. Wind Energy. Beijing: China Electric Power Press, 2008. (In Chinese) Su, Y. X., Y. R. Mao, and J. D. Zhao. Introduction to New Energy and Renewable Energy. Beijing: Chemical Industry Press, 2006. (In Chinese) Zhao, C. Developing and Using Hydropower. Beijing: Chemical Industry Press, 2005. (In Chinese)

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Only 7 percent of biomass resources on earth are used by human beings, the remaining 93 percent remains untapped. The scientific and technological magicians, with a new key to the mysteries of biomass in hand, have been gaining “Midas touch” prowess to send aircrafts into the blue sky with a pile of straw and rotten wood. —Shi Yuanchun

F

rom the common phenomenon of thunder and lightning, Benjamin Franklin revealed the nature of electricity by his famous kite experiment. This great discovery paved the way toward many significant inventions that appeared later in human history, such as electric light, the telephone, the motorcar, radio, television, mobile phones, and more. In retrospect, mankind learned to raise cattle for meat more than seven thousand years ago and to plow farmland with the aid of oxen more than two thousand years ago. They also came to realize that leather could be processed to keep warm and that milk was drinkable more than one thousand years ago. Now, people can turn a cow into a magic bioreactor and formidable protein drug workshop through genetic engineering. It is not hard for us to find that a simple truth is made clear by these evolution stories: once the mystery of nature is opened by the key of science, technology will become the magic wand with the “Midas touch” prowess. As commonly seen as thunder roaring in the sky and herds grazing on earth, biomass is indeed the humblest substance that abounds 63

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everywhere. In 1999, U.S. president Clinton announced in one of his Executive Orders: “Current bio-based product and bioenergy technology has the potential to make renewable farm and forestry resources major sources of affordable electricity, fuel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other materials” (White House, 1999). What he declared was that the scientific and technological magicians, with a new key to the mysteries of biomass in hand, have been gaining “Midas touch” prowess to send aircrafts into the blue sky with a pile of straw and rotten wood.

4.1. THE FIRST WORKSHOP OF NATURE Solar radiation is the only source by which the earth can acquire energy continuously. It not only can directly warm the earth with light and heat but also be converted into power of various physical statuses, such as wind power, hydropower, thermal power, and electricity power. However, only through the vehicle of the plant could solar radiation be converted into chemical energy. Then, why are plants are so unique in achieving this? The secret lies in that plants are capable of photosynthesis; plants can use the energy radiated from sunlight to synthesize carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and water from soil into an organic matter—carbohydrates. Meanwhile, oxygen will be released from the process. The chemical equation is: 6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2 In fact, this is the most fundamental and significant chemical equation that has happened in nature. In the epidermal cells of a plant leaf, a great amount of mesophyll cells line up, and each of them contains thirty or forty chloroplasts (that is to say, every square centimeter of a plant leaf accommodates five hundred thousand chloroplasts). Each chloroplast, in essence, is a tiny energy conversion workshop, where plant photosynthesis takes place. A chloroplast is like a flat concave with the diameter of only 2 to 7 mm. The chloroplast is wrapped up by double biological membranes and filled with liquid stroma, among which many neatly arranged, flat thylakoids are suspended like piled coins. On the surface of the thylakoids lie chlorophyll molecules, which are formed by carbon and hydrogen atoms. Sunlight, as a kind of electromagnetic wave and a sort of particle (photon) flow with energy and momentum, can activate the chlorophyll molecules on the surface of the thylakoid, engendering the sophisticated electronic gain and loss, transfer and reaction, in which carbon dioxide and water

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are converted into carbohydrate; therefore, light energy is thus converted into chemical energy as a result (Wu, 2006). In botany, such organisms that can obtain energy through solar energy conversion are defined as photosynthetic autotrophy. Their earliest presence can be traced back to billions of years ago. Recently, an article published in the British weekly New Scientist revealed the origin of photosynthesis and credited cyanophyta bacteria as the driving force behind the conversion and storage of solar energy and the evolution of a thriving biosphere on the earth. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that it is the senior green plants, which came into being four hundred million years ago in the wake of ancient soil bacteria moving from sea to land, that contributed to the large-scale transformation and storage of solar energy on Earth. In addition to intensively capturing and storing solar energy, such green plants also absorbed and accumulated large amounts of nutrient elements from the soil, such as nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, and others to constitute their own organs and bodies. The mechanism not only made the carrier of life and the composition of organic matter more complex but also made the biological cycle of substance and energy more colorful. Except for photosynthetic autotrophies, there is another type of organism called heterotrophic organism, as represented by animals, which must derive nutrition and energy from the former one for survival and proliferation. While plants are the “producers” in the biosphere, animals are the “consumers.” Agricultural crop production is primary production, while animal production is called secondary production. Plants and animals consume a small portion of obtained energy during the survival and proliferation process, with life residue returned to the soil and water bodies upon the end of their life cycle. Thanks to the participation of microorganisms, such life residue will decompose and enter into the next round of the life cycle after their demise, contributing to the endless thriving of the biosphere on the earth. Then, at present, how much solar radiation can be captured by green plants? And how much biomass could be produced thereby? Some believe it is about 170 billion tons per year (Wu, 2006). Let’s cite a tangible example for easier understanding. For example, if nine tons of corn grains and eighteen tons of corn straws can be harvested from one hectare of a corn field with a generated energy equal to fifteen tons of standard coal, then a total energy equal to 450 million tons of standard coal can be generated from thirty million hectares of corn fields across China every year. It can sustain about one-sixth of the total energy consumption in the nation. The energy contribution varies greatly from different ecosystems in different geographical zones on the earth’s land surface, ranging from

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zero tons to more than thirty tons if measured in annual carbon fixation per hectare. Specifically speaking, the figures for a tropical rain forest, temperate forest, savanna, bush, temperate grassland, and desert stand at 30.1 tons, 10.1 to 30.0 tons, 8.1 to 10.0 tons, 6.1 to 8.0 tons, 2.6 to 6.0 tons, and 0.0 to 2.5 tons, respectively. While the sun is the only source for the earth to get energy continuously, plants are the unique and fundamental workshop to capture, transform, and store solar energy.

4.2. BIOMASS INDUSTRY By converting energy and living matter stored in plants and animals, human beings gain access to sources of energy and nutrition. In short, agriculture is the industry specialized in plant and animal production. While traditional agriculture is aimed at producing such primary agricultural products as rice, wheat, cotton, pigs, cows, and sheep, modern agriculture can, by resorting to industrial technology, produce a large amount of quality primary products and then process them into various exquisite foods, clothing, leather, drugs, and more. Modern science and technology can turn various biomass such as crop residues and animal manure and biomaterial such as plastics as well as biochemical products into clean energy—the so-called bioenergy and bio-based products. In the thirteenth edition (2002) of The Nature and Properties of Soils, a well-known soil science textbook, N. C. Brady pointed out that the function of soil is not only confined to producing food and fiber but also fuel (Brady and Well, 2002). Along with the exhaustion of fossil fuels, the growing attention on global warming, and the soaring development of bioenergy and biobased products, a new industry chain for biomass materials and products are taking shape with active contributions from production, circulation, marketing, policy, research and development, and service sectors. Conceptually speaking, all living things can be called biomass. However, a narrower definition is more befitting when it comes to concepts with industrial connotations. With the promulgation of the Executive Order 13134, Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy, the United States has defined the relevant concepts as follows for standardized management: The term “biomass” means any organic matter that is available on a renewable or recurring basis (excluding old-growth timber), including dedicated energy crops and trees, agricultural food and feed crop residues, aquatic plants, wood and wood residues, animal wastes, and other waste materials. The term “biobased product” means a commercial or industrial product (other than food and feed) that utilizes biological products or renewable domestic agricultural (plant, animal and marine) or forestry materials.

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The term “bioenergy” means biomass used in the production of energy (electricity; liquid, solid, and gaseous fuels; and heat). (White House, 1999)

Obviously, this definition was proposed in light of America’s situation at that time, which not only explicitly regulates the connotations of raw materials but also has both “bio-based product” and “bioenergy” included. This book further brings up the concept of biomass industry with the following definition: Biomass industry refers to the modern green industry that is based on modern science and technology to engage in the production of bioenergy and bio-based products from renewable and recyclable organic matters, which mainly include the organic wastes from farming, breeding, forestry, agricultural product processing and daily life activities, as well as the energy from plants grown in the marginal land.

We can find that in this definition for biomass industry, highlights are given to agricultural organic waste and the marginal land, as well as modern technology and the modern green industry. According to source and chemical composition, biomass material can be classified into the following groups, with main products enumerated accordingly (table 4.1). In short, biomass materials have three traits. First, regional: this is demonstrated by the following facts that different areas boast different advantageous biomass materials of their own; the same type of biomass material will vary in quality and yield in different regions, or even show disparities in quality and output in the same area as a result of natural growth and artificial cultivation. Second, economic consideration: generally speaking, biomass materials are characterized by high geographical dispersion and low energy density. Therefore, only these biomass materials, which are easy to collect and have high economic value, could be used as raw material resources. Third, ecological consideration: that is to say, the production and development of biomass materials should be closely integrated with the recycling of resources and the protection of the environment, so as to realize the win-win outcomes among economic, ecological, and social benefits.

4.3. FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT BIOMASS MATERIALS How many biomass materials are available around the world? The answer is critical for the development of biomass industry. Biomass resources and biomass materials are not the same thing, in fact. The former one deems that all biomasses are resources, while the latter one only takes those that can be used for biomass product production

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68 Table 4.1.

Chapter 4 Generic classification of biomass material

Chemical Composition

Crops

Energy Plants

Organic Wastes

Main Products

starches

cereal grains, tubers

—

food and agricultural processing wastes

carbohydrate

sugarcane, sugar beet, etc.

molasses, slags, etc.

fats and oils

rapeseed, soybean, etc.

sweet sorghum, Jerusalem artichoke woody oil plants, oil algae, etc.

fuel ethanol, biogas, bioplastics, starch processing products fuel ethanol and downstream products biodiesel and downstream products, biogas

fiber

—

Miscanthus, switchgrass, Salix viminalis, and other grassy perennials and energy forests

industrial waste oils, kitchen waste oil, human and animal feces* crop stalks, forestry residues, organic sludge and trash

solid, liquid, gaseous energy products and downstream products

Note: Human and animal feces contain fat, protein, and carbohydrates.

as biomass material. Truly, it is a new challenge for us to determine the boundary of biomass materials since multiple relevant factors in terms of natural, economic, and political aspects as well as issues with vague concept and indefinite definition should be taken into consideration. For example, the sporadic studies conducted in the past (Yamamoto, 2001; Hoogwijk et al., 2003) were focused on the analysis of the output potential of biomass materials from degraded land and redundant farmland. Yet their study results varied greatly. In 2004, together with other coresearchers, Edward Smeet, Andre Faaij, and Iris Lewandowski of Utrecht University, The Netherlands, delivered prediction research on global biomass materials in 2050 (Smeets et al., 2004). As the first systematical research on global biomass materials, it is of great help for us to gain a macro view of the status quo and potential of biomass industry. I would like to introduce their research findings in this section.

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Edward Smeet and his research peers stick to the principle that instead of causing encroachment to cropland or forest, biomass materials will be cultivated only on the degraded and the retired farmland that is no longer suitable for commercial crop production. Therefore, their research objects are mainly focused on special energy plants, agricultural residues, agricultural and forestry processing residues, livestock manures, as well as urban organic wastes and more. The research not only smartly shuns a highly sensitive issue in recent days about whether bioenergy would impose an adverse impact on food security and the ecological environment but also delivers a research result with more realistic value and referential significance. The research applied the IMAGE model and devised four scenarios with different output levels based on different land use types, production patterns, as well as diverse production conditions and factors such as water supply (rainfall/irrigation), technical level and feed conversion efficiency, and more. The “output-area curves” for bioenergy production in both high and low technology levels have been simulated after heavy data input and careful calculation. While the energy output potential in low technical levels is 1,807 exajoules (EJ) per year (1 EJ = 1 × 1018 J), equivalent to the energy of 43.2 billion tons of crude oil; the figure in high technical levels is 4,435 EJ per year, equivalent to 106 billion tons of crude oil. Four scenarios for the predictions of 2050 bioenergy output potential in the world’s top ten regions have been worked out. According to them, 2050 bioenergy output potential in the four scenarios as measured by standardized coal is 9.236 billion, 17.526 billion, 40.176 billion, and 50.254 billion tons, respectively. If measured by standardized oil, they stand at 6.48 billion, 12.26 billion, 28.005 billion, and 35.06 billion tons, respectively. The 2050 bioenergy output potential in these four scenarios is 1.7 to 9.1 times higher than the world oil consumption (3.837 billion tons) in 2005, which means that bioenergy has great potential to replace oil, even fossil fuels, as the number-one fuel in the future. From data shown on each major region in figure 4.1 and table 4.2, we can conclude that the total 2050 biomass resources output potential in the top-five regions, including Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America, accounts for more than half of the total figure in the world. No matter what will happen in terms of population and consumption growth in 2050, the top three areas, with vast land suitable for crop growing, will have great potential for bioenergy production, while East Asia will not witness rapid growth in population and consumption in spite of its vast land area. This study also indicates that North America and Oceania, regardless of its high level of food consumption and high growth in population, would impose much less demand on land usage for crop production in the future fifty years due to progress in land use and agri-

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Figure 4.1. Forecast on potential in bio-energy production in ten major regions of the world in 2050 (Smeets et al., 2004). Note: Bars in each region, from left to right, represent four land use conditions, i.e. mS (marginal suitable), MS (modest suitable), S (suitable), and VS (very suitable). The unit is 1018 Joule year–1.

Table 4.2. Forecast for biomass energy potentials in global top-ten regions (2050) (106 ton year–1) Marginally Suitable Land (mS) Sub-Sahara Africa Caribbean and Latin America Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic countries North America East Asia Oceanic Near East and North Africa South Asia East Europe West Europe Ten regions combined % of the proportion accounting for world oil consumption

Moderately Suitable Land (MS)

Suitable Land (S)

Very Suitable Land (VS)

Region Subtotal

1076

2726

6695

8369

18865

1387

3108

4830

6025

15350

1076 646 359 956

1817 1506 502 1315

4495 3730 3658 2200

5619 4662 4495 2750

13007 10544 9014 7221

48 526 96 191 6360

48 598 287 335 12242

741 717 550 478 28094

932 837 693 598 34980

1769 2678 1626 1602 81677

166

319

732

912

2129

Note: Figures in the table are converted into standard oil from the data in figure 4.1 by 1 EJ/year equivalent with 23.91 million tons/year; the world oil consumption is measured by 3837 Mt in 2005.

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culture management. The research also reckons that the crop productivity and consumption level in the former Soviet Union nations and Caribbean countries have dropped dramatically due to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and it will take a long time to recover, so the productive potential of agriculture land there would greatly exceed the production and consumption growth. These regions will undoubtedly emerge as regions with the brightest prospects for biomass development.

4.4. BIOMASS INDUSTRY: KILLS THREE BIRDS WITH ONE STONE Biomass industry can substitute for fossil fuels, protect our environment, and promote rural economic development, which is the so-called effect of killing three birds with one stone. Currently, human society is confronting serious challenges from resource depletion and environment deterioration. Fossil energy is at the core of conflicts both for its growing scarcity and its role as the main culprit of global warming. The replacement of sustainable clean energy for fossil energy is an inevitable step toward energy structure evolution, and it is also a crucial battle for the sustainable development of human society. The energy structure evolution is the process in which fossil fuel, renewable energy, and new energy take turns to wane and wax. The core of the evolution lies in the substitution of fossil fuel by renewable energy. In the family of renewable energy, water, wind, solar power, and bioenergy have their own merits, but biomass overshadows others in terms of its available quantity. The biomass material in China is 2 times and 3.5 times as much as water and wind power, respectively. As far as energy products are concerned, bioenergy involves not only heat and electricity but also dozens of solid, liquid, and gaseous energy products and varieties of “bio-based products.” The substitute of bioenergy for fossil fuels takes place on a large scale and generates far-reaching influence. In America, the contribution of biomass to the total national energy consumption exceeded 3 percent in 2003, surpassing that of hydropower to be the number-one contributor among all renewable energy (USDE and USDA, 2005). The United States has hatched a plan with regard to biofuel alternatives for fossil fuel in the transport field. According to the USDE and USDA, 20 percent of fossil fuel will be substituted by biofuel in 2020, and the proportion will rise to 30 percent in 2030 and 50 percent in 2050. EU also set its alternative goal at 10 percent by 2020 (CEC, 2007), while Brazil has already achieved its alternative goal at 57 percent in 2009. Emerging as an alternative to fossil energy is the first big role played by biomass.

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Another contribution brought by biomass is environment protection. It is well known that anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels (EIA 2005). The replacement of fossil fuels by bioenergy, one of the clean energy sources, will have much to do with the emission of CO2. What’s more, fossil energy–based chemical products not only demand the consumption of precious fossil sources but also cause damage to the environment. For example, there are nearly one hundred million tons of nondegradable, petroleum-based plastic wastes produced globally on a yearly basis, which leads to “white pollution,” with a dire aftermath for generations to come. In contrast, bio-based plastics can be degraded completely by microorganisms. In America, three-fourths of organic chemical materials are made from oil at present, while 90 percent of organic chemical materials are expected to originate from biomass in 2050 (Conway, 2007). In addition, all organic residues, livestock manures, wastewater residues, and exhaust gas produced by agricultural and forestry activities as well as related processing industries, combined with urban organic garbage and other pollutants, can be recycled as harmless treasure during the process of biomass production. In this sense, biomass industry is also a green industry with environmentally friendly recycling practices. The third merit of biomass industry is its great promotion to rural economic development. After years of solid efforts in developing biomass industry, the United States, Brazil, and Europe have been rewarded with rich returns in the development of the rural economy and an increase of farmers’ income. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the former president of Brazil, commented that Brazil paid much attention to promoting agriculture through the development of biofuels in order to get farmers rich and to better solve the problems of poverty and food. He also remarked that biomass-based ethanol production is the hope of the developing countries of Africa, Latin America, and Asia to develop their economy. The U.N.Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2008 also pointed out that the development of biomass industry will become an unstoppable trend in the world, which is beneficial to increase farmers’ income, create employment opportunities, and to check oil prices. Even in the United States, it is also a good way to supply farmers, forestry workers, ranchers, and businessmen with lots of new and encouraging business and employment opportunities, to establish new markets for agro-forestry wastes, and to bring the less-used land economic opportunities. Over these years, the biggest beneficiaries of the biofuel industry were farmers, who are not only are the providers of the feedstuffs but the major founders of over two hundred biofuel processing factories located in U.S. rural areas (Conway, 2007).

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As a powerful vehicle for information communication, modern media has not played a satisfactory role in publicizing bioenergy or biomass industry yet. Yes, it successfully conveyed the message to the public and decision makers that bioenergy is a kind of clean energy same as wind and solar energy, however, it mentioned little about its great significance in environmental protection and social well-being. Therefore, the media is highly expected to deliver more all-round coverage to the public and decision makers about the biomass industry’s multiple merits in “killing three birds with one stone,” and in particular about its great role in easing the dilemmas facing “agriculture, countryside and farmer.” Since it is essentially important for developing countries, I would like to explore this subject in chapter 13.

4.5. A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW ON BIOMASS INDUSTRY Firstly, let’s have a bird’s-eye view on the biomass industry for a general profile before we explore it in depth in a later part of the book. The modern biomass industry has gone through ups and downs in the past century. Though adopted as the earliest car fuel at the end of the nineteenth century, biofuel was replaced by cheap and quality gasoline. Biofuel returned to attention in the 1970s when the world oil crisis broke out. Biofuel gained a booming development worldwide. For example, during this period, Brazil made itself the pioneer of sugarcane alcohol, America the forerunner of corn ethanol, Norway the trailblazer of the biomass power station, Sweden the precursor of the biogas bus, and so on. However, biofuel was left behind again as soon as the oil prices dropped back. It was not until the late twentieth century that people were awakened to the facts that oil reserves were at the verge of exhaustion, global warming was much more severe than expected, and the ideas of environment protection and sustainable development was highly upheld by human society. Bioenergy was then given serious consideration as a prominent new energy. The U.S. presidential Executive Order, Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy issued in 1999, made a clarion call, triggering a global upsurge in bioenergy exploitation and ushering in the arrival of the biomass industry. The biomass industry has grown to be a ten-year-old child since 1999. During the past ten years, the global annual production of fuel ethanol approached sixty million tons, with the United States and Brazil as major contributors. In the EU, the biofuel production in 2006 amounted to 5.38 million tons of standardized coal. While the production technology for fuel ethanol, biodiesel, briquette fuel, biomass cogeneration, industrial

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biogas, biobased plastic, and so on tends to be mature, many countries are going after the second-generation technology research for cellulosic ethanol and Fischer-Tropsch biodiesel. Besides, the positive policy environment and well-covered logistics, sales, and service systems also tend to be well in place in leading nations. Biomass industry has become much more mature over the past ten years. Nevertheless, the road toward “adulthood” is still tough and rough, full of “growing pains.” Just like a dashing child in the face of an unknown world, the United States took the lead in corn ethanol production with an impressive double-digit annual growth rate. While some acclaimed it as a distinguished contributor to the development of the global biomass industry, some accused it of being a culprit behind the rising price of corn and a problem-maker compromising the food import to poor countries as well as to the world food security. Besides, the United States was widely criticized for the excessive reclamation of the tropical rain forest in countries such as Malaysia for its biodiesel development. During the world food crisis in 2008, numerous accusing fingers once again were pointed at the United States, which was then misunderstood as “the chief culprit” and the malefactor of “the crime against humanity” due to its corn ethanol production. The external environment for biofuel development became grimmer when the oil price slumped to less than $60 per barrel from $147 per barrel, and the looming world financial crisis made it even worse. Though encountered with such adverse challenges, biomass industry has always enjoyed a benign macro environment for development. Yes, adverse challenges were short-lived; the benign macro environment did have a far-reaching effect. In 2002, the United Nations convened the Second World Conference on Environment and Development in South Africa; in 2006 and 2008, the World Energy Congress was held respectively in Sweden and Brazil; in 2007, the IPCC issued its fourth scientific assessment report, Climate Change 2007 and G8 was convened with the theme of addressing global climate change; in 2008, the Kyoto Protocol began to be put into effect and the Bali Conference kicked off the post-Kyoto Era; in 2009, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (Copenhagen Summit) drew worldwide attention. Human society’s awareness of environment protection and sustainable development has been consolidated and strengthened during the past ten years. The youth of a ten-year-old is tender yet has exuberant vitality. After ten years’ growth, good lessons have been learned and such low-level errors as deforestation and rivalries against food will never be committed in the course of biomass development. We have every confidence that the biomass industry will grow into a handsome young man in the coming

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decade, in which the second-generation biofuel will become the mainstay products, liquid biofuel will reach the annual production capacity of one hundred million tons, solid fuel and industrial biogas will become commercially popularized, bio-based products will start to make a fine figure, and the industrial systems will improve and a number of enterprises will thrive with great achievement.

4.6. MILESTONES FROM 1895–2010 Chronicled below are great events that happened during the incubation and growth period of the biomass industry. Incubation Period (1895–1999) • In 1895, Rudolf Diesel, a German engineer, successfully developed biodiesel, and an engine with peanut oil as fuel was displayed at the Paris Expo in 1900. • In 1907, Ford in the United States launched the first engine with pure ethanol as fuel. • In 1925, a car with cane ethanol as fuel went through a four-hundredkilometer trial run in Brazil; subsequently the Brazilian government ordered that ethanol should make up 10 percent of the fuel for government cars, and 5 percent for public cars. • In the 1930s, the U.S. National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) was set up and successfully developed many biochemical products, such as cornstarch, soy ink, cottonseed nutritional supplements, and so on. • In 1973, the fourth Middle East War broke out, and OPEC announced it would reduce oil output, carry out embargos, and raise oil prices. As a result, oil prices soared from $3 to $12 per barrel, leading to the first global oil crisis. • In 1975, Brazil kicked off its Bio-energy Projects and National Fuel Ethanol Production Plan, and the government prescribed the proportion of ethanol added into oil would be raised from 5 percent to 20 percent. • In 1975, the Swedish government set aside 36 million Euros from its budget to support research and development for biomass burning and conversion projects and as subsidies for demonstration projects. • In 1976, the United States started to produce corn ethanol on a small scale; then President Carter announced that those who used or popularized oil with 10 percent ethanol (E10) added would be exempt from federal tax.

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• In 1976, Germany established the first project for industrialized biogas production with the Federal Agricultural Research Centre (FAL). • Since 1976, biogas has enjoyed great development in China’s rural areas; therefore, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) promoted China’s successful experience to other developing countries. • In 1983, Sweden started to introduce a fossil fuel replacement program to Stockholm’s transport system. After more than one decade’s test on nine kinds of fuel, biogas bus and ethanol bus finally won out. • In 1999 to 2000, the production of ethanol fuel in Brazil stayed stable at ten million tons each year. • In 1991, Sweden began to levy a carbon dioxide tax. • In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was held in Brazil, with the Agenda for the 21st Century adopted and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change signed. • In 1993, Brazil promulgated the law concerning the compulsive use of E20 and E25 ethanol oil. • In 1997, Sweden implemented a fixed electric power price system to subsidize biomass power generation; in 2003, a favorable tax policy was implemented in Sweden to give tax deductions and exemptions to power consumers according to the proportion of biomass power to their total power consumption. Also, the “Green Electricity Certificate Trading System” was carried out to make biomass power able to be sold or purchased freely in the Swedish market. • In 1997, EU published White Paper for a Community Strategy and Action Plan, proposing the indexes for renewable energy and bioenergy development. Growth Period (1999–2010) • In 1998, U.S. associations of agriculture, forestry, and chemistry jointly proposed “Plant/Crop-Based Renewable Resources 2020—A Vision to Enhance U.S. Economic Security through Renewable Plant/Crop-Based Resource Use.” • In 1999, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences put forward the report Biobased Industrial Products: Priorities for Research and Commercialization. • On August 12, 1999, U.S. president Clinton issued Executive Order No. 13134: Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy, and he commanded the Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture to submit a report within 120 days concerning the mission of having U.S. bio-based products and bioenergy output increased by three times by 2010.

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• In 2000, U.S. departments of energy and agriculture jointly submitted the report titled Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy to the president, and the same year, Congress passed the Biomass Research and Development Act. • In 2001, China’s State Council approved the plan to establish fuel ethanol factories with stale rice as raw material in four provinces, one of which was Jilin, and the total annual productivity was expected at 730,000 tons. • In 2001, the EU released the Guidance Strategy for Promotion of Renewable Energy Electricity Generation, setting up the goal that 12 percent of the total EU electricity consumption should come from renewable resources by 2010. • In 2001, American Cargill-Dow established the world’s first factory based on cornstarch fermentation, with an annual polylactic acid (PLA) output at 140,000 tons and producing various polymer plastics. • In 2002, America formulated the Roadmap for Biomass Technology and set up the Office of the Biomass Program and Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee. • At the end of 2002, the Japan Biomass Strategy was adopted by the Japan Cabinet meeting, which drafted development goals and seventyeight action plans to be implemented by 2010. • In 2002, the second United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was held in South Africa. • In 2003, India promoted the use of oil with 5 percent of ethanol (E5) to ten states and expanded the campaign throughout the whole country in 2006. • In 2003, the EU released EU Strategy on Alternative Fuel Vehicles for the Transport Sector, proposing bend ratio indexes of bioliquid fuel for vehicle fuel consumption in 2005, 2010, and 2020. • In August 2005, the U.S. president signed the National Energy Policy Act, which had been passed by the Senate and House of Representatives, into law, requiring that fuel manufacturers must add 22,500,000 tons of bioethanol to oil by 2012. • In 2005, The Renewable Energy Law of the People’s Republic of China was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress; the National Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2006–2010) proposed to accelerate the development and use of bioenergy. • In 2006, U.S. president Bush mentioned in his annual State of the Union address that “America is addicted to oil, breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal: to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond

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a petroleum-based economy and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.” In 2006, Bill Gates invested in Pacific Ethanol, Inc. Vinod Khosla’s venture capital as well as oil and energy giants as represented by Marathon also entered into the fuel production field with massive input. In February 2006, the Swedish government declared that Sweden would be the first one to step into the postoil era in 2020 and become the first oil independent country. In May 2006, the World Biomass Energy Conference 2006 was held in Sweden with 1,100 representatives coming from fifty countries. In May 2006, the Swedish prime minister Persson addressed the World Biomass Energy Conference, and stated that “biomass energy has met 25 percent of the energy demand for Sweden today; the sales of fuel ethanol has raised by 500 percent in 2005; more than 10 percent of cars sold here were bio-fuel vehicles.” In August 2006, the China National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Agriculture, and the State Forestry Administration jointly held a National Work Conference on the Development and Utilization of Biomass Energy; in November 2006, five ministries and commissions including the Chinese Ministry of Finance and China’s National Development and Reform Commission released Proposals for Implementation of Tax Support Policy on Development of Bio-energy and Bio-chemical Industry; in 2006, China’s production of fuel ethanol reached 1,520,000 tons, and the application of ethanol fuel amounted to 15 440,000 tons, ranking China third place in the world. In August 2007, China launched the Medium- to Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies, proposing that with a total investment of 2,000 billion yuan, 15 percent of its total energy consumption would be sustained by wind, biomass, solar, and hydropower energy by 2020. As for biomass energy goals: the total installed capacity for biomass power generation, solid fuel, biogas, fuel ethanol, and biodiesel would reach to 30 GW, 50 million tons, 44 billion m3, 10 million tons, and 2 million tons, respectively. In October 2007, the European Commission released the Renewable Energy Roadmap, proposing that renewable energy would account for 20 percent of the total energy consumption of the EU by 2020 and that biofuel would at least account for 10 percent of the total gasoline and diesel consumption in the transportation sector. In December 2007, China and the United States signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Cooperation of Developing the Biofuel Industry in Beijing; in August 2008, China and the United

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States signed an agreement on building a China-U.S. Clean Energy Research Center in Houston. In December 2007, the United States promulgated the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, with focus placed on promoting biomass energy. The act put forward a classification method for conventional biomass energy and advanced biomass energy, and it proposed that liquid biofuel would reach 108 million tons in 2022, among which 63 million tons were of advanced biomass energy. In the beginning of 2008, the world food crisis happened. A United Nations official delivered a speech with remarks such as, “Producing biofuels today is a crime against humanity” in April 2008. Brazilian president Lula da Silva refuted in a meeting that “the real crime against humanity is to put bio-fuels aside and push every country to the situation of food and energy shortages.” On June 8, 2008, Science and Technology Daily, a renowned Chinese newspaper, published Shi Yuanchun’s paper titled Food! Oil! Biomass Fuel!, in which lots of facts and data were presented to refute the wrong opinions that biomass energy was the “culprit” of the food crisis. On July 10, 2008, the oil price was settled at $147 per barrel, and it slumped to below $60 per barrel at the end of that year. On September 16, 2008, the U.S. Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., applied for bankruptcy protection, and then the global financial crisis exploded. On November 17, 2008, the International Biomass Fuel Conference was held in Brazil, which proposed the idea that “developing countries should give priority to the development of biomass fuel as an effective countermeasure against the world economic crisis.” In January 2009, Obama declared in his Inaugural Address, “We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.” In June 2009, U.S. Energy secretary Steve Chu announced a slowdown of the research pace of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and cuts to the research funding for hydrogen fuel cells. On June 26, 2009, the Clean Energy and Security Act was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives by a slim margin. The bill required a 17 percent CO2 emission reduction from 2005 levels by 2020 and an 83 percent reduction by 2050, which, however, was still much lower than the international emissions standards. On July 8, 2009, G8 signed an agreement on capping the growth rate of the global average temperature within 2°C. In August 2009, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and National Research

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Council (NRC) worked out an authoritative consultation report titled The Future of American Energy. In October 2009, Dominican RJS Group announced it would invest $500 million to build a large-scale, modern agricultural and commercial enterprise with a manufacturing scope covering ethanol, electricity, feedstuff, organic fertilizer, and more. In December 2009, the United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in Copenhagen with 194 state representatives present, of which 119 were heads of states and governments. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao announced in the conference that China’s emission of carbon dioxide per unit of GDP would be reduced by 40 percent to 45 percent in 2020 from 2005. Wen also expressed China’s determination to forcefully develop new renewable energy such as biomass, solar, wind, and terrestrial heat. On November 23, 2009, as commissioned by Global Renewable Fuels Alliance, S&T2 Consultants Inc., Canada, released research results of a special study on the emission reduction effect of biomass fuel. In December 2009, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released Annual Energy Outlook 2010, with the forecast period extended to 2035, and it depicted the outline of energy development in the United States during the first one-third period of the twentyfirst century. On January 24, 2010, U.S. president Obama noted in his State of the Union address: “The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the twenty-first-century global economy,” and “we will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years.” In February 2010, the U.S. Renewable Fuels Association released a report titled Contribution of the Ethanol Industry to the Economy of the United States 2009, stating that although suffering from the financial crisis, the United States still met its production target at 31.8 million tons and reduced imported oil by 3.64 billion barrels or 5 percent of imported oil. In March to June 2010, disputes were aroused in China about burning straw for electricity generation. On May 27, 2010, the China National Energy Administration, U.S Department of Energy, and U.S. Department of Agriculture jointly held the Sino-U.S. Advanced Biofuels Forum in Taipei. In July 2010, the U.S. Environment Protection Agency sharply cut the production quota of cellulosic ethanol in 2011. In December 2010, the United Nations World Climate Change Conference was held in Cancun, Mexico.

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• In December 2010, Biomass, To Win the Future was featured on Dialogue, the high-end program of the China Central Television Station; the article “Biomass Dominant Theory,” authored by Shi Yuanchun, was published in Science Times.

REFERENCES Brady, N. C., and R. R. Well. The Nature and Properties of Soils, thirteenth edition. New York: Prentice Hall, 2002. CEC (Commission of the European Communities). “Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament—Renewable Energy Road Map: Renewable Energies in the 21st Century: Building a More Sustainable Future,” Brussels, 2007. Accessed August 2010. http://eur-lex.europa .eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=en& type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2006&nu_doc=848. Conway, R. Everything Old is New Again: The Future for Bioproducts, 2007. Accessed August 2010. http://www.ars.usda.gov/meetings/Biofuel2007/presen tations/Comm-Econ/Conway.pdf. EIA (U.S. Energy Information Agency). International Energy Outlook 2005. Hoogwijk, M., A. Faaij, R. van den Broek, G. Berndes, D. Gielen, and W. Turkenburg. “Exploration of the Ranges of the Global Potential of Biomass for Energy.” Biomass and Bioenergy 25, no 2 (2003): 119–33. Smeets, Edward, Andre Faaij, and Iris Lewandowski. “A Quick Scan of Global Bio-Energy Potentials to 2050.” Report NWS-E-2004-109, ISBN 90-393-3909-0. March 2004. USDE and USDA. Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply. April 2005. Accessed in August 2010. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/final_billionton_vision_ report2.pdf. White House. Office of the Press Secretary. Executive Order 13134: Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy, 1999. Accessed August 2010. http:// ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/eos/eo13134.html. Wu, Q. Y. Basics of Life Sciences. Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2006. (In Chinese) Yamamoto, H., J. Fujino, and K. Yamaji. “Evaluation of Bioenergy Potential with a Multi-Regional Global-Land-Use-and-Energy Model.” Biomass and Bioenergy 21, no. 3 (2001): 185–203.

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he alternative appearance of rheology and mutation is the universal law governing the evolution of the objective world. While rheology is the process of accumulation, mutation is the eruption of revolution, both the natural and social world alike. Internal and external conditions determine where the mutation and revolution occur. Incentive is also very important for serving as a catalyst. The Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century Europe was hatched by two major incentives. One was the Scientific Revolution that took place in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries under the banner of Copernicus and Newton. Another is the successful replacement of feudal ownership by capitalist ownership. As the then-center of scientific and political revolution, as well as the birthplace of two life-changing inventions—the spinning jenny textile machine appeared in 1764 and the Watt steam engine appeared in 1776—the United Kingdom became the center and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution in the world. With synthetic dye as a breakthrough, Germany set off the second wave of the Industrial Revolution featured by the chemical industry in the nineteenth century. Following in the twentieth century, the United States ignited the third wave of the Industrial Revolution with its booming domestic automobile, aircraft, and oil industries. Buddhism teaches that everything arises from causes. And if there is a cause there will be an effect; the effect is just the retribution. Such basic Buddhist ideas also can be reflected by the following facts: on the one hand, fossil fuels sustain industrial economy; on the other hand, 83

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industrial economy runs out of fossil fuels and deteriorates the environment, and thus it sounds the death knell for the industrial economy and is doomed to make way for a new energy and green economy era. Yet where and how will the energy revolution will take place depends on internal and external conditions. The marathon of bioenergy development, if counted from the 1970 oil crisis, has run for three or four decades. The places of the countries as competing athletes have gradually become lucid, especially in the last decade. Taking the lead in the first tier are Brazil and the United States, followed by Europe in the second tier, and others in the third tier. Why is it that Brazil and the United States can overshadow others in the competition? It really has much to do with internal and external conditions. I would like to focus on the miracles of Brazil in this chapter before turning to the United States as well as the second- and third-tier countries in the next two chapters. These athletes will be remembered for their lofty aspiration and active involvement with the budding bioenergy industry at the beginning of twenty-first century.

5.1. START-SPANGLED DRAMA Upon arriving in France in 1938, Belgium engineer Jean Lenoir made a living as a restaurant waiter in Paris. He became a machinist in 1852 and invented the explosion engine fueled with fuel gas and an air mixture six years later. This engine can be used for fixed machine tools and printing presses. But the inventor failed in his motor tricycle experiment. Nikolaus August Otto, a peddler from Germany, specialized in the transportation of sugar, tea, and kitchenware, was quite interested in Lenoir’s motor tricycle and later succeeded in introducing the “four-stroke piston movement” (namely “Otto-cycle”). He hired a group of professionals and opened a branch office in Philadelphia, which paved the way for the major technological improvements by Gottlieb Daimler. In 1883, Daimler succeeded in the trial of a very compact engine—“Grandfather Clock” (Standuhr)—with power at 1 horsepower (743 watts = 1 horsepower). Early in 1886, Daimler ordered a very fine carriage from Germany and installed this light engine into the carriage next to the steering rod. Amid of the darkness of night, he gave this horse-free carriage as a gift to his wife. The world’s first car was thus born romantically (Junior, 2008). What fuel should be used for such a delicate “coach” and internal combustion engine turned out to be a big problem. It was obvious that coal used by fixed textile machines and printing presses could not work for the mission. Biofuel embraced a transitory spring afterward—German engineer Rudolf Diesel successfully developed biodiesel in 1895. The

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Paris Expo in 1900 showed an engine fueled with peanut oil, and in 1907, the first automobile invented by Ford had an engine fueled by alcohol. However, biofuel faded away soon after a splendid blossom, making way for inexpensive oil. History is always full of coincidences. At the same time the automobile was being invented, Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well with the assistance of an internal combustion engine in Pennsylvania in 1859. Rockefeller established the first oil refinery in 1863, making oil a potential choice of fine fuel for cars, although it was a rare thing only produced in the United States and Russia back then. It was Daimler who proposed to resort to gasoline as fuel for the “grandfather clock” internal combustion engine in 1882. A marriage made in heaven indeed; since then the automobile forged an indissoluble bond with oil over its long history. Directed by Lenoir, Otto, Daimler, Rockefeller, and acted on by the internal combustion engine, the automobile and oil developed the starspangled drama of the modern Industrial Revolution unveiled at the turn of the twentieth century. With a script produced in Europe, the drama was put on the stage in the United States. A half century later, an auto fuel revolution takes place in Brazil.

5.2. POVERTY GIVES RISE TO THE DESIRE FOR CHANGE ON A DIFFERENT PATH There is a saying in China: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” This is also what happened in Brazil when it came to the development of fuel ethanol. At the beginning of the twentieth century, there was no doubt that the auto and oil boom in the United States was of great temptation to its neighbor, Brazil. However, Brazilians were too poor to afford cars, not to mention gasoline, which was too dear at that time. Gasoline imported from the United States was a too-heavy burden for the Brazilian economy. While Brazil imported gasoline from the United States, they still had the first ethanol-fueled car launched by Ford in their minds. Why not make the best use of abundant domestic sugarcane and the advanced knowhow of alcohol processing? This was the question Brazilians kept asking themselves. Thanks to dogged efforts, Brazil accomplished many breakthroughs on the journey toward alcohol-fueled cars. In 1925, the Brazilian sugarcane ethanol car went through a 400-km-long trial test. In February 20, 1931, No. 19717 Presidential Decree was issued. In 1933, the No. 737 decree was adopted and prescribed that ethanol should be blended in a 10 percent proportion to gasoline for all government vehicles, and 5 percent for public cars. In the same year, a Sugar Alcohols Institute was set up to

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carry out technical research. During World War II, it became very difficult for Brazil to import oil; no wonder the ratio of ethanol to gasoline rose to 62 percent as a solution (Simoes, 2008). After World War II, fierce competition for oil resources was waged among the industrial countries, further deepening the conflicts between consumption and resource countries. The fourth Middle East War broke out in 1973. Consequently, OPEC announced measures such as oil production cuts, embargoes, and price hikes. This triggered the breakout of the first global oil crisis and left industrialized, oil-consuming countries in a great tremor. At that time, 80 percent of Brazil’s oil consumption depended on import, accounting for about half of the trade deficit of the country. During the oil crisis, in addition to paying extra US $4 billion for imported oil, Brazil suffered a heavy blow to its economy due to the worldwide sugar price drop. Under such contexts, Brazil restarted its national plan for fuel ethanol production in 1975 and implemented a compulsive law of adding ethanol into “patriotic gasoline” nationwide. At the second oil crisis in 1979, Brazil’s ethanol program reached a new peak again. Sugarcane ethanol production amounted to 500,000 tons by the mid-1980s (Moraes, 2008), and ethanol gasoline vehicles accounted for 94.4 percent of sold vehicles in the nation (China Embassy to Brazil, 2004). The journey of Brazil’s ethanol development was not always smooth. As oil prices continued to decline during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the government ceased its subsidies to E95 as motor fuel. The Brazilian Sugar Alcohols Institute, an organization that once had played an important role in promoting the biofuel industry, was also ordered to be dismissed. Brazil’s ethanol gasoline development programs were on the verge of paralyzation until 1993, when the government reactivated the ethanol revitalization plan and enforced the mandatory use of E20 and E25 ethanol gasoline. After thirty years of arduous efforts, Brazil had finally run on a fast track for its fuel ethanol development at the turn of the century, and it finally waged a successful battle in fuel ethanol production. In 2007, Brazil had 360 ethanol plants, with an additional 120 new ethanol plants under establishment. The ethanol output also jumped to 17.49 million tons in 2008 from 300,000 tons in 1975. According to data from the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Brazil harvested 475 million tons of sugarcane, 16.5 million tons of ethanol, and 29.6 million tons of sugar during the 2007 to 2008 crop-growing season. Brazil planned to increase its sugarcane planting area from 7.8 million hectares to 13.9 million hectares from 2008 to 2020, with production output of sugarcane rising from 487 million tons to 1.038 billion tons, ethanol from 17.49 million tons to 51.91 million tons, and biomass power generation from 1,800 MW to 14,400 MW. Brazil’s ethanol production was expected to reach seventy-two million by 2025, as one step of its long-

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term blueprint aimed at an ethanol output of 320 million tons. Brazilian sugarcane ethanol gained a sharp competitive edge with its low cost, with sugarcane ethanol costs $0.19 per liter in Brazil, corn ethanol $0.33 in the United States, and wheat ethanol $0.55 in the EU (Moraes, 2008). Now, a new program has been launched in a bid to secure more fuel ethanol victories. Brazil’s sugarcane planting areas are concentrated in the more developed southeastern areas. How to make farmers in the western and northern areas, which are not suitable for planting sugarcane, also benefit from the biofuel economy was the problem harassing decision makers in Brazil. After thorough demonstrations, the government launched the National Biodiesel Plan (PNPB) in December 2004, including Jatropha, oil palm, palm, soybean, and more into raw material for biodiesel production. The program’s core idea was to protect family farmers and consumers—the weakest link in the supply chain—with the most effective manner. Special subsidies and tax incentives were given to family farmers, especially to those raw material producers in the poorest areas. In addition, initiatives were also adopted to improve their social position with more job opportunities and decent incomes. The plan was passed by congress in early 2005 and signed into the No. 11907 Federal Act consequently. Biodiesel was included in the act as a new fuel of the national energy structure. The act required that 2 percent of biodiesel (B2) must be added into conventional diesel from the beginning of January 2008, and the proportion should be raised to 5 percent (B5) in 2013. If possible, the proportion should soar to 100 percent under strict regulation. Thanks to the government’s strong promotion, fortyone plants were already put into operation, and 138 plants were under construction within less than three years. The output now reached 730 thousand cubic meters annually]. Subsidies and tax breaks from the government were indispensable at the early stage of Brazil’s ethanol development. Along with improving technology, reducing cost, and enhancing market competitiveness, the government has been gradually cutting subsidies. As a matter of fact, the powerful ethanol industry has enabled the government to save $50 billion in oil imports during the past thirty years, a reward equal to ten times the investments and subsidies Brazil’s government has contributed to the ethanol industry. What’s more, a large number of jobs have been created for rural areas during the development process.

5.3. A BRAND-NEW INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM Brazil’s ethanol industry is no longer a fledging one only centered on ethanol production. It has gradually developed into a national pillar industry of strategic significance since the twenty-first century. Ethanol industry turns

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out to be a wise choice for Brazil, a country with rich biomass resources, to replace fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gas emission, promote sustainable development, and lift poor rural areas out of poverty. The success of Brazil’s ethanol industry has also benefited from many long-term international technical cooperation programs, such as the technical cooperation on improving sugarcane varieties with the United States, South Africa, and Australia in the 1980s and 1990s; the technical cooperation with Mauritius on improving cultivation skills; the cooperation with Portugal and France on fermentation, distillation, and other processing techniques; and more. In virtue of improved technologies, Brazil’s sugarcane ethanol output increases from two thousand liters per hectare in the 1970s up to more than six thousand liters at present. For a more well-structured industry system, Brazil has paid great attention to two fronts. On the one hand, Brazil has expanded the single ethanol production pattern to a comprehensive system integrating biodiesel and liquid biofuel production. On the other hand, great efforts have been made to build a sound logistics-distribution system. Although 72 percent of Brazil’s ethanol production is concentrated on the southeast region, Brazil has established a nationwide logistics network connecting roads, waterways, seaports, sales outlets, and it is equipped with powerful storage and distribution facilities. By 2007, Brazil has put into place a closely integrated production and marketing system, consisting of more than seventy thousand raw material suppliers, 386 ethanol production plants, 261 distributors, 618 retailers, and thirty-five thousand sales outlets (Sauer, 2008). In May 2007, President Lula da Silva signed his endorsement for the Atlantic Coastal Ethanol Pipeline Construction Project connecting the Goias and Sao Paulo regions. Funded with US$700 million, the project would span a total length of 1,150 km and boast an annual transportation capacity of 80 billion liters. It started in 2007 and was expected to be completed before 2011 for transporting 3.5 billion liters of ethanol, mainly exported to Japan. The biofuels industry cannot develop without cars, just as soldiers cannot fight without guns. Brazilians always go to great lengths to introduce their ethanol gasoline cars when sharing their experience in sugarcane ethanol development. From 1979 to 1993, Brazil had produced five million ethanol-gasoline-fueled cars. In 1999, Brazilians achieved a major breakthrough in making more economical and durable ethanol gasoline cars, which in return gave a great push to the development of ethanol fuel. It is especially worth mentioning that in 2003, the Brazilian subsidiary of the U.S. Ford Motor Company introduced the first dual-fuel cars (FFVs), which can use gasoline or alcohol alone or blend the two fuels at whatever proportion. With power and price basically at the same level of ordinary cars, FFVs were more popular on the market than pure gaso-

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line cars. FFVs accounted for 65.3 percent of 108 million motor vehicles sold during May 2005 to the first half of 2006. More than three million FFVs of sixty styles were produced in Brazil within four years. At present, 80 percent of Brazil’s domestic cars are flexible fuel vehicles. Brazil is the only country in the world without a supply of pure gasoline. FFVs have greatly driven the development of sugarcane ethanol, which, in return, has also exerted a positive counterforce on the automotive industry. Just as is described in the poem line, “old trees sprout up fresh blossoms,” FFVs are also new branches with great vitality on the traditional automotive product tree. Brazil’s sugarcane production has become a national pillar industry and a driving force behind thirteen industries such as agriculture, sugar, ethanol, electricity, machinery manufacture, chemical, automotive, transportation, municipal construction, and more. According to statistic data, every one million tons of sugarcane can produce 63,400 tons of ethanol, 173 million dollars of output value to related industries, 85.5 million dollars of added economic value, and 56.81 million job openings (table 5.1). At present, the input-output ratio of ethanol production in Brazil is 1:9.3. Brazil has built ten large sugarcane ethanol production bases and formed a quite complete and mature system integrating sugarcane planting, ethanol processing, special vehicle manufacture, domestic and international Table 5.1. Direct, indirect and induced impact of processing one million tons of sugarcane for alcohol production. Sector Sugarcane Farming: other Sugar Alcohol Electricity Mineral extraction Steelwork, mining and metallurgy Machines, vehicles, and parts Oil and gas Chemical sector Food Civil construction Transformation: other Trade and services Families Total

Production Value (R$ million)

Value Added (R$ million)

Employment

44.5 14.3 8.0 97.8 6.8 0.3 7.1 9.3 29.5 13.9 15.4 1.3 16.8 81.3 — 346.3

20.8 8.1 2.7 38.9 7.3 0.2 2.1 4.2 12.1 4.7 3.1 0.8 5.7 53.0 7.3 171.0

1467 697 31 211 37 4 48 51 12 41 93 23 287 2679 — 5683

Source: Scaramucci and Cunha. “Sugarcane-based bioethanol: energy for sustainable development / coordination BNDES and CGEE.” Rio de Janeiro: BNDES, 2008. P206.

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trade, technology, and equipment service. The output of ethanol gasoline and related industries has made up 8 percent of the gross national product, exceeding that of the information technology industry, including the telecommunications sector. Ethanol fuel was also applied in the aviation industry. The first aircraft fueled by ethanol in the world was tested successfully by the Brazil Aviation Industry Corporation in October 2004. At present, there are more than twelve thousand small-sized airplanes and agriculture-purposed airplanes in Brazil applying hydrous ethanol (95 percent). Compared with oil-fueled airplanes, they can bring down flight costs by 40 percent and increase engine efficiency by 5 percent per thousand meters. At the International Biofuels Conference, which was held in Brazil in the fall of 2008 and was participated in by ninety countries and twentyfour international organizations, Brazil declared that its ethanol production output and value reached 17.49 million tons and 11.2 billion dollars in the 2007 to 2008 season, replacing 50 percent of domestic gasoline consumption and reducing 25.8 million tons of greenhouse gas emission. From 1976 to 1996, ethanol production costs fell from $90 to $45 per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE), an average annual reduction of 2 to 3 percent. Sugarcane ethanol is also an industry with less investment and more job opportunities. Generally speaking, when one job opening is provided by the petroleum industry, three to four job openings are available in hydroelectric and coal industries, and 152 job openings are accessible in the ethanol industry. For each job opening created, the ethanol industry should invest $11,000 as cost, while the figure for consumer goods, automobiles, metallurgy, and petrochemical industries stands at US $44,000, $91,000, $145,000, and $220,000, respectively. What’s more, ethanol can be used as raw material for the production of a dozen high-value-added substitutes for petroleum, such as polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and polylactic acid based on ethylene and sugarcane.

5.4. A GREEN “SAUDI ARABIA” IN LATIN AMERICA Not content with what it has achieved already, Brazil strides ahead toward the global market with far-flung vision. As a timely response to the global searching for a fossil energy alternative and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, Brazil actively promotes its biofuel export and international cooperation by taking full advantage of its resource abundance and low-cost market. CM Bioenergy, a joint venture founded by Brazil Coimex and Japan Mitsui in 2003, intended to export three billion dollars worth of sugarcane ethanol to Japan on a yearly basis. Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) provided about a five-billion-dollar credit to Brazil for ethanol production. Brazil

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concluded a supply contract with Switzerland to provide the latter with one hundred thousand tons of anhydrous alcohol each year. In addition, Brazil reached an agreement to export to India ten to fifteen units of alcohol-producing equipment within two years. Brazil has constructed sixteen alcohol distilleries for ten Latin American and African countries including Venezuela, with a full set of production equipment provided. In 2005 alone, Brazil exported two million tons of ethanol, accounting for 53 percent of the global ethanol trading volume. In 2006, Brazil invested US$9 billion with a view to double its export volume by 2010, and it greatly promoted its ethanol fuel technology and equipment abroad. Due to the sharp increase in ethanol export, Brazil decided to reserve a wharf for the export of ethanol fuel at Paranagua Port, delivering great convenience to twenty-seven local ethanol fuel exporters. Brazil now is formulating strategies for tapping more global markets on three fronts, namely global, regional, and bilateral fronts. Among others, Brazil has committed itself to work out international specifications and standards, build an international biofuels market, to form the “Southern Common Market” and the India-Brazil—South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA) with South Asian countries, and sign bilateral cooperation agreements with the United States, Japan, and other countries. The International Biofuels Forum, which was actively advocated and organized by Brazil and unveiled there on March 2, 2007, gathered together member countries such as South Africa, China, the United States, India, and the European Union to promote the use and production of biofuels and to provide a platform for producers and consumers to communicate with each other. The International Biofuels Conference, another important international action initiated by Brazil, was held on November 17, 2008. Dilma Rousseff, the chairwoman of the National Association of Brazilian Citizens, addressed the opening ceremony as follows: The 90 delegations and thousands of participants have an active dialogue on bio-fuels and discuss solutions on global warming. Bio-fuel is the main weapon to solve climate change. As mankind is entering a post-carbon economy, the Brazilian economy is built on the basis of renewable energy. Currently ethanol replaces 50 percent of gasoline, and biodiesel replaces 3 percent of fossil diesel, and this percentage is rapidly increasing. Since 2003, flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) market launched and more than 700 million vehicles are FFVs cars, occupying more than 90 percent of auto sales. Brazil’s sugarcane ethanol is of very high energy and efficiency; six thousand liters of ethanol can be produced per hectare of sugarcane. The ratio of output to input of fossil energy is more than eight; ethanol can not only be used as fuel, but also be used in the large-scale production of basic organic chemical raw materials, ethylene, etc. In developing countries, bio-fuels should be put in priority to solve the world economic crisis.

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Richard Jones, executive vice president of the International Energy Agency (IEA), attended the conference, and he addressed in his speech as follows: During the past 35 years of the first oil crisis, people have been seeking energy security. The bad news is that coal and oil still dominate the energy system, releasing large amounts of CO2, and their prices rise and fluctuate; the good news is that bio-fuel can be effectively reduce CO2 and enhance energy efficiency. According to IEA forecasting, by 2050 bio-fuels will replace 26 percent of fossil transportation fuels around the world. In response to high oil prices, diversification of transportation fuels is necessary and bio-fuels are one of the solutions.

The consensus shared by participants of the conference about the global development tendency of bioful include: biofuel is one of the most effective means to achieve energy diversification, energy security, and climate change control; the biofuel industry could create huge job opportunities, promote the rural economy, and increase farmers’ income, particularly those in developing countries; biofuel enterprises had better be scattered in rural areas with small-scale manufacturing; cellulosic ethanol will go into commercial production after 2015, and the second generation of biodiesel may take more time to take shape; biofuel development needs both political and technical support; and while policy is short effective, technology is the long effective. The conference also noted the current shortage of biofuel development in the world. The raw materials for biofuels are far from diversified. Besides sugarcane, plants that do not rely on arable land for growth, have less demand for water irrigation, boast low growing cost and high productivity, and are livable in vast areas of the globe also should be actively developed. Great attention should be paid to the development of a transitional technology, such as potato ethanol and sweet sorghum ethanol technologies adopted in China, before the commercialization of the second generation of biofuels. Brazil has come to an important idea through decades of development: biofuel is a worldwide undertaking, and it must be developed in a coordinate and cooperative way across the world for the best possible results. Like Saudi Arabia, which distinguishes itself from others in the oil world, Brazil has become an emerging liquid biofuels superpower in Latin America.

5.5. LULA DA SILVA: PRESIDENT PROMOTER Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was born in a poor peasant family in northeastern Brazil and moved to St. Paul with his family at age seven. After quit-

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ting primary school in the fifth grade, the boy shined shoes on the street to help his family make ends meet. Before he was admitted as a formal worker at a hardware factory at the age of fourteen, he had apprenticed in a dyeing shop for two years. He began to engage in the trade union movement at age twenty, and he made himself the chairman of the Brazil Labor Party he had helped to found at age thirty-five. Lula da Silva was elected as the National Constituent Assembly congressman for the Federation at age forty, and he was the first president of working-class origin in the history of Brazil, at age fifty-six. President Lula da Silva has gained a high reputation at home and abroad. Many biographers want to uncover the mystery of Lula da Silva’s success, but he never shows up for such interviews. Once during his visit to a small town called Kabbah, the town school invited him to guide students to recite an article titled “My First Teacher” in a morning reading session. After reading, a blind student asked timidly: “Mr. President, who was your first teacher?” He thought for a moment and replied: When I was young at your age, once I came home from school, I couldn’t find the key, and my parents would not be back until a few days later. I went back to school and still could not find the key. So, at first, I tried to cast a pin to hook the door and failed. Then, I tried to crawl into the room from the window, but it turned out that the window was shut from inside. When I climbed to the roof and was ready to jump from the skylight, the neighbor Mr. Borba appeared and asked me, “What do you want to do, young man?” I said, “I lost the key, so I can’t get in.” He said, “Can’t you find any other way?” “I have tried all the ways I can.” “No, You have not tried all the ways. At least, you do not ask for my help.” With this, he took out the key from his pocket, and opened the door. In fact, my mum left him a key. If you ask me who my first teacher is, I think that’s Mr. Borba. (Source: www.chinaname.cn/article/2008-12/40224 .htm. The original language on the website is in Chinese.)

After the spread of the story, maybe no one felt surprised again about the person who had only received an elementary school education but then became president. This story also dispelled my doubts about why Lula da Silva attached so much importance on the development of biofuels in Brazil. Why did he speak sternly and righteously against all condemnations of biofuels as having caused the world fuel crisis? Since he was born in a rural Brazilian village, the suffering of his childhood and his “first teacher” are the very sources of his firm determination to do everything possible to help Brazil’s poor people and to make their country prosperous. He tried to seek out the key for Brazil through every possible way, as he did in his childhood. Luckily he found it—biofuel. Lula da Silva, reelected as president in October 2002, was well aware of the significance of biofuels for Brazilian farmers and the country. While

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he continued to promote ethanol fuel, he requested that government agencies in July 2003 investigate and evaluate the application and manufacturing feasibilities of biodiesel in Brazil, and he personally held a series of hearings with representatives from research institutions and universities and with farmers, agricultural workers, entrepreneurs, automobile manufacturers, the state government, and legislative organizations. In early 2005, the parliament adopted and issued the National Biodiesel Program. In order to benefit farmers toiling in raw material planting regions, Decree No. 11116 proposed a “social fuel certification system,” which was issued in the same year. According to the decree, biodiesel producers were required to purchase raw material from family farms and meet the minimum standards (namely, 10 percent from the northern region, 30 percent from the southern region, 50 percent from the northeastern semiarid and infertile region); those who provided technical support to family farms were entitled to government subsidies. The core of this system is to support the weakest link in biodiesel production and the supply chain for the interests of family farms. As Antonio Jose Ferreira Simoes, Brazil’s former energy director, noted: “As for improving the living standard of poor people, the production of bio-fuel is a valuable asset to fight against hunger and poverty” (Simoes, 2008). When biofuels were attacked during the world food crisis in the first half of 2008, President Lula da Silva stepped forward to denounce all unfair objections. When he was asked what he thought about the EU, under pressure of rising food prices, urging the abandonment of the original target that biofuels should account for 10 percent in transport fuels, he replied, “Do not mention to me that bio-fuels lead to food prices. We have to look at bio-fuels rationally, not emotionally. It is no good to echo the view of Europe.” Amid the unrest caused by soaring food prices in many countries, such as Haiti, a senior official of the United Nations remarked that “producing biofuels today is a crime against humanity.” In the thirtieth Latin American and Caribbean Conference held by FAO in April 2008, Lula da Silva sharply rejected: “Some people tried to attribute world food crisis to bio-fuels, which is an absurd distortion. Brazil’s experience shows that bio-fuels not only do not threaten food security, but also increase employment in rural areas and bring more income for farmers. The real crime against humanity is to put bio-fuels aside and push every country to the situation of food and energy shortages.” Lula da Silva expressed his criticism of the United States when talking to the reporters accompanying him to visit Ghana, Africa, on April 19, 2008: “Corn is an important livestock feedstuff, and the only concern in bio-fuel policy is to use corn to produce ethanol, as what the United States

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does.” In his refutation to the allegation that biofuel was the culprit of the food crisis, Lula da Silva said, “Surprisingly, many people criticize biofuels, but we do not see anyone criticizing the rise in oil prices from $30 to $103. Why did the critics not mention that the high oil prices led to the negative impact on high agricultural cost, and why is there no objection against the high subsidies to domestic agriculture in developed countries which leads to the impact on agriculture in developing countries?” Lula da Silva takes a challenger’s stance in declaring: “Brazil has been ready for the debate on bio-fuels, and I am willing to travel around the world for it.”

5.6. THE BLUE SKY AND WHITE CLOUDS ABOVE ST. PAUL An inspection report by a Chinese delegation on Brazil’s biofuel development starts with such an opening: Looking at the blue sky and white clouds above the famous Brazilian city St. Paul, we cannot help feeling intoxicated. Large clouds drifting low in the sky is the scene that can only be seen in plateau areas in China. We cannot imagine such blue sky and white clouds can coexist with the city’s 18 million population, 8 million cars and 60 percent of the 50 largest companies of the country. (From www.jsgs.gov.cn, July 22, 2006)

The report, with its romantic depictions, revealed the environmental effects that sugarcane ethanol has had on Brazil from another perspective. Maybe, the reporting author also savored the same beauty as described in the poem by Chen Shimu of the Tang Dynasty: Sitting on the mountain top to look up far and away, I immerse myself in the fresh dawn of early spring. What left behind on my way back home are sunglows merrily penetrating hazy clouds.

Empresa de Pesquisa Energética (EPE, Brazil Energy Research Agency) released in its annual National Energy Balance Report that sugarcane ethanol and bioenergy produced from biomass ranked number two in renewable energy in 2007 only after hydropower. Biomass energy is the fastest growing renewable energy source in Brazil. Currently, renewable energy occupied 46.4 percent of the total energy in Brazil. In a dire contrast, such ratios in OECD member countries are only at 5.2 percent. Brazil has attached great importance to ecological and environmental protection during the development of biofuels. Brazil tops the world in both sugarcane field acreage and sugar export trade. During the 2007 and 2008 season, Brazilian sugarcane fields spread

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to 97.13 million acres, of which 50.5 percent was used for the production of twenty billion liters of fuel ethanol. Though covering large areas of land, sugarcane only occupies 10 percent of farmland, not imposing any threat to food production. In fact, sugarcane and food keep in step with each other in terms of the production growth pace. In addition, more than 80 percent of sugarcane fields are concentrated in Sao Paulo state, not in the Amazon rain forest. Besides, the climate and soil in the Amazon region are not suitable for growing sugarcane, so the rumor that biofuels in Brazil will destroy the Amazon rain forest is proved groundless (Simoes, 2008). However, according to a report issued by FAO in March 2009, the Brazilian forest was reduced by 3.1 million hectares from 2000 to 2005, with an average annual decrease rate at 0.6 percent. Yet the rate stayed at 0.5 percent (2.6 million hectares) for the previous five years. The shrinking forest in Brazil mainly stems from the expanded production scale of soybean and meat. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Amazon forest did suffer deforestation, but things were changed for the better with the implementation of the National Bio-diesel Plan after 2006. The input-output ratio of Brazilian sugarcane ethanol fuel is 1:9.3, while that for U.S. corn ethanol is 1:1.3. When it comes to greenhouse gas emission, sugarcane ethanol also does well. According to a report by the International Energy Agency (Biofuels for Transportation—International Outlook, 2005), compared with similar products made of different raw materials in other countries, Brazil’s biofuel products boast the highest greenhouse gas emission reduction rate—as high as 90 percent—during its life cycle and the lowest emission reduction cost at about $20 for one equivalent ton of CO2 reduced. According to an assessment report, 33.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emission was reduced in Brazil in 2003 thanks to the substitution of fossil fuel by ethanol. It is not a rare scene during the sugarcane harvest season that a large number of organic waste, except the stems, are burned for a convenient settlement. Now, aware of setbacks of such treatment in material waste and environmental pollution, more than half of St. Paul– based factories have agreed to terminate their open field burning practice by the year 2017. It is expected that the overall termination plan of the open field burning practice will be completed across the country by 2031. Brazil has a global vision on the development of biofuels. Brazil proposes that biofuels must be developed across the world, with two hundred countries engaged in biofuel manufacture. Brazil holds that only biofuels can “make the energy production well-balanced all over the world, reduce the asymmetry and inequality between the producing and consuming countries” (Simoes, 2008). Although Brazil has an upper hand in resource abundance and development opportunity, it doesn’t want to dominate the international biofuels market. This big heart is worthy of respect.

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“One can accomplish everything when enjoying favorable climate, topographical convenience and the support of people.” It’s generally accepted by the Chinese that good timing, geographical advantage, and good human relations are three elements of success. Brazil’s biofuel industry not only enjoys “good timing” amid the global cry for energy updates and a solution to global warming but also it is endowed with the “geographical advantage” of rich natural resources. What’s more, President Lula da Silva and the government of Brazil tremendously support biofuel development with effective policies. All of these are the underlying reasons behind the feat Brazil has achieved. Though countries in the world enjoy equal “timing,” they are subject to quite differentiated “geographical advantage” and the government-based “human factor.” Mencius, the ancient sage of China, stated two thousand years ago that “favorable weather is less important than advantageous terrain, and advantageous terrain is less important than unity among the people.” Dialectics also tells us that while external factors provide conditions, the internal factor is the driving force. The Brazilian government does play a key role in Brazil’s global leadership in the field of bioenergy.

5.7. TWO “GOLDEN BRICS” In today’s world arena, in addition to the Group of Seven industry countries, China, India, Brazil, and Russia are the four most remarkable emerging powers with huge potential. The initial letters of the four countries are C, I, B, and R. If the order of the four letters is changed, it becomes BRIC. The pronunciation of BRIC is similar to “brick,” so the four countries are also dubbed the “golden brick” in China. Jim O’Neill, the head of Goldman Sachs Global Economic Research, who combined the four letters for fun as a word trick, didn’t expect the coined “Golden Bricks” and BRIC to be soon accepted and widely used worldwide. China and Brazil, both developing agricultural countries, have many things to share; for example, similar territory and arable land area as well as a similar ratio of agricultural output to the gross domestic product. China and Brazil are the third and tenth largest economy entities in the world. While China excels at economic aggregate, growth rate, foreign exchange reserves, and more, Brazil has obvious advantages in population, land, and natural resources. Yet the two countries are quite different in their strategic and policy approach to energy. Brazil has always been the world’s eighth largest energy importer. Brazil’s proven oil reserves only stayed at 1.73 billion tons until 2007 (recently, large oil fields were discovered in the country). Faced with a severe resource shortage, Brazil successfully found a way out by making

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the best use of its domestic agricultural resources and by promoting a biofuel-based rural economy. Brazil wins acclaim from all over the world for the splendid drama it introduced to the world energy stage. Same as a large agricultural country caught up by an energy resource shortage, China has been progressing along a totally different path. China relies on its rich foreign exchange reserves to survive on imported oil and gas. However, how long can such dependence and insecurity be sustained? “As you sow, so will you reap.” The two different energy strategies will bear different fruits. “Using water as a mirror reflects one’s appearance. Using people as a mirror reflects one’s future.” I finished the chapter “Brazil Miracle” with great passion. And China, my homeland, has kept occurring to my mind all along.

REFERENCES China Embassy to Brazil. “Basic Facts And Experiences on Developing Fuel Ethanol and Ethanol Automobile in Brazil,” July 6, 2004. Junior, H. J. “FFEs Technology.” In Development of Bio-materials in Brazil. Brazilian Embassy to China, 2008. Moraes, M. A. F. D. “Reflections on Brazilian Ethanol Industry.” In Development of Biofuel in Brazil. Brazilian Embassy to China, 2008. Sauer, I. “Development of Biofuel in Brazil: Sales and Logistics.” In Development of Biofuel in Brazil. Brazilian Embassy to China, 2008. Simoes, A. J. F. “Biofuel: Experiences Learnt and Challenges Faced in Consolidating Its Position on International Market.” In Development of Biofuel in Brazil. Brazilian Embassy to China, 2008. Szwarc, A. “Fuel Ethanol and Green House Gas Emission Control.” In Development of Biofuel in Brazil. Brazilian Embassy to China, 2008.

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Feedstock grasses such as Miscanthus can be energy crops. Non-fertilized, non-irrigated test field at U. Illinois yielded 15x more ethanol/ acre than corn. 50 M acres of energy crops, plus agricultural and urban wastes can produce ½ of current U.S. consumption of gasoline. —Steven Chu Current biobased product and bioenergy technology has the potential to make renewable farm and forestry resources major sources of affordable electricity, fuel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other materials. —Bill Clinton, 1999

T

he United States is another runner, or more accurately, a more formidable player in the marathon race of the world biomass industry. At first, its fuel ethanol yield fell behind Brazil. Yet the newcomer surpassed the early starter in only a few years. Since America’s vehicle fuel consumption was far more than Brazil’s, its ratio of fuel ethanol to whole vehicle fuel was then much lower than Brazil’s. Moreover, its corn ethanol industry was severely overshadowed by Brazil’s sugarcane ethanol industry in both economic cost and environmental friendliness. In addition to abundant natural resources, as well as strong strength in science, technology, and economy, the most stimulating force to urge the United States’ hard sprint in the bioenergy race is its deep vexations about its high dependence on imported oil and the predicament it encountered in Iraq, Iran, and the Middle East and its desperate striving for energy 99

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safety and independence. From the executive order issued by President Clinton on advocating bio-based products and bioenergy to the thundering declaration by George W. Bush to “make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past,” to now the new policies on clean energy pushed by the Obama administration, bioenergy has developed like a raging fire for ten years in the United States. The United States is a country that is good at turning technologic breakthrough into new economic growth points and leading the world toward a more vibrant future. In the beginning of the twentieth century, its oil and vehicle industry once served the driving engine of the world. In the later part of the twentieth century, it brought forward the concept of the “information highway” and created the miracles of a new economy with its booming information industry. Now, the Obama administration is endeavouring to bring the U.S. economy to a new high by answering the urgent call to address global climate change and to replace oil energy with clean energy. This “Clean Energy Economy,” as spearheaded by the Obama administration, can not only lessen the United States’ high dependence on oil imports and deeply cut greenhouse gas emissions but also promote the United States’ green industry and create plenty of green jobs with huge money that was once used for oil import on a scale of 0.65 billion tons annually. From the angle of global strategy, the Clean Energy Economy boasts lots of advantages, such as alleviating the political and military pressure the United States has suffered in Iran and the Middle East where it has been embroiled in wars for oil for years; weakening the strategic preponderance of Russia, which possesses rich resources of oil and natural gas; and increasing China’s dependence on imported green technologies and products from the United States, and therefore decreasing the U.S. trade deficit to China. This is indeed a modern version of one classic Chinese war strategy—change passivity into initiative. Now, the curtain of the U.S. biomass drama is lifting with great excitement. I would like to introduce the United States’ experience in developing biomass industry in this chapter in order to have this living textbook shared by more people.

6.1. THE DEEP-SEATED CORN COMPLEX OF THE UNITED STATES Brazil has its trump card of sugarcane, and the United States has its corn complex. Corn originated in North America and gradually spread all over the world after the discovery the new continent by Christopher Columbus in

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the fifteenth century. Corn, the only C4 plant among the three world main grains, is more photosynthesis efficient than C3 plants such as wheat and rice. It boasts such merits as high yield, wide range of adaptive zone, high resistance, and applicability as raw material for feedstuff and industrial products. As the grain crop enjoying the fastest growth rate in planting area and yielding volume in the recent two to three decades, corn is widely seen in vast areas from 60°N to 40°S and from the lowland of 20 m below sea level to the snowy highlands of 4,000 m higher than sea level. Its base camp, or areas that are most suitable for corn planting, is called The Corn Belt, which is an ecological zone with an isothermal line at 20 to 27°C in July and a frost-free season lasting 140 to 180 days. The main corn belts of the world include the middle-north part of the United States, the China Northeast Plain and North China Plain, the Danube River basin of Europe, and Mexico and Brazil in South America. According to FAO statistics in 2001, corn planting fields totaled 13.966 million hectares (ha) in the world, of which the United States occupied 20.1 percent, China 16.8 percent, and Brazil and Mexico 14.7 percent. The total global yield of corn was 0.6 billion tons, of which the United States contributed 39.2 percent, China 18.4 percent, and Brazil and Mexico 10.1 percent. The global average corn yield per ha was 4,296 kg, with the United States at 8,391 kg, China 4,703 kg, and Brazil 3,237 kg. Corn was the number-one crop grown in the United States, whose corn planting area and yield volume is unrivaled in the world. Corn yield in the United States increased rapidly and even reached a degree of overproduction during the 1920s to 1930s after the United States gradually completed agriculture mechanization, widely applied chemical fertilization, and developed fine variety through hybridization experiments. To find the best way to grow such excessive corns, the National Agricultural Applied Research Center was founded, and it succeeded in developing a series of corn-based biochemical products such corn denatured starch, soybean printing ink, and cottonseed food intensifiers. Corn has always stayed in the forefront of the agricultural product processing industry. In 1980s, the Special Corn Association was founded in the United States, and thousands of corn-based products, such as foods, feedstuff, starch-categorized products, bioplastics, clothes, and cosmetics were developed one after another for decades. So we can easily understand why the United States turned to corn ethanol and Brazil to sugarcane ethanol for a substitute in 1973 when the oil crisis loomed large. It was such a natural inclination, just as Chinese people are fond of rice and recooked pork and Europeans prefer bread and beefsteak—all of it is determined by prolific resources and prevailing culture. When the United States began to produce corn ethanol on a small scale in 1976, President Carter announced that a federal tax exemption would

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go to those who used and promoted gasoline containing 10 percent ethanol (E10). But efforts on corn ethanol then only bear symbolic significance for future development orientation, because the United States was rich and its oil base was strong. In 1980, while Brazil produced more than two million tons of sugarcane ethanol, corn ethanol yield in the United States was only at 180,000 tons. During 1980s to the 1990s, corn ethanol yield in the United States only made up one-third of the sugarcane ethanol yield in Brazil. The gap did not shrink until the beginning of the twenty-first century. The United States produced the same amount of ethanol as Brazil did in 2005, and it surpassed the latter as the number-one producer in the world in 2006. In 2009, the United States produced 31.56 million tons of corn ethanol, with 33.745 million tons of CO2 emission reduced and 956,000 working positions created. It was planned to raise the concentration of ethanol in gasoline from 10 percent to 15 percent in June of 2010. Why has fuel ethanol enjoyed such an amazing development in the United States in recent years? This can be traced back to Executive Order 13134.

6.2. A SAPIENT PRESIDENTIAL EXECUTIVE ORDER The two oil crises in the 1970s ignited the flames of the biofuel industry in Brazil, the United States, and Europe. But it was nothing more than tiny sparking flames. By the end of twentieth century, the frequent reports on oil resource exhaustion and worsening global warming, like a gentle breeze, added certain momentum to the faint flames. And only with the promulgation of Executive Order 13134 did the little sparks burst into a mighty fire. In this sense, the executive order is remembered as a marching bugle and as a milestone in the development of the biofuel industry in the United States. President Clinton brought forward the concept of the global information expressway upon taking office, and he signed Executive Order 13134, Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy (White House, 1999) before leaving his post on August 12, 1999. The Order stated straightforwardly in its first section: Current biobased product and bioenergy technology has the potential to make renewable farm and forestry resources major sources of affordable electricity, fuel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other materials. Technical advances in these areas can create an expanding array of exciting new business and employment opportunities for farmers, foresters, ranchers, and other businesses in rural America. These technologies can create new markets for farm and forest waste products, new economic opportunities for underused land, and new value-added business opportunities. They also

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have the potential to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, water quality, and flood control, decrease erosion, and help minimize the net production of greenhouse gases.

The Order also put forth a grand objective as following: the yield of biobased product and bioenergy would increase by three times in 2010 and by ten times in 2020 respectively, providing $20 billion of extra income for farmers and the rural economy as well as reducing one hundred million tons of carbon emission on a yearly basis. The promulgation of the Order had a lot to do with two reports. One was Plant/Crop-Based Renewable Resources 2020: A Vision to Enhance U.S. Economic Security through Renewable Plant/Crop-Based Resource Use (United States Agricultural, Forestry, and Chemical Communities, 1998), a report jointly proposed by the U.S. Agricultural, Forestry, and Chemical Communities in 1998. It advocated that renewable, plant-based products could promote the sustainable development of the United States, and its yield could increase by five times as of 2020. Another was the report submitted by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1999 with the title of Promising Resources Technologies, Processes and Product Line (U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 1999), in which a medium-to-long-term objective was proposed as follows: biobased products would provide at least 25 percent of the organic-chemical material and 10 percent of liquid fuel by 2020 at the latest, and it would ultimately satisfy more than 90 percent of the consumption demand of organic chemical materials and 50 percent of liquid fuel in the United States. These two reports played a critical role in the formation of Executive Order 13134, something like a midwife to the birth of the modern biomass industry. The Order also established the Interagency Council on Biobased Products and Bioenergy with the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Energy serving as cochairs, as well as the Advisory Committee on Biobased Products and Bioenergy and the National Biobased Products and Bioenergy Coordination Office. The definitions of biomass, biobased product, and bioenergy were also clearly given uniform recognition and management on both the national and state level. Meanwhile, President Clinton also signed a Memorandum to the Secretaries of Agriculture, Energy, Finance, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and ordered them to finish a report within 120 days on solutions to triple biobased products and bioenergy in 2010. The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy submitted in time the report titled Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy (USDE and USDA, 2000). In the same year, the U.S. Congress passed the Act on Biomass Research and Development. In 2002, Roadmap for Biomass Technologies was developed in the United States (Biomass Research and

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Development Technical Adviser Committee of the United States, 2002), along with the establishment of the Biomass Project Office and the Biomass Technologies Advisory Committee. The Roadmap for Biomass Technologies states: Environmentally sound biobased fuels, power, and products can make important contributions to U.S. energy security, rural economic development, and environmental quality.

In 2002, the Department of Agriculture of the United States worked out the Strategic Plan for Agricultural Research Service Bioenergy Research, with the striking subtitle of A More Vibrant Rural America (USDA, 2002). Some major agricultural states, like Iowa, also made their development plans and roadmaps for technologies of biomass industry. Thanks to such intensive deployments by the U.S. government, an upsurge of biomass development emerged in America and spread all over the world, too. In 2001, the European Parliament published the Directive 2001/77/ EC on the Promotion of Electricity Produced from Renewable Energy Sources, setting the target that 22 percent of the total EC electricity consumption should be produced from renewable energy sources by 2010. In 2003, the Parliament published the Directive 2003/30/EC on the Promotion of the use of Biofuels or Other Renewable Fuels for Transport, prescribing that the proportion of biofuel and other renewable fuels in the total oil and diesel consumption for transport should increase from 2 percent in 2005 to 5.75 percent in 2010, and 8 percent in 2020. In 2001, several factories were built in the four Provinces of China, including Jilin, to produce aged-grain-based ethanol with a total annual output up to 730,000 tons. In 2002, the Japanese Cabinet adopted the Integrated Strategy for Biomass in Japan. In 2003, India promoted E5 ethanol in nine pradeshes, kicking off the “Silent Revolution” in the realms of oil and agriculture. In September 2004, a report of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) stated that “all counties should powerfully support and encourage the technology innovation in bio-energy, reduce its price difference from the products of traditional oil and natural gas, and achieve the target of replacing it finally.” Just in a short time of a few years, the biomass industry swept through the world like a billowy tide. Why was the Executive Order so very sapient? People are used to deeming biomass, no matter the firewood with thousands of years of history, or the bioenergy newly developed after the oil crisis in 1973, as an energy resource and feedstuff for biofuel only. It was the executive order that paid great attention to biobased products and even put it in front of bioenergy. Over time, people grew more and more

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aware of its great wisdom and far-reaching significance. This executive order is far from beating the drum for a mirage; it is based on hard facts, like that of the processing industry for products such as corn-denatured starch that emerged in America as early as the 1930s, and the bioplastics that came into people’s lives in the 1990s, which have made America come to realize that only biobased products can replace petroleum-based products and only carbohydrate material can replace hydrocarbon material. It showed the recognition by President Clinton to the conclusion drawn by the National Academy of Sciences that “biomass can finally meet the requirement of more than 90 percent of the organic chemical materials and 50 percent of the liquid fuel in America.”

6.3. FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS OF A PREDECESSOR TO A NEW HIGH LEVEL It is true that “one general, one order.” President Bush vetoed the Kyoto Protocol that President Clinton was ready to approve before he left office. Bush also wanted to veto Executive Order 13134, but he failed to do so. Well, then, what was the matter? President Bush put biofuel aside after he took office, and he brought forward a new proposition for hydrogen energy development in his National Energy Policy Report in 2001. Driven by his instigating address that “if you’re tired of the same old endless struggles, let us promote hydrogen fuel cells as a way to advance into the 21st century,” a mania for hydrogen energy and hydrogen economy spread swiftly through the United States and the world. But not long after, President Bush had to correct himself in his State of the Union address, saying “(hydrogen energy) is not the way for the short and middle term, but for the long term.” Even in denying his previous viewpoint, President Bush also demonstrated his trademark straightforward expression and clear-cut stance. As warned by an old Chinese saying, “Change to waterway if land route cannot work,” President Bush turned back and began to follow his predecessor’s footsteps in developing biomass industry, with an even more aggressive stride. There was a special Ethanol Order in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which took five years to draft and was adopted by both the Senate and the House of Representatives before being signed by the president in August 2005. The Order prescribed that fuel makers must add 22.5 million tons of bioethanol into gasoline by the end of 2012, which can reduce eighty thousand barrels of oil every day. This Order raised the ethanol productivity by 37 percent compared with the one set by President Clinton (16.35 million tons by 2012), and it was laudable for the following contributions:

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• Reduce two billion barrels of oil import, with $64 billion previously paid to foreign oil dealers almost saved. • Add 234,840 working positions to all sections of the American economy. • Increase the American family income by $43 billion. • Contribute $2,000 billion to the gross domestic product (GDP) during the years 2005 to 2012. • Infuse $6 billion of investment for facilities of renewable fuel production. • Produce $70 billion of economic output from the production, use, and service of 7.5 billion gallons (1 gallon = 3.785 liters) of ethanol/ biodiesel. • Give tax exemptions to vehicles using mixed fuels with $2,000 per small car and $40,000 per commercial bus. The total grant will be $874 million. • Give a credit loan up to 30 percent, or at most $30,000, to the backup fuel station. Eligible fuels include E85 (fuel blends of 85 percent ethanol and just 15 percent gasoline), natural gases, hydrogen, and biodiesel. (adapted from the Energy Policy Act of 2005) With his usual candor, President Bush addressed in the State of the Union speech on January 31, 2006: Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology. . . . By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleumbased economy and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past. . . . Our goal is to . . . replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.

It is unusual for President G. W. Bush, a man born into a prominent family backed by a huge oil fortune, to become so determined and bold to promote bioenergy. To realize this great goal, the most powerful means are biofuels like ethanol and improved car fuel efficiency. For this purpose, the United States attached great importance to both the cultivation of raw material for biofuels and to car innovations for improved fuel efficiency. It will stay controllable when the annual output of corn-based ethanol is limited to around five to six millions tons, but new problems, ranging from rising grain prices to concerns about food security, will become inevitable when the ethanol yield reaches ten to twenty million tons or even more. In the State of the Union of 2006, Bush emphasized

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that “we will also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn but from wood chips and stalks or switchgrass. Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years.” In 2006, the United States Department of Energy (USDE) invested $375 million to support three cellulosic ethanol research centers, and $385 million to support six demonstration factories for cellulosic ethanol production. From October 2006 to April 2007, US$0.2 billion was invested to cellulosic ethanol fields from American venture capital companies, Wall Street banks, and American oil companies. Manufacturers producing cellulosic ethanol could enjoy the privilege of a double allowance as well. To develop fuel ethanol on a great scale, the rich, cheap resource with no threat to food security is a must. Under such criteria, cellulosic ethanol is the best choice and the most difficult technical challenge as well. The vehicle is another key point for efforts. Though E10 gasoline can be used in all vehicles without any modification, only 10 percent of gasoline consumption can be replaced in this case. Therefore, when E85 gasoline was unveiled to the public, Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs), specially tailored vehicles with engines under minor modification, were also made available to the marketplace. According to the Ford Motor Company, the reduced gasoline consumption by the five million on-service E85-fueled FFVs will dwarf that by ten million hybrid electric vehicles. After churning out 250,000 and 280,000 FFVs cars in 2005 and 2006 and setting up forty stations for E85 gasoline in Illinois and Missouri, Ford announced it would give up the former manufacturing plan of hybrid electric vehicles and focus its strength on FFVs. General Motors Corporation (GM) also reported that one barrel of oil can be saved when thirty-seven gallons of E85 gasoline was used. In addition to delivering 270,000 and 400,000 FFVs in 2005 and 2006, the giant car maker also built twenty-six stations for E85 gasoline in Chicago in cooperation with Shell (USA) and VeraSun Energy Company. The ethanol fuel industry had become the accelerator of the American economy. In 2005, ethanol fuel yield in America reached twelve million tons. In this year alone, the ethanol fuel industry contributed $17.7 billion to the GDP and added $1.9 and $1.6 billion to federal and state tax income, respectively. Besides, it also created 154,000 jobs and saved $5.7 billion for American families. Last but not least, it cut 0.17 billion barrels of oil import and saved $8.7 billion in oil payments (Urbanchuk, 2006). It was predicted that by 2015, the ethanol industry would contribute $46 billion to the U.S. GDP and accumulatively reduce 3.7 billion barrels of oil import during the years from 2005 to 2015. When American corn ethanol was condemned as the culprit behind the global food price crisis that happened in 2008, President Bush gave his

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cowboy-styled straight answer in a presidential news conference on April 29, 2008: “And the truth of the matter is, it’s in our national interests that we—our farmers grow energy as opposed to us purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us.” In spite of Clinton’s White House scandal and Bush’s notorious practice in diplomacy, these two former presidents had brilliant records in promoting biomass industry both in the United States and the world.

6.4. IS IT POSSIBLE FOR A BILLION-TON ANNUAL SUPPLY? The U.S. Congress once passed an ambitious goal set by the Advisory Committee that 30 percent of the current domestic oil consumption would be replaced by biofuel as of 2030. It would account for 5 percent of the country’s electricity, 20 percent of the fuel in transport, and 25 percent of chemical industry products. Therefore, the USDE and USDA were required by the U.S. Congress to work out a report on how large a role biomass could play in responding to the nation’s energy demands. A feasibility report titled Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply was jointly submitted by the USDE and USDA to Congress in April 2005 (USDE and USDA, 2005). “The short answer is yes!” announced the report in its opening remarks. It proceeded to point out that for the goal of 30 percent replacement of the current U.S. oil consumption with biomass by 2030, one billion dry tons of biomass feedstock was required on a yearly basis. The research panel assured that the United States has a biomass yield potential of 1.37 billion tons, and that it was thus quite confident in uttering the positive answer in such a clear-cut way. The report also noted that scientists were exploring more methods leading to a great biomass harvest. The report projected that 70 percent of biomass would come from agriculture and 30 percent from forestry (figure 6.1). More specifically, forestlands can provide 368 million dry tons of biomass annually, including logging residues, fuel treatment thinning, residues from wood processing mills, residues from pulp and paper mills, urban wood residues, and fuelwood. Of the annual provision of 368 million tons of forestry biomass, 48 percent come from the forest, 39 percent from secondary processing residues, and the other from the recycling efforts of city wooden residues. Agricultural biomass is produced by three modes: normal output through agricultural cultivation on current arable land; output increase through technical and equipment investment without changing the land use purpose and plantation structure; and output increase from planting perennial energy crops (such as switchgrass) on land whose plantation structure and land use purpose have gone through certain changes.

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Figure 6.1. Constituents of 1.366 billion tons biomass raw materials in U.S.A. (USDE&USDA, 2005). Note: CRP denotes land of Conservation Reserve Program.

Above all, only after national consumption and export requirements for food and feedstuff are satisfied could the production of biomass be carried out in the above-mentioned modes. We can learn from the above figure. Agricultural and forestry waste as well as perennial cellulose energy plants constitute major shares of raw materials for biomass industry in the United States, while food-based corn and soybean only make up a 10 percent share. This was a scene far different from some widespread media bias: “cars fight for grains with paupers,” “bioenergy has negative impact on food security,” and more. Rather than a blind and poorly conceived attempt, bioenergy development in the United States was scientifically conceived with the overall situation taken into consideration. It is worth mentioning that the report has incorporated bioenergy and biobased products into an existing agricultural production system in a bid to promote the optimization of the agricultural industry and the plantation structure and to improve the agriculture economy and ecological benefit. The research report defined three scenarios of the biomass yield: 1) biomass output on current arable land; 2) biomass output increase through technology and equipment investment as well as other stimulating factors; and 3) biomass output increase through cultivating new perennial cellulose energy crops on sixteen-million-hectare land with a medium level of growth potential. The biomass yield under the three scenarios was 194, 99, and 998 billion tons, respectively. The details can be found in table 6.1. The report also emphasized that the practices of removing large amounts of residue from fields might bring down field fertility. In such

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42500 / 100.0

19400 / 100.0 2

3500 / 18.0 3100 / 16.0 1500 / 7.7

Medium Output 17000 / 40.0 5000 / 11.8 3700 / 8.7 2800 / 6.6 4400 / 10.4 4000 / 9.4 5600 / 13.1

7500 / 38.7 1700 / 8.8 2100 / 10.8

Scenario 1 Output

59900 / 100.0

25600 / 42.7 8200 / 13.7 4800 / 8.0 2800 / 4.7 4400 / 7.3 4400 / 7.3 9700 / 16.2

High Output

1700 / 29.1 5000 / 8.6 3600 / 6.2 1800 / 3.1 4400 / 7.6 4000 / 6.9 5600 / 9.6 1300 / 2.2 15600 / 26.7 58300 / 100.0

Medium Output

25600 / 25.7 7700 / 7.7 4700 / 4.7 1800 / 1.8 4400 / 4.4 4400 / 4.4 8700 / 8.7 4800 / 4.8 37700 / 37.8 99800 / 100.0

High Output

Scenario 3 Output

Other cereals include wheat sorghum, barley, oat, rice; other crops include cotton, oil crops, tobacco, sugarcane and potato, etc.

1

Maize Crop wastes Other cereals1 like straws and stalks Other crops2 CRP biomass output Organic wastes like animal feces Processed and urban organic wastes Cereal grains like maize grains Soybean Perennial crops Total

Types of Biomass Materials

Scenario 2 Output

Table 6.1. Forecast on agriculture-derived biomass raw materials in the United States (104 ton, %)

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cases, fertilization must be applied to compensate for the removed nutrition. The report also noted that perennial crops require less tillage, thus resulting in less machinery-caused soil disturbance. Perennial crop fields also provide better habitats for birds and mammals. Besides, redirecting large quantities of animal manure into bioenergy production can lessen the nutrient runoff and reduce contamination of surface water and groundwater resources. The conclusion of the report was that the probable negative impact to the environment brought by the development of biomass resources was surmountable through technical innovation, while the positive benefit brought by the development of biomass resources on the economy and ecology was huge and far reaching. To ensure the sustainable supply of biomass, people must pay great attention to eradicate probable negative impacts.

6.5. HIGH HOPES FOR THE SECOND GENERATION OF BIOFUEL The report made by USDA and USDE convincing that 30 percent of U.S. oil consumption can be replaced by biomass was the turning point from which the United States doubled its efforts to develop biofuel products of the second generation. Corn-based ethanol is only suitable for moderatescaled production as a transitive product. In the future, about 90 percent of the biomass will come from agricultural and forestry waste and perennial cellulose energy plants. When it comes to crop production, every one unit of grain is usually accompanied by 1.2 to 1.5 units of straw. For corn, the ratio is one to two. The annual yield of corn in America is 0.3 billion tons, with 0.6 billion tons of straw produced concurrently. The main components of straw are cellulose, semicellulose, and lignin, with a ratio about 4:3:3. Cellulose and semicellulose are the richest components in plant biomass. Their carbon content accounts for more than 50 percent of the total carbon content in plants, highly exceeding that from starch, sugar, fat, and protein. Data shows that the United States at most only can produce 0.1 billion tons of corn-based ethanol, but with strawlike agricultural and forestry waste collected as raw material, it can produce about 0.33 billion tons of ethanol. So it is not surprising that high hopes have been placed on the latter ones for the manufacture of bioenergy and biobased products. But why does agricultural and forestry waste only bring high hopes but not solid promises? In terms of botanic structure, both cellulose and semicellulose are branch-free, long-chain molecules composed of parallelarranged glucose monomers. They are kind of huge biomolecules made of thousands of such cellulose molecules through a hydrogen bond. That

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is also the reason why plants can stand firmly and trees are towering tall. Such molecular structure is strongly resistant to hydrolysis, thus bringing big challenges to the scientific circle. President Bush declared in his State of the Union address in 2006 that it would take six years for the United States to realize the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol. Immediately afterward, USDE secretary Samuel W. Bodman announced that the U.S. government would invest $0.16 billion to build three cellulosic ethanol manufactories and $2.1 billion to develop new technologies such as cellulosic ethanol in the oil substitute domain. At present, although some important breakthroughs have been made in ethanol production through bioenzymes, the manufacturing cost is still very high. The solution to this technical problem is the key to the treasure house of cellulosic ethanol. If the report made by the USDA and USDE is deemed as the turning point for biofuel products evolving from the first generation to the second generation in America, then the Energy Independence and Security Act adopted by the U.S. Congress at the end of 2007 is an action agenda drafted in the form of law (CRS, 2007). According to this Act, food-based raw material such as corn and soybean is categorized as “conventional biofuel,” while nonfood and cellulose-based biofuel is categorized as “advanced biofuel.” The GHG reduction targets of these two biofuels are 20 percent and 50 percent, respectively. And the GHG reduction target for cellulose-based biofuel is even more astringent, at more than 60 percent. As proposed by the Act, 136.2 billion liters (108 million tons) of liquid biofuel are expected to be produced in 2022, of which, 132.5 billion liters are fuel ethanol. The Act also brought up the annual production targets for each type of biofuel during 2008 to 2022 (CRS, 2007). The yield of conventional biofuel is expected to increase from 27 million tons in 2008 to 45 million tons in 2015, and then be kept at that level stably afterward, while the yield of advanced biofuel is expected to increase from 1.8 million tons in 2009 to 63 million tons in 2022. With a view to encouraging the development of fuel ethanol, the U.S. federal government paid subsidies to producers at the standard of US$0.51 for each gallon of fuel ethanol, and local state governments paid another US$0.05. The U.S. government has adopted a series of favorable tax policies to encourage farmers to operate fuel ethanol factories in rural areas. For an ethanol fuel factory with an annual yield of 100,000 tons, the cost of one gallon of ethanol is US$1.2, and the selling price stands at US$2.2 to US$2.3, leaving a good profit margin for its operators. Now farmers in the United States operate most ethanol factories. In order to optimize biofuel material and product structure, the policies stipulated in the wake of the promulgation of the Agriculture Act in May of 2008 brought the subsidy for corn-based ethanol down to US$0.45 from US$0.51 per gallon, while it improved the subsidy for cellulosic ethanol to

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US$1.01. Apparently, President Obama and USDE Secretary Steven Chu favor cellulosic ethanol very much. The seemingly unfair policy is indeed a well-conceived one with great consideration. But the technical difficulty of cellulosic-based ethanol makes both Bush’s passionate oath and Obama’s painstaking efforts far from realization. In July 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced again that the production target of cellulosic-based ethanol would be reduced from 820,000 tons to 21,000 to 84,000 tons in 2011, and that of advanced biofuel will keep unchanged (“Cellulosic Ethanol Makes Strides, Despite Setbacks,” 2010).

6.6. DUCK FIRSTLY KNOWS THE WARMTH OF RIVER WATER IN SPRING Werner Siemens remarked in his letter to his younger brother in London after his invention of the electricity generator in 1866 that his electricity technique will create a new era, and whoever seized the opportunity will lead the era. An epoch-making new technique will definitely create a new industry. Just as a famous Chinese Song poem describes: “Beyond bamboos a few twigs of peach blossoms blow, duck firstly knows the warmth of river water in spring,” entrepreneurs are always sensitive to new technology and the future market because they want to take advantage of high profit and less competitors as an early bird in the new marketplace. Biomass industry has become a hot scenario for venture capital. Wall Street investors have accepted the view that bioethanol is a long-term investment option with sound safety. Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, invested $84 million to buy stocks of Pacific Ethanol, a San-Francisco-based ethanol factory with an annual yield up to three hundred thousand tons. In addition, the venture capital owned by Vinod Khosla, the founder of Sun Microsystems, and oil and energy tycoons as represented by Marathon also rushed into the domain of fuel ethanol production. After the promulgation of Executive Order 13134, the American forestry industry began to cooperate with companies in electricity, oil, and chemical engineering sectors to produce energy and chemical products with forest waste. The American International Petroleum Corporation also began to spin off its oil property for the development of bioenergy products. Of the industries activated by biofuel, the automobile industry is the most active one. Ford, GM, and DaimlerChrysler, the three giant automobile makers in the United States, submitted a joint statement to the U.S. Congress, promising to double the annual yield of alternative fuel vehicles to two million

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by 2010. Bill Ford, the president of Ford Automobile Company, revealed that for a more favorable environmental policy, the company would give up the original plan of producing 250,000 hybrid electric vehicles at the end of 2010 and focus on the manufacture of alternative fuel vehicles. At the same time, he also announced he would set up a cooperative relationship with VeraSun Energy Company for building fifty stations for E85 ethanol across areas sandwiched by Kansas and San Francisco in middlewest America (Maynard, 2006). DaimlerChrysler also expressed that onefourth of its cars produced in 2008 would be ethanol-powered ones. GM had produced 1.9 million cars using high-content ethanol as fuel. At the 2006 Beijing Automobile Exhibition, GM showcased the Saab ethanol fuel automobile, the so-called newest bioengine achievement in the world. When it comes to the American automobile industry, we cannot ignore Ford’s first FFV car launched in Brazil in 2003. Among the 1.08 million cars sold from May 2005 to June 2006 in Brazil alone, FFV cars accounted for 65.3 percent of the cars delivered by the U.S. auto-making giant. Ford has produced and sold more than three million FFV cars of more than sixty designs in the following four years. Ford and its domestic counterparts have made an indelible contribution to the promotion of the Brazilian ethanol industry. Cellulosic ethanol has proved itself to be a promising field venture that investors enthusiastically flock to. For example, BC International along with Masada Resource and Arkenol planned to invest $90, $150, and $100 million to each build a cellulosic ethanol factory under the support of the USDE. In addition to the pilot cellulosic ethanol production factory, which has run for two years and was established under the entrustment of the Canada Iogen Company with $40 million of investment, the Dutch Royal Shell Oil Corporation planned to invest $350 million on its own to build a cellulosic ethanol factory with an annual yield up to one hundred thousand tons in Midwest America or Canada. In this round of investment upsurge, the cellulosic ethanol factory invested in by Spanish Sunopta, Inc., came into production in 2006, and a demonstrated factory with a total investment of 148 million SEK was also built in Sweden in 2006, boasting an annual yield of 50,000 tons of cellulosic ethanol based on such feedstock as wood debris and sawdust. Another investment hot spot that enterprises rush to is the replacement of petrol-based plastic by biodegradable plastic. In the 1980s, international society grew more and more anxious about the “white pollution” that resulted from the soaring petrol-based plastic, which remains undegradable for several hundred years. At present, there are several ten million tons of plastic trash produced every year globally. In initial attempts to deal with the problem, about 10 percent

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of starch was put into the waste plastic to make it easier to be broken down. Yet, nearly 90 percent of the fragmentary plastic was still resistant to degrading. In the 1990s, petrol-based plastic was successfully replaced by macromolecular material with plastic properties, which is generated through the polymerization of lactate produced from corn fermentation. A milestone event happened in 2001 when American Cargill-Dow Company successfully built the first factory in the world that could rely on corn fermentation to produce 140,000 tons of polylactic acid (PLA) and many other polymer plastics annually. The vice president of the American Association of Bioengineering Technology once claimed: “We began to find out the application of bio-material like PLA made from corn starch in all fields of the manufacture sector, and this will probably change the old economy thoroughly. The transgenic crops and poultries have changed agriculture, and now they are changing the industry.” Afterward, Japan Toyota Automobile Company also successfully made auto parts with potato-starch-based plastic in 2002, and it published the paper “Potato Rescues the Earth.” The Fujitsu Company also successfully replaced the common plastic shell computers with a cornstarch-based plastic shell. The American Dupont Corporation produced corn-based 1.3-propanediol (POD) with a cost 25 percent lower than the traditional chemical method. It later purchased the famous Pioneer Seed Corporation, establishing an integrated agricultural and industrial enterprise and setting a plan to make biomass products 25 percent of their total sales volume by 2010. Germany BASF Corporation announced in 2003 that it would use renewable biomass instead of petrol-based material as the main material to produce its chemical products. The Dutch Royal Shell Oil Corporation estimated that biomass will supply 30 percent of the world chemical products and fuel in the first fifty years of the twenty-first century, and its share in the world market will be $150 billion.

6.7. OBAMA AND HIS SECRETARIES Since biomass has remained at a prominent position in two presidents’ work agendas, it is interesting for many to know the stance of President Obama and his administration on this matter. Of course, it will bear even more significance for my research field: Biomass: To Win the Future. As the Chinese saying goes, “Yellow River changes course every 30 years.” After coming to power, Bush vetoed the Kyoto Protocol that Clinton was ready to approve. Eight years later, Obama overturned Bush’s policies on global climate change in his inaugural address, and he boosted vigorously the “green policy” aimed at addressing global

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climate change and promoting clean energy. In his terse inaugural address, he did not forget to mention: “We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.” Although Obama and Bush are the same in promoting renewable clean energy and placing biomass energy in a prominent position, their ideology and objectives are different. Bush paid attention to bringing down the oil import from the Middle East with clear and pragmatic objectives. Obama, on the contrary, elevated missions such as addressing global climate change, pursuing carbon emission reduction, and striving for low carbon emission to the national strategy level. On May 5, 2009, President Obama gave his Presidential Order to the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, urging the Department to forcefully accelerate the investment and production of the biofuel industry, to build a permanent biofuel industry in America, to consolidate infrastructural construction for the biofuel industry, and to provide golden opportunities for rapid development in the rural economy in America by making the best use of the biofuel industry. In a sweeping manner, the Secretary approved ten bioenergy projects with about a US$200 million investment during June to September. Tom Vilsack expressed to the Senate during the drafting of the Climate Change Act that the farmlandbased carbon compensation was critical to the success of the act; the act would be nothing without the participation of peasants and farmers; and large amount of carbon could be stored in the soil through conservative tillage and tree planting (http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/07/07/ us-climate-usa-farm-idUSTRE56668Q20090707). Soon after his tenure as USDE Secretary, Steven Chu explicitly stated that “we will develop at long last biofuel and low-carbon energy, especially for the energy consumption of the 2 billion impoverished population.” Based on the US$1.04 billion investment for the cellulosic ethanol research in the financial years of 2007 to 2008, an additional US$0.79 billion was earmarked for the program in 2009 (but for wind energy, US$0.12 billion only). Recently, Steven Chu was again stuck in the center of a whirlpool of domestic hydrogen fuel cell controversies. In June 2009, an article titled Hydrogen Car: Fad or the Future? was published in Science. The article echoed Chu’s ideas that America should slow down the research of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, with related research funding cuts. The article enumerated such setbacks of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to uphold its proposition: high cost, less durability, extreme technical difficulty in pressing hydrogen for large vehicle-borne containers, and lack of a nationwide hydrogen station network. In July, Chu brought forward a talent-training plan in clean energy circles with the aim of “re-taking the frontier of energy science and engineering.” As a Nobel Prize laureate, Steven Chu set his sights on bringing eternal benefits to the United States in the energy domain. On January 13, 2010,

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he announced in Washington that, according to the American Economy Recovery and Re-investment Act, the USDE would invest another $80 million to support the research and infrastructural construction of advanced biofuel and gasoline station systems. In less than one year, this Secretary of the USDE did so much so quickly for bioenergy.

6.8. AMERICAN BIOENERGY INDUSTRY IN FINANCIAL CRISIS In the fall of 2008, the financial crisis stemming from the United States swept throughout the world. The situation in the United States was even worse. With no economic entity insulated from the crisis, VeraSun Energy Corporation, the second largest fuel ethanol producer in America, applied for bankruptcy protection in October 2008. Some twelve out of sixteen ethanol factories were closed down. The fuel ethanol industry was shrouded with a depressing shadow in the United States. But in less than one year, Murphy Oil Corporation announced it would buy out 110 ethanol factories in Hankinson with US$92 million. Soon Suncor Corporation also declared it would restart the expansion project of ethanol factories in Ontario, Canada. These inspiring events marked the recovery of the fuel ethanol industry in America. Contribution of the Fuel Ethanol Industry to the American Economy, a report by the American Association of Renewable Fuel published in February 2010, brought cheering good news: In spite of the impact brought by the financial crisis, the United States still met its objective of producing 31.80 million tons of fuel ethanol in 2009 as prescribed in the Energy Independence and Security Act 2007 (a 14.7 percent year-on-year increase from 2008). A interesting scenario occurred during 2008 to 2009: while twelve factories with producing capacity totalling 360,000 tons was closed, eleven new factories with a total producing capacity up to 242,000 tons emerged, and some existing factories extended their producing capacity by 188,000 tons. As a whole, the fuel ethanol industry was on rise. Amid the bleak financial outlook, the fuel ethanol industry caught only a minor cold, and it soon recovered with new vitality. This also proved that rather than a flash in the pan, the newborn clean energy industry has a firm foothold in the U.S. economy now.

6.9. ARPA-E PLAN AND AN AUTHORITATIVE REPORT Shocked by the news that the former Soviet Union had successfully launched the first man-made satellite in 1957, the American government peremptorily made a research plan for national defence with the code

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name ARPA—Advanced Research Projects Agency. The primary mission of the plan was to consolidate the space projects of the U.S. military and to explore advanced technologies for national defense so as to ensure the global leadership of U.S. military technology. Among others, the Internet, the high-speed computer, and GPS were the fruits of this plan. ARPA was thus called the “driving engine” behind the transition of American national defense technologies. In 1999, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) pointed out in its report Biobased Industrial Products: Research and Commercialization Priorities that America should secure “world leadership” in the domain of biobased products. This paved the way for the promulgation of the far-reaching Executive Order Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy and the following global fever of bioenergy development. In 2007, NAS submitted a report titled Rising above the Gathering Storm, suggesting that the government should model after ARPA to launch a strategic plan for energy upgrades, namely the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (Mervis, 2009). These two plans were brought forward under the same situation when the U.S. national competitive edge was seriously challenged. With its successful precedent of ARPA, the prospect of ARPA-E is something that cannot be underestimated. ARPA-E, with its key ideas of upholding the research and development of revolutionary and transformative energy technology, reducing America’s dependence on foreign energy, improving America’s economy and energy security, and ensuring America’s world leadership in energy technology development, was adopted by the U.S. Congress as part of America’s Competence Act in the same year. At the 146th Annual Conference of NAS in 2009, Obama announced the government’s determination in supporting the clean energy technology development initiative, promising a supporting fund of US$4.9 billion would be appropriated during the financial years of 2008 to 2012, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA-E) would be established under the Department of Energy, something like the former DARPA under the Department of Defense. The research projects admitted into DARPA-E are those interdepartment and interdiscipline projects with high risk and rich reward, covering the whole chain from basic research to industrialization efforts. The supported projects, such as cyanobacteria-based biofuel projects, were of high risk and rich reward, from which we could glimpse into the trends of renewable energy development in America. As revealed by Science published on August 21, 2009 (Mervis, 2009), the Committee of America’s Energy Future, which was jointly founded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and U.S. National Research Council (NRC), worked out an authoritative advisory report for policy decisions—America’s En-

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ergy Future (Committee on America’s Energy Future, 2009). It included the following key contents: With a sustained national commitment, the United States could obtain substantial energy efficiency improvements, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and offset the increase of energy consumption between from now to 2020 through the accelerated deployment of existing and emerging energy-supply and end-use technologies. This is the nearest-term and lowest-cost option.

Oil will continue to be an indispensable transportation fuel by 2050. Biofuel is the most possible option for replacing oil or reducing oil use before 2020. There are more substantial longer-term options that could begin to make significant contributions in the 2030 to 2035 time frame, including the generalization of light-duty (small output volume) vehicles and battery-electric vehicles. To adapt the new energy resources with high discontinuity—wind energy and solar energy—the nation’s power grid must be urgently enlarged and modernized. Substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are achievable over the next two to three decades through a portfolio approach. The report also put forward a new development tendency, the Coaland-Biomass-to-Liquid Fuel (CBTL), which can take the both advantages of zero-net-carbon emission during the whole life cycle of bioenergy and the rich resource of coal. By 2035, the daily yield of cellulosic ethanol and CBTL will rise up to 1.7 to 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent. During the years of 2020 to 2035, cellulosic ethanol is economically viable only when the oil price rises to more than US$110 per barrel, whereas as long as the sales price of CBTL stays at US$56, it can achieve a profit-and-loss balance.

6.10. THE JOURNEY TOWARD THE CENTURIAL ENERGY RESTRUCTURING AND UPGRADING From the promulgation of President Clinton’s Executive Order Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy in 1999 to the enactment of America’s Energy Act and Energy Independence and Security Act signed by President Bush in 2005 and 2007, as well as President Bush’s wellknown remark of “America is addicted to oil” in the State of the Union Address, to the Clean Energy New Deal advocated by President Obama and his administration, the United States has become more and more clear-minded about how to blaze a trail for energy development in the past decade. America will, in the early third of the century, see a moderate growth of energy consumption, a speed up of the replacement of

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traditional energy with clear energy (bioenergy is expected to be the most widely used clear energy in transportation and in the power generation field), and an enhanced energy efficiency and carbon emission reduction. At the beginning of 2010, Energy Outlook 2010, the report issued by America’s Energy Information Agency (EIA), described the outline of America’s energy development before 2035 (EIA, 2010). The report stated that along with the growing reduced energy consumption and CO2 emission per unit of GDP and energy consumption per capita, the growth rate of power consumption in America has decreased continuously, from 9.8 percent in the 1950s to 4.7 percent in the 1970s, 2.4 percent in the 1990s, and to 1.0 percent currently. And energy consumption would reduce by 15 percent with the improvement of energy efficiency. The report finally jumped to the conclusion that America’s energy consumption would moderately increase and gradually transit from fossil energy to renewable energy under various influencing factors. America’s oil consumption in 2035 can remain at the same level of 2008 due to the following main reasons: • By 2035, the consumption growth of liquid fuel can be satisfied by biofuel, with fuel ethanol consumption accounting for 17 percent of oil consumption. • By 2035, biofuel can enable the United States to reduce its oil import by 45 percent. • The energy efficiency of light vehicles will improve from 12 km per liter to 17 km per liter. Of future vehicles, 40.9 percent are FFVs powered by biofuel and gasoline, 26.37 percent are vehicles powered by a mild mix of gasoline and electricity, 18.27 percent are vehicles powered by a pure mix of gasoline and electricity, and 5.35 percent are electromobile (we are far from the scene of the “electromobile era” as predicted by some Chinese media). Another significant advance is that, by 2035, electricity generated from nonhydro renewable energy will increase from 123.6 billion kilowatt per hour in 2008 to 588.65 billion kilowatt per /hour, occupying 41 percent of the total growth of electricity generation in America. Of the nonhydro renewable energy, 49.3 percent will be biomass power, 37 percent wind power, 4.2 percent photovoltaic power, 4.8 percent geothermal power, and 4.7 percent trash power. Among a variety of nonhydro renewable energy, biomass is the one enjoying the quickest growth speed, while wind power will remain a stable development speed after its fast growth between 2005 to 2015. The significant strategic position energy enjoys in the United States’ development is quite obvious. Bush said in his State of the Union address

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in 2006 that “keeping America competitive requires affordable energy.” Obama said in his State of the Union address in 2010 that “the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy,” and that “in the coming three years, the supply of renewable energy will be doubled.” There is a time-honored saying in China, “food is the first necessity of the people,” and in America, the case is “energy is the first necessity of social development.” As a response to the big challenges encountered in national development and world leadership, America brought forward ARPA and ARPA-E initiatives, and it issued America’s Energy Future and Energy Outlook 2010 accordingly. It is not difficult for us to find that the underlying strength behind America’s flourishing economy and strong national power is from such significant national development strategies of great foresight and wisdom. Regretfully, China, with its poor reserves of fossil energy resources, soaring energy requirements, highly unbalanced energy mix with coal as the dominating energy, and the biggest CO2 emission rate in the world, still has been obsessed with the idea of fossil energy and dependence on imports (see details in chapter 12), an old way tapped by America twenty years ago. Why doesn’t China choose to be more far seeing and attempt a path of a great-leap-forward development in the energy domain? No doubt, it is important for us to learn advanced energy saving and emission-reducing technologies from foreign countries, but it is even more important to learn how they think, develop strategy, and get strategy implemented. In the United States, there are a series of systems and mechanisms of deliberation integrating the efforts from think tanks of scientific circles, administrative authorities of government, public hearings, and more, while in China, only a few main officers “have the final say.” “The easy way to lead a bull is to pull its nose,” Mao Zedong once commented, with great connotations.

REFERENCES Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee of the United States. Roadmap for Biomass Technologies in the United States, December 2002. “Cellulosic Ethanol Makes Strides, Despite Setbacks.” Worldwide Refining Business Digest Weekly, July 19, 2010. Committee on America’s Energy Future. America’s Energy Future: Technology and Transformation, Summary Edition. National Academies Press of Sciences, 2009, 12. Accessed August 2010. http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_ id=12710#toc. CRS. CRS Report for Congress. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Summary of Major Provisions. December 21, 2007.

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EIA (U.S. Energy Information Agency). Energy Outlook 2010. Maynard, Micheline. “Ford Plans Shift in Focus Away from Hybrids.” New York Times, June 30, 2006. Mervis, Jeffrey. “U.S. Energy Agency Stumbles Out of the Blocks.” Science 325, no. 5943 (August 2009): 926. Urbanchuk, J. M. “Contribution of the Ethanol Industry to the Economy of the United States, Prepared for the Renewable Fuels Association,” February 21, 2006. Accessed August 2010. http://www.wicornpro.org/library_pdfs/LECGE conomicImpactReport1.pdf. United States Agricultural, Forestry, and Chemical Communities. Plant/CropBased Renewable Resources 2020: A Vision to Enhance U.S. Economic Security through Renewable Plant/Crop-Based Resource Use, 1998. Accessed August 2010. http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24216.pdf. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). A More Vibrant Rural America: Technology for Agricultural Research Service Bioenergy System—A Strategic Plan for Agricultural Research Service Bioenergy Research. ARS National Program 307: Bioenergy and Energy Alternatives. 2002. United States Department of Energy (USDE), Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), and Iowa Energy Center (IEC). Biobased Products and Bioenergy Vision and Roadmap for Iowa. 2002–10. Accessed August 2010. http://www.ciras .iastate.edu/publications/IABioVisionRoadmap.pdf. United States Department of Energy (USDE) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Report to the President of the United States, In Response to Executive Order 13134: Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy. February 14, 2000. USDE & USDA. “Biomass as Feestock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply.” April 2005. U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Promising Resources Technologies, Processes and Product Line. 1999. White House. Office of the Press Secretary. Executive Order 13134, Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy, 1999. Accessed August 2010. http:// ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/eos/eo13134.html.

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he rise of the biomass industry is just like a marathon race, with Brazil and the United States being the first tier immediately followed by the second tier (i.e., the European legion including Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Denmark). The last, and the third, tier includes China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, and Mozambique. The two countries in first tier started their biomass industry at a very early time, with a solid research base, rich raw materials, advanced technologies, and a large scale of production. In addition, they both enjoyed strong support from top government officials; namely, their presidents. Last but not least, they maintained top form in the global biomass contest. However, they also have weak points, such as a monotonous product mix. Corn ethanol in the United States has congenital defects in its production technology, so the United States is striving to develop and transition to a second-generation biofuel in place of crop-based bioenergy. But Brazil has mastered unique techniques in producing corn-based ethanol. Moreover, they have started biodiesel production, thus reinforcing their leadership in bioenergy production. The Europe Union (EU), the second tier, also started their biomass research and development no later than the first-tier countries, with the same solid research foundation. Bioenergy development in the European Union attaches great importance to ecosystem and environmental friendliness; meanwhile, their product mix is diversified. The EU, however, is short of raw materials for bioenergy production, hence the scale of production and the organizational and mobilization capability are inferior 123

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to that of first-tier countries. If they can foster strengths and circumvent weaknesses, making advantages of single technology and products and bringing them into full play, their bioenergy products will definitely dazzle the world, just like their quality manufactured products such as BMW and Nokia. The last tier consists of a bulky team, a late start, a weak working base, and technology preparations, together with relatively low awareness from governmental officials and consequential weak driving forces. All of these make the athletes tired in their contest. But they enjoy abundant natural resources and huge potential demand. If governments in these countries can enhance their awareness and hence push the industry forward, some of them will be promising in entering the race with the second-tier countries. The marathon contest of the bioenergy industry has continued for over forty years, during which the three legions were differentiated. The next sections will extend the description of each tier in the race.

7.1. A FLOURISHING FLOWER GARDEN If the sugarcane fields as far as the eye can see in Brazil and the vast expanse of cornfields in the United States are characteristics of bio-based energies in this two countries, a flower garden with diversified flower blooming may be analogous to the bioenergy products in EU countries. When developing a bioenergy industry, the EU places more importance on improving environmental quality while disdaining the craving for greatness and rapid success. Although the EU had managed to develop the European Union Constitution and a unified Euro, diversity will continue to characterize the European bioenergy development. The fireplace is both a symbol and a necessity for most European households, especially in Nordic countries where the heating season is as long as nine months. In the past, the people in Northern Europe chiefly burnt firewood or charcoals, and then oils. Now people are using a type of granular fuel called pellets, which were manufactured by grinding and compressing the residuals of processed timber, timbers of marginal quality, and stalks and straws of crops into small granules, the advantages of which are high heating efficiency and being clean, small, and ready to distribute and commercialize (Chinese Academy of Engineering, 2006). Just like the coal briquettes that are commonly used in most cities in China, it is quite convenient. What good the Nordic countries have done by generating electricity using marginal-quality wood and residuals of processed timber as substitutes for oil and coal! Biomass heating and electricity generation, together

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with joint heat-electricity generation, has developed into a matured industry with advanced equipments, a networked circulation system, and a high level of commercialization. Heat efficiency is able to reach as high as over 90 percent. In addition, they are also equipped with small- and medium-sized power plants that are suitable for villages and small towns. For electricity by biomass alone, fifteen countries of the EU generated 55 billion kilowatt hours in 2004. If we take granular fuel as the tiny Armeria maritime, the joint generation of heat and power can be considered Chaenomeles sinensis. Both flowers are the recipient of the golden medal for the European flower contest in 2004 and 2007, respectively. Methane use is another pretty flower flourishing in the garden. EU countries have a highly developed animal husbandry industry. Animal dung and wastes are severe problems in most countries. During the oil crisis in the 1970s, Germany successfully managed to generate electricity by using animal wastes. The success story inspired Germany to construct methane plants right beside the natural gas pipelines, injecting methane directly into pipes in place of natural gases. The generated methane can also be compressed into cans to distribute to household users. The EU stipulated a regulation to restrict the methane emissions in the vicinity of land-filling sites, hence promoting the electricity generation by wastes. Even today, in some of the remotest areas of the United Kingdom, methane emitted from land-filling sites are collected to generate electricity. The installing capacity is usually 2 million kW to 5 million kW, with the total power generation of 4.424 kilowatt hours (2006). Power generated by methane was higher than that by wind in the same year. The share of bio-based energy in the total of renewable energy was 7.9 percent in the United Kingdom in 2008. The figure is expected to be 15.4 percent in 2015 to 2016. Europe is the hometown of biodiesel and is also the symbol product of European bio-based fuel, just like British roses, Japanese cherry blossoms, Chinese peony, and Mexican cactus. Rapeseed is the major oil crop in Europe; therefore, it is the priority choice for manufacturing biodiesel, which is as natural as sugarcane-based ethanol in Brazil and corn-based ethanol in the United States. Ethanol is a rising star in the EU, and it started up in 2003. When the price of crude oil is US $72 per barrel, biodiesel will possess competitive advantages. But when the oil price is over US $100 per barrel, corn ethanol will show its merit. With the substitute of fossil fuels and the abatement of GHG emissions, ethanol is superior to biodiesel as far as the raw materials and production costs concerned. The big family in EU bio-based energies has diversified types of products (i.e., granular fuel, bio-based power generation, waste-generated

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electricity, biodiesel, and fuel ethanol). In contrast to the EU, bioenergy products in Brazil and the United States seem single, rather than multiple. In autumn 2006, a gas station particularly for adding E85 green petroleum was launched and put into operation in Switzerland. It is the first such station in the country, and local governments hosted a grand ceremony, inviting Mr. Switzerland as the first VIP to add green petroleum. In Europe, green embodies hope, anticipation, and romance.

7.2. EUROPEAN’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE ENERGY SHORTAGE The EU is notorious for its shortage of fossil energy, while its consumption is huge. Of the 2.1 billion tons of standard coal energy consumption in 2002, the share of oil, natural gas, and coal was 40.0 percent, 23.4 percent, and 14.8 percent, respectively. Some 80 percent of its oil and half of its natural gas have to be imported. The strife and struggle around natural gas between Russia and Ukraine in recent years severely affected the EU’s energy import and hence consumption. The EU is more eager than any other country group to seek a substitute for fossil energies. The commitment made by the EU in the Kyoto Protocol, achieving an 8 percent GHG emission abatement in 2008 to 2012 with 1990 being the baseline year, is serious and had been strictly observed and operated. In the EU white paper on strategy and action released in 1997, the EU required that the share of biofuel in automobile fuels should be elevated from 2 percent in 2005 to 5.57 percent in 2010. In 2005, they raised a goal of 150 million standard tons of oil substitutes by biofuel, of which fifty-five million tons will serve for power generation, seventy-five million tons for heating, and the remaining nineteen million tons for transportation. Rapeseed-based biodiesel is the focus of development in the EU, with an annual output of 2.24 million tons, which was much higher than that produced in the United States. Of all the EU countries, Germany, France, Italy, and Belgium reached an annual output of 250,000 to 450,000 tons. To realize the goal of increasing bio-based diesel from 2 percent in 2005 to 5.75 percent in 2010, biodiesel demands soared from 4.9 million to 14 million tons. Due to being poor in raw materials, the palm oil imported from Malaysia grew by 63 percent alone in 2005. Biolux of Austria decided to invest in a biodiesel plant in Nantong, Jiangsu Province of China, with an expected annual output of 270,000 tons. Meanwhile, Italy and Iceland are already initiating negotiations with China on establishing biodiesel plants in China. Though it is environment friendly, biodiesel development was restricted by the amount and prices of its raw materials. Influenced by Brazil and the United States, the EU made a major revision on its trans-

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portation oil substitute, devising an ahead-of-time goal of surpassing Brazil’s ethanol production on the basis of an annual output of two million tons (Berg, 2004). Even the United Kingdom, short of raw materials, constructed a wheat-based ethanol plant with a yearly output of one hundred thousand, the cost of which is two times that of sugarcane- or corn-based plants. It also constructed a sugar-beet-based ethanol plant with an annual output of fifty thousand tons of ethanol. The raw material of the plant originated from sugar of marginal quality released from pressing sugar beets. The United Kingdom also adopted a tax-reduction of twenty pence per liter for ethanol fuel. Volvo of Sweden manufactured the first dual-fuel automobile (methane and petroleum)—the Volvo 850—in the world. Now there are various types of automobiles driven by a methane-petroleum mix fuel. Volkswagen and BMW are accelerating their research and development plan in manufacturing biofuel-based automobiles to supply to the mainstream market. Working hard pays off. Biodiesel production in the EU reached as high as 5.38 million tons of standard oil. The substitute rate of transportation fuel increased from 1 percent in 2005 to 1.8 percent in 2006, which gave them great encouragement and confidence (EurObserv’Er, 2007). When the EU attached great importance to biodiesel, it also placed high hopes on ethanol fuel, while ethanol fuel development will be determined by fiber raw materials. Sweden, Denmark, and Spain are investing heavily in basic researches on fiber-based ethanol. Even though the EU has made great efforts, it is still far from achieving its goal set up in 1997; that is, renewable energy accounting for 12 percent of the total energy consumption and the share of bio-based liquid fuels in driving automobiles in 2010 would be 5.57 percent. In October 2007, the EU commission summarized their experiences and lessons in developing bio-based renewable energies to find out the reasons for the unfinished goals. The meeting stressed again the report Developing a Roadmap for 21st Century Renewable Energies. Based on the consensus reached in the meeting, they raised an enforced and law-binding goal; namely, that renewable energy must account for 20 percent of the total energy consumption. For bio-based fuel (Commission of the European Communities, 2007), it reads as follows: The serious attitude toward renewable and bio-based fuels by EU, together with its frankness and transparency as well as spirit of self-criticisms, won respect from all over the world. Reviewing bio-based fuel development in EU, it had advanced notions and sound quality in industrial development, which will blossom and boom in the future. However, as far as the largescale substitution of fossil energies by bio-based ones is concerned, it is still short of resources. Hence EU must devise an all-around strategy and tactics in the large-scale substitution of fossil energies.

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7.3. GERMANY FORGING AHEAD In June 2004, on behalf of the Agricultural Science and Technology Group of the National Medium- and Long-Term Program for Science and Technology Development Planning, I talked with Premier Wen Jiabao, who was then just back from Europe, about power generation by methane. He gladly reviewed his visits to the methane power generation plants in Germany and said, “My past impression on methane was to light the lamp and cook the meal, but in Germany I saw that the methane-generated power can provide the electricity of whole villages and even villages in the vicinity. They have mastered advanced technology and manufactured matured equipment for that.” During the 1970s oil crisis, Brazil and the United States shifted their attention to ethanol fuel, while Nordic countries developed bio-based power and heat generation. In the meantime, backed up by its strong chemical industry, Germany constructed the first plant that can generate industrialized methane. A methane-based power plant is able to generate 5 billion kW hours per year, roughly accounting for 1 percent of the total electricity consumption in the country. In addition, methane-based power generation is also able to substantially reduce methane emission pollution caused by cattle and chicken farms. In 2006, Germany, in place of the United Kingdom, became the number-one methane producer in Europe. The German methane industry has created over ten thousand green job opportunities for Germany. Germany is a leading country in biodiesel production and consumption in the world. Since its adoption of a tax-free policy on bio-based fuels in 2004, the biggest fuel companies in the country all mixed common diesel with the maximum-permitted proportion of bio-diesel (5 percent). With the growing market share of B20 (20 percent of bio-diesel added into common diesel) and B100, ethyl tertiary-butyl ether is also mixed into common petroleum. The tax-free policy also encouraged all-around investment, ranging from farming to refining; hence the production capacity of biodiesel has remarkably enlarged. Moreover, thanks to the improved accompanying policy and institutional arrangement, more fuel retailers and automobile manufacturers actively participated in the process, hence rendering a more acceptance rate for such kinds of high-proportion mixed biofuels by consumers. Of 3.85 million tons of biodiesel production in the EU in 2006, Germany produced 2.41 million tons, accounting for 63 percent of the total. Over nine hundred biodiesel gas stations across Germany sold mixed fuels with biodiesel addition. It also stipulated that only B20 is permitted to be sold on major highways. The most well-known automobile manufacturers such as Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, and Audi are already adapted to B20 fuels.

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In the EU, Germany takes the lead in promoting both the production and consumption of bio-based energy. In 2005 its bio-based energy accounted for 68 percent of the total renewable energies. The general-inchief coordinator of the German Renewable Energy Commission, N. E. Bassam, indicated that the feasible energy in the renewable family is bio-based energy.

7.4. WHO WILL BE THE FIRST ONE TO BID FAREWELL TO OIL TIME? When we talk about bio-based energy in the EU, we have to mention its pioneer, Sweden. The world’s first human-environment summit was convened in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, in 1972. Since then Sweden has been playing the role of pioneer in environment protection and biobased energy, and it is always top ranked in the global environmentally friendly countries. Sweden is located in North Europe, with a population of nine million and an area of 450 thousand km2. During the 1970s oil crisis, imported oil accounted for 72 percent of its total energy consumption and 90 percent of its heating supply. Sweden is a high-latitude country with an extremely cold climate and nine months of heating season. The oil crisis first threatened the heating supply for households. At the end of 1970s, Sweden started to produce granular fuels by using its rich sources of the residuals of processed forestry products and wood of marginal quality with the objective of replacing oil to supply heat. Three giant boilers operated by Stockholm Fuel Company were shifted from coal burning to bio-based granular burning. In 1997, Sweden built the first industrialized methane plant for transportation use after cleaning and compressing. In 1999, Sweden started to extend the use of ethanol fuel. As far as bio-based heating supply is concerned, the technology of jointly generating electricity and heat has already matured. It is capable of concentrating the heating supply and supplying high-voltage electricity for grids, with high heat efficiency of over 90 percent. Kraft, Inc., just finished constructing a heat power plant with a heat efficiency of 95 percent. In contrast, the heat efficiency of firewood is only 10 percent to 15 percent. Small boilers for generating electricity are about 100 kW, which is suitable for household use. Large boilers and power generation facilities can supply heat and power for concentrated residential communities. At the end of 2003, the annual bio-based energy was 103 billion kW hours, accounting for 16.5 percent of the total energy consumption of the country. The concentrated heat supply by bio-based energy is 38.5 billion kW hours, 68.5 percent of total heating energies. Bio-based energy for industrial use

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is 51.2 kW hours, one to three fold that of oil (22.4 billion kW hours) and coal (16.6 billion kW hours). Another prominent achievement for the Swedish bio-based energy development is methane for automobile use, which is called biogas. In 1983 the public traffic system of Stockholm launched experiments on fossil fuel substitutes. Through dozens of years’ experiments on nine types of substitute fuels, buses fueled by methane and ethanol were eventually selected as the most feasible and practical substitute for petroleum-driven buses. Purac, Inc., collected slaughtering residues, animal wastes, and straws and stalks as feedstuff to produce methane under anaerobic fermentation conditions. After cleaning and compressing, the produced methane is used for automobiles. In total fifteen thousand biogas-fueled vehicles were running on Swedish highways and streets, of which thirteen thousand were cars. Biogas stations were scattered across the whole country. Biogas was first developed at the end of last century, while in 2006 its consumption exceeded natural gas. Based on the prediction made by E.ON, Sweden’s number-one renewable energy producer, natural gas will be completely substituted by biogas. In 1970, petroleum accounted for 77 percent of the Swedish energy consumption; the figure dropped to 32 percent in 2003. The next step for Sweden is to develop fiber-based ethanol using its rich forest resources. A demonstration plant with an investment of 148 million SEK was built in Örnsköldsvikin 2006 to produce fifty thousand tons of fiber-based ethanol using wood debris and sawdust. Sweden is already planning to develop fiber-based ethanol production into a sunrise industry, with the annual production value of US $300 billion. Automobile manufacturers responded to that strategy with their research and development in biogas-fueled vehicles (Commission of the European Communities, 2007). The World Bio-Based Energy Congress was held in Sweden in 2006. The Swedish prime minister, Göran Persson, made the address at the opening ceremony and declared that bio-based energy has met 25 percent of the energy requirements of the country. The sale of ethanol grew by 50 percent in 2005. Over 10 percent of sold automobiles were fueled by biogas. Sweden was investing billions of Euros to enlarge biogas production for transportation use. Bio-based energy as a substitute for oil is a crucial constituent in Swedish agriculture, which is and will be creating more job and business opportunities. Finally, the prime minister solemnly declared that in 2020 Sweden will be the first country to be completely independent of oil. Policy played a decisive role in developing the bio-based industrial development. Here a number of policies are listed to illustrate the great determination and effort made by the Swedish government in promoting bio-based energy.

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• From 1975, 36 million euros from the fiscal budget had been withdrawn to invest in the research and development of biomass combustion and subsidies for demonstration projects. In addition, the Swedish government began to levy taxes on petroleum use, electricity use, and automobile use. • In 1992, Sweden started to levy taxes on carbon dioxide emissions and sulfur emissions, both of which were the first cases in the world. Using fossil energies in Sweden incurred much heavier taxation over time. In 1991, 370 SEK were taxed per ton of carbon dioxide, while the amount grew to 530, 630, 760, and 910 SEK in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004, respectively. • Since 1991, Sweden adopted fixed prices on electricity, subsidizing 0.1 euro per kW hour of bio-based electricity. From 1997 to 2002, a 25 percent of investment subsidy was added to the bio-based joint heatelectricity generation project, with a total of 48,670 million euros of subsidies. Some 1,350 euros were subsidized to each household that used a bio-based heating system. • In 2003, a tax reduction and exemption policy was adopted for the firms that used bio-based electricity. The reduction rate was determined by the proportion of bio-based electricity use in total power use in one specific firm. A freely traded market system was also established to trade on an environmentally friendly power identification license. As a response to the 1973 world oil crisis, Sweden developed bio-based energy production as a booming industry using its own advantages. Biobased energy overcame the shortage of fossil energies, and it reduced its oil import and GHG emissions. Sweden is another role model for shifting its dependence on fossil energies to renewable energies as a response to the oil crisis in the 1970s.

7.5. BIOMASS JAPAN As far as bio-based industry development is concerned, Japan possessed both strengths and weaknesses. Its strengths lie in its solid foundation in basic and applied research, manufacturing, and economic development. Its weakness is the shortage of natural resources for feedstuff for the biobased industry. Even with great weaknesses, the Japanese government still enjoys a high level of awareness and systematic strategic plans on developing bio-based energies. In July 2007, Japan established the Policy Making Committee on Biobased Industry. Under the directions of the central government and

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ministries (i.e., Cabinet, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Aquaculture, Ministry of Economics and Industry et al.), Japan developed a document, Comprehensive Strategy on Bio-based Industry of Japan, at the end of 2002, declaring that the document itself is part of the deliberate and epoch-making step in developing bio-based industry (Komiya, 2005). The document also explicitly indicated the reasons as to why renewable energy development was so greatly important—combating global warming, building a recycled economy, fostering sunrise industries, and revitalizing agriculture, forestry, and aquaculture. The goal set by the document was that by 2010, carbon content in developing waste-based biomass would reach over 80 percent, while carbon content in undeveloped biomass (forest residues and crop straws and stalks) would reach over 25 percent. To achieve that goal, Japan planned to construct demonstration cities, towns, and villages. The objective of the demonstration projects is to elevate energy transfer efficiency and lower production costs. In the operation stage, seventy-eight detailed action plans were also devised—establishing the Promotion Committee for Comprehensive Strategy on Developing Bio-based Industry and Biobased Industry Information Center; constructing a collecting-delivering system for bio-based industry; demonstration site construction; research and development in bio-based plastic; and kicking off a bio-based ethanol and bio-diesel project for automobiles. The strategy estimated that the total bio-based resources in Japan, comprising wastes, undeveloped, and crops for resource use, is 35 billion liters of crude oil, roughly 14 percent of the imported oil in 2000. If converted to resources, it is equivalent to 33 million tons of carbon, nearly 3.3 fold of carbon content in domestic plastic production in Japan. Based on the above calculation, domestic bio-based resources in Japan can basically meet the requirements for the substitution for oil-based material production, but it can just meet the 15 percent of the total energy demands in the country. Hence, the strategic focus of the Japanese bio-based industry is to import more bio-based energy and less fossil-based energies to complement its 75 percent gap in bio-based energy production. Mitsui, Inc., of Japan established a joint venture with Brazil, CM Biobased Energy, Inc., to export sugarcane ethanol to Japan with a value of US $3 billion per year. The Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) provided a loan of US $5 billion to the ethanol project. In 2007, Brazil constructed a pipeline connecting Goias and San Paul to the Atlantic coast with the objective of exporting ethanol fuel to Japan. Though short of bio-based feedstuffs, Japan possesses a remarkable science and technology and industry foundation. If bio-diesel is restricted by feedstuff, Japan has unique experiences and techniques for collecting and converting residual kitchen grease. Japan is the leader in processing solid

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and liquid wastes discharged from ethanol fuel production and methane production. As far as energy use efficiency is concerned, Japan is far ahead of the rest of the countries in the world. If the EU is analogous to a flower garden in the bio-based industry, Japan can be considered a show window for quality technology. On the one hand, Japan will import biobased fuel and products; on the other hand it will export related technologies and equipments, exchanging resources with its intellectual products. Last but not least, Japan quite appreciated the concept of biorefinery, raising the concept of a bio-based city. Japan is also planning a grand shift from fossil Japan to bio-based Japan.

7.6. INDIA WITH A SLOW YET SURE STEP In 2003, India started its first trial of ethanol fuel. In 2004 India launched a silent revolution in the oil/agriculture industry. The first stage was to extend E5 ethanol petroleum in ten states rich in sugarcane. India Petroleum, Inc., was responsible for purchasing ethanol from nine states, including Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The year of 2006 entered the second stage, and E5 petroleum was extended to the whole country with 11,538 gas stations being constructed across the country. The secretary of the India Ministry of Oil and Natural Gas declared in a press release that oil companies will get long-term ethanol provisions and farmers will get good prices for that. She also noted that an ethanolpetroleum mix is an ideal fuel (Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, 2006). The goal of the third stage is to use E50 ethanol petroleum on a national scale, and the proportion of E10 will be 20 percent in 2020. India also legislated a minimum mix of 5 percent bio-based fuel in transportation fuels, and the ratio must be elevated to 10 percent in 2011. India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, stated that all state-owned oil companies have to implement national laws and regulations on biofuel use, and those who violate this will be repealed. India is rich in labor while poor in land. Its sowing area of sugarcane and its sugar output are roughly equivalent to Brazil’s. However, the sugarcane is not used for ethanol fuel productions. It only uses the byproduct in sugar production—waste sugar maple—as the feedstuff in producing ethanol. Thanks to limited resources of waste sugar maple, India is planning to develop sweet sorghum–based ethanol production. In 2005, India produced 1.6 million tons of ethanol fuel, becoming the number-four country in ethanol production. But it could not satisfy the needs of its petroleum mix, and it had to secure imports from Brazil. With the development of biodiesel in transportation, the government supported man-made woods such as Jatropha curcas on lands not suitable

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for crops. India has 39.2 million ha of land suitable for Jatropha curcas, and it planted another 7.4 million ha along its railway system. British Petroleum (BP) of the United Kingdom has invested US $9.4 million to plant eighty million ha of Jatropha curcas, with an annual biodiesel output of seven thousand tons. But it still has the problems of technological bottlenecks and persuading farmers to grow. Based on a recent report, India consumed 275 million tons of oil in 2007 to 2008, of which 178 million tons originated domestically (Acharya, 2009). It is predicted that the oil dependency rate for India in 2030 will be over 90 percent. Developing bio-based fuel is a major choice in easing its energy tension. In 2008, the Jatropha curcas area under plantation was 11 million ha. Some 20 percent of biodiesel is planned to be added to common diesel. Just like China, methane generated by a simplified generation pool (locally called Gobar) is the chief fuel for household cooking in rural India. The India government, federal and local, also encourages methane use by farmers through loans and training. India has promoted modern bio-based energy for ten years and has considered bio-based energy to be a clean and high-efficient substitute for fossil energies. Meanwhile, the India government thinks that it can also promote rural economic development and cut oil imports. Current problems may be plant breeding, training of farmers, and land expansion for bio-based crop plantation. The preliminary condition for India’s biobased energy development is not to occupy sowing areas of other crops and not to threaten biodiversity and land and water resources.

7.7. ASEAN IN ACTION Most ASEAN countries are in tropical zones rich in water and heat and biomass resources while weak in technology and economic development. It lags far behind the first- and second-tier countries. Malaysia abounds in olive oil. The area under plantation was 4.2 million ha with an annual gross olive oil output of 1.6 million tons. Olive oil is a traditional edible and cosmetic oil, most of which is exported to the EU and Japan. Thanks to the EU’s rising demands for biodiesel and its lacks of feedstuffs, imports of olive oil from Malaysia by the EU rose abruptly by 63 percent in 2005. Meanwhile, the import from China also rose modestly. The soaring imports resulted in substantial uplifting prices on the world market, pushing forward the oil olive plantation and biobased industry development in the two countries. Some seventy-five biodiesel plants were under construction in Malaysia, which will consume

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one million tons of feedstuffs for olive oil production. Squeezed by the dual pressures of export and domestic demands, the planting of olives soared, resulting in the massive destruction of the tropical rain forests, which aroused international concerns. Considering the negative outcome accompanying olive imports, the EU planned to limit its import. Meanwhile, the Malaysia government strengthened its regulation on rain forest destruction. A roundtable discussion forum was held involving all import and export countries to discuss the sustainable development of olive oil. The situation is under control. The Philippines legislated the Bio-based Fuel Act (RA9376) in 2006 and founded the Bio-based Energy Administration in 2007. It also planned to use E5 ethanol petroleum in 2009 and E10 in 2001. To achieve that goal, ten ethanol plants with a daily output of 80 to 120 tons of ethanol has been constructed. In addition, it took advantage of rich resources to develop sweet sorghum–based ethanol and Jatropha curcas biodiesel. Former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo visited the plantation yards of Jatropha curcas. BIPI, Inc., in the Philippines planned to invest US $100 million to construct a sweet sorghum–sugarcane ethanol plant, with an annual output of 450 thousand liters, the installation capacity of which is 95,000 megawatts. Thailand elevated the ethanol content in petroleum from 10 percent to 20 percent in 2008. The Ministry of Energy of Thailand discussed with the Ministry of Industry about the pricing issues of automobile fuels. The final result of the discussion was that the price of E20 was one Thai Baht lower than that of E10 petroleum. Thailand Public Oil, Inc., suggested that the new administration develop bio-based ethanol production using rich natural resources and enlarge export channels on the global market. In Singapore, the global largest biodiesel plant with an annual output of eight hundred thousand tons was built and opened in 2010 (Xinhua.net, 2007). The plant was invested with US $810 million by Finland Neste Oil, Inc. The Vietnamese government also issued an executive directive, requiring the production and consumption of bio-based energy. It has planned to produce 250,000 tons of ethanol fuels in 2015 and 1.8 million tons in 2025. The production technology is chiefly introduced from Brazil. In addition, favorable policies such as tax exemptions and low-interest loans are used to attract investment and to encourage technology innovation. All ASEAN countries are rich in cassava, which is an important feedstuff for ethanol production. Thailand alone plants 1.17 million ha. Its output of dry cassava chips was 19.6 million tons in 2004, the number-one producer and exporter in ASEAN countries. The total output of cassava chips in ASEAN is some forty million tons, which attracted a number of ethanol producers from Yunnan, Guangxi, and the Hainan provinces of China to grow cassava in ASEAN.

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7.8. FORERUNNERS OF AFRICA When the world food price crises broke out in 2008 and also when numerous countries plunged into chaos and unrest caused by soaring food prices, President Lula da Silva of Brazil, in his talk with the Dutch prime minister, indicated that bio-based ethanol production in developing countries wrought by hunger and poverty is able to lift them out of crisis, and the investment in these countries will benefit both sides, investors and recipients. Africa abounds in water, heat, land, and biomass resources as well. Agriculture is still the mainstream industry in the vast continent, and it is also the fertile soil on which the bio-based industry can blossom and boom. Africa, however, still lacks food, and its productivity and economy are at lower ranks. Opening up the bio-based industry under current socioeconomic conditions is really a tough job. But Mozambique made the first cherished step. Mozambique signed an agreement with China-Africa Mineral Exploration, Inc., to jointly invest US $500 million to develop a twenty-thousand ha feedstuff crop farm, with an annual ethanol output of one hundred thousand tons. Some byproducts such as manures and feed will also be produced, and job opportunities will be created. In September 2009, Mozambique signed six bilateral agreements with Brazil regarding socioeconomic cooperation, of which a commitment was made by Brazil concerning helping Mozambique to develop a bio-based fuel industry by providing technological aid. The two countries drafted a technology transfer plan following the model of the Brazilian sugarcanebased biofuel development. Meanwhile, Mozambique also established a partnership with India. MBFI will invest US $18 million in producing sugarcane-based ethanol and Jatrohpa curcas-based biodiesel. Some developed countries have realized that they lack natural resources that are necessary for bio-based industry expansion (i.e., land and biomass). While Africa is rich in these resources, hence the investment in Africa would be a win-win solution for both sides. However, whether the idea could be successfully put into practice or not is to a large extent determined by current productivity, management experiences, and social organization in African countries, rather than investment and technology possessed by European partners. A large-scale development plan is more difficult to implement than small-scale local plans. The obstacles, however, are technical. Rich resources and great potential in Africa is the final determinant. What the EU and Africa need is courage, perseverance, and time. The biggest oil producer in Africa, Nigeria, has also developed renewable energies as one of the solutions to resolve its economic growth and peasant issue. Based on a news report released by This Day of Nigeria on

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July 14, 2008, Global Biofuel Limited will construct a chain of sweet sorghum–based ethanol plants in seven states of the country. The plan had been approved by Nigeria Petroleum, Inc., and the total investment will amount to US $750 million. The CEO of the company, Dr. Felix Babatunde Obada, indicated in his address on a project launching in Ekiti State that Nigeria has to seize upon the opportunities of global development of the bio-based industry and establish diversified and reliable energies when facing the challenges presented by depleted fossil oils. He also enumerated the multifaceted merits enjoyed by such a project—mitigating and abating GHG emission, creating four hundred thousand jobs, and establishing a modern industry. In February 2008, Nigeria sent a delegation comprising fifty government officials to attend the World Agriculture Expo, seeking investors and advanced technology for bio-fuel production. The manufacturing association of the country is investing US $40 million to construct a cassava-based ethanol plant. Based on a prediction made by the Nigerian Cassava Association, US $6.1 billion will be saved due to the use of ethanol fuels in 2012. In October 2009, RJS, Inc., in Dominican Republic declared that a large agricultural-manufacturing joint firm will be established, with a total investment amounting to US $500 million, the product of which will embrace ethanol fuel, electricity, feed, and organic manures. The joint firm has fifty-seven thousand ha of farm fields and an annual biofuel output of forty million liters and an installation capacity of 50 megawatts.

7.9. CHINA WITH A GOOD STARTUP Of the third-tier countries, China has the earliest startup in bio-based industry development. The origin of China biofuel development can be traced back as early as the mid-1990s. After several years of continuous crop output growth, grain crop output amounted to five hundred million tons in 1996, resulting in overarching grain storage in major breadbasket provinces (i.e., Jilin, Henan, Anhui). The problem also disturbed Premier Zhu Rongji. In a meeting with academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Premier Zhu suggested ethanol fuel production by using the surplus grain storage in light of corn-based ethanol fuel production in the United States. Then, in 2001, four ethanol projects using stocker grain as feedstuff were approved to be constructed in Jilin, Heilongjiang, Anhui, and Henan, with an annual ethanol output of 730,000 tons. E10 petroleum was used in the four provinces, plus Liaoning. Then more provinces (i.e., twenty-seven prefectures and cities in Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Hubei) used E10.

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Fuel ethanol sales were 1.52 million tons and ethanol petroleum 15.44 million tons in 2006, immediately following the United States and Brazil (Xiong, 2007). It is really an impressive record and a good startup for China bio-based industry development. Reviewing even farther back, as early as the 1970s, the Chinese government has been dedicating to methane use in rural China. China was ever considered as a role model by the United Nations for its rural development program in developing countries. Since then, considerable fluctuations, however, were experienced for methane use in China. But since 2000, the Chinese government had reinforced its heavy policy and financial support for methane use, with a cumulative investment of over 3 billion RMB yuan. By the end of 2005, there were eighteen million methane generation pools in rural China, with an annual output of 7 billion m3. Some 1,500 large-scale methane projects in animal farms and in industrial organic wastes had been established, with an annual output of 1 billion m3 (NDRC, 2007). In 2005, the Standing Committee of China People’s Congress legislated and passed the People’s Republic of China Renewable Energy Act (National People’s Congress, 2005), raising a series of specific goals for developing renewable energies. The law stipulated that China would encourage bio-based fuel development in a clean and efficient manner and encourage crop plantation for fuel purposes. The law also encouraged the incorporation of biofuels compatible with national standards into a national sale system. China’s Outlines of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2006–2010) also stated that China would develop bio-based energies and power generation by using straws/stalks and garbage burning. China also encouraged crop stalks–based and forest wood–based power stations, and it enlarged the production of bio-based solid fuels, ethanol fuels, and biodiesel. Hence, China has a legal guarantee for bio-based industry development. The year 2006 was a year of actively promoting bio-based industry by the government, with a series of policies and actions being developed. In March, the State Commission for Development and Reform kicked off a demonstration project for developing high-tech methods for the biobased industry, and over thirty firms of bio-based production were on the list of demo projects. In August, the State Commission of Development and Reform, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the State Forestry Administration convened a joint meeting with the objective of deploying tasks for developing a bio-based industry. In November, five state ministries and administrations (i.e., Ministry of Finance, Commission for Development and Reform, Ministry of Agriculture, Administration of Taxation, Administration of Forestry) jointly released the Implementation Directives on Formulating Support Policies for Developing Bio-based Energies and Biochemical Industry, in which various policies (i.e., subsidies on loss, con-

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struction, and allowance on demonstration projects and tax exemption) were designed to foster bio-based industry development. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and Technology also launched key research and development projects for bio-based energies and corresponding chemical industries. In addition, national basic research programs also attached great importance to bio-based research. Business communities were enthusiastic about investing in bio-based industry. Such large-scale, state-owned enterprises as Sinochem, SinoPetro, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), and China National Cereals, Oil, and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) invested enormous amounts of money in founding bio-based fuel plants in provinces rich in biomass resources. A cassava-based ethanol plant, invested by COFCO with an annual output of two hundred thousand tons, was put into operation in 2008. The Bio-based Power Group of Sinoenergy had ten 30 MW generating units and seven 12 MW units under operation, and seven 12 MW units under construction. In Qinzhou, Guangxi Province, private-owned enterprises as representated by Tiande launched their businesses in fuel ethanol, biodiesel, bioplastic, granular fuel, and bio-based power generation, one after another. Research communities also actively conducted both basic and applied research on bio-based industry. In January 2005, the Chinese Academy of Engineering held the Fragrance Hill Science Meeting, titled Frontiers in Biomass Science and Technology. In the same year, the Chinese Academy of Engineering kicked off a consulting program on renewable energy research and development. In March 2006, the Chinese Academy of Engineering signed a collaborative agreement with Guangxi Province in developing bio-based industry. And a bio-based industry development forum was held in November of same year. A number of research institutions particularly dedicated to bio-based research and development were founded in universities and research institutions as represented by China Agricultural University, Tsinghua University, the China Research Institute for Agricultural Engineering, and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies released in 2007 set the goals for developing bio-based industry in China. In 2020, the total installed capacity for bio-based power generation will be 30 million kW; the application of bio-based solid fuels will be fifty million tons; annual methane use will be 44 billion m3; fuel ethanol use per year will be ten million tons; and annual biodiesel use will be two million tons. Developing bio-based industry is of strategic significance to China. China is also rich in feedstuff and has a firm foundation in terms of technology base and industry involvement. In April 2006, Premier Wen Jiabao commented at a meeting held by the State Energy Leading Group that

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“regarding bio-based industry development, we must have ahead-of-time awareness and early startup.” His words exactly reflected China’s sound startup in bio-based industry.

REFERENCES Acharya, K. “Energy-India: Biofuelling Confusion.” Inter Press Service News Agency, 2009, http://www.ipsnews.net/2009/03/energy-india-biofuelling -confusion/. Berg, C. World Fuel Ethanol Analysis and Outlook, April 2004, F. O. Licht. Chinese Academy of Engineering. Working Report on Investigating Biomass Energy Development and Use in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Italy, August 17, 2006. (In Chinese) Commission of the European Communites. Renewable Energy Road Map. Renewable Energy in the 21st Century: Building a More Sustainable Future. Brussels, 2007. EurObserv’Er. “Mtoe Consumed in 2006 in the UN.” Biofuels Barometer, May 2007. Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, 2006. Accessed August 2010. http://petroleum.nic.in/ICWork.pdf. Komiya, Mahirosi et al. Comprehensive Strategy for Biomass Industry Development in Japan. Translated by D. Y. Li. Beijing: China Environment Science Press, 2005. (In Chinese) Presidential Directive of People’s Republic of China. “Renewable Energy Act of People’s Republic of China,” 2005. (In Chinese). Accessed August 2010. http:// www.china.com.cn/policy/txt/2007-09/04/content_8800358.htm. Xinhua.net. “Neste Oil to Build World’s Largest Bio-diesel Plant in S’pore.” December 13, 2007. Xiong, B. L. Historical Review and Eleventh Five-Year Plan on China Fuel Ethanol Industry. Proceedings of the Workshop on the Development Strategy for China Fuel Ethanol Industrialization. Chinese Academy of Engineering, 2007. (In Chinese)

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8

A Dazzling Array of Biomass Product (I)

For the sake of environment protection, Europe has paid great attention to biodiesel as its major alternative vehicle fuel, and now more than 60 percent of rapeseed in Europe has been used for biodiesel production. —author

A regime could be out of guns. —Mao Zedong

W

hile electricity is the treasure converted from hydroenergy and wind power, heat and electricity are those transferred from solar energy. An array of dazzling valuables is metamorphosed from biomass into various liquid, gaseous, and solid energy products, as well as biomaterial, biochemical, and other nonenergy products. What happened in the biomass world is a complex transformation and restructuring of matter and energy contained in starch, sugar, cellulose, semicellulose, and lignin. It is really a grand showcase of natural wonder and human wisdom. With the same significance as weapons to warfare, the product itself is the key for successful market occupation. The great revolutionary leader, Mao Zedong, once concluded, “Revolution relies on pens and guns,” and “A regime could be out of guns.” Biomass industry is also an industrial revolution. To get the revolution to succeed, both “pen” and “gun” are indispensable vehicles. While “pen” plays a critical role in offering strategic instructions and guiding public opinions, “gun” is the trump card 141

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for seizing power. With “guns,” namely products, in hand, entrepreneurs wage intense battles in the commercial world. No matter how advanced the touted theory is, how many articles and books have been published, the product and market are the critical factors in deciding the winner of market battles and power rivalry. This book puts forward the concept of “biomass, to win the future.” Where is the battlefront of the war of biomass? The furious war wages in the market for advanced science-based products. Now, I, the warrior with the weapon of the pen, would like to dedicate two special chapters, which are centered on biomass products and cutting-edging science and technology, to entrepreneurs—the warriors active in the war’s battlefront. Since biomass-turned products are quite numerous, this chapter will focus on liquid and gaseous energy products; other products will be introduced in the next chapter. The biochemical products introduced in the two chapters are mainly based on the information offered by Professor Li Shizhong and the book of China Renewable Energy Development Strategy Research Series: Volume of Biomass Energy (SRRCRE, 2008).

PART I LIQUID BIOFUEL 8.1. NEW CHAPTER OF WINE CULTURE Starch and sugars can either turn into edible wine through yeast fermentation or ethanol (C2H5OH) through rectification. There are more than three thousand years of written history of wine production and consumption in China. We can learn it from the widespread myth about the insatiable appetite for wine of the Yao emperor and the Shun emperor, both legendary monarchs in ancient China; to the legend about Yi Di, the allegedly first winemaker in the nation, who offered fragrant wine to Yu the Great, the legendary founder of the Xia Dynasty; to the ancient royal family’s protocol of drinking double-fermented wine in August; to many well-known wine-related stories in the classic Chinese novel The Romance of Three Kingdoms; to the eloquent poems gushed from Li Bai, one of the most talented poets in ancient China; and after merry booze, to the famous line from Su Dongpu, another gifted ancient poet, “with wine in hand, I ask the unknown god up above, since when the silvery moon has been hanging up there?” So then, how does wine possess such a time-honored and unique charm? Archaeological excavations revealed that the domestication and cultivation of grapes has lasted for seven thousand years, and the brewing of grape wine originated from ancient Persia. The reliefs on an earthen jar unearthed in the Nile valley depict the blissful scene that ancient Egyp-

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tians living five thousand years ago cultivated and harvested grapes, as well as brewed and drank wine. It was recorded in the Bible that Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding at Cana and said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” Some followers of Jesus treat wine as the blood of the Son of God. Genesis also tells a vivid story of Noah’s drunkenness. With the progress of the chemical industry in the nineteenth century, wine distillation techniques made it possible that the concentration of ethanol in wine could be as high as 98 percent, thus giving birth to alcohol. Among others, there are high-purity alcohols, rectified alcohols, alcohol for medical use, and alcohol for industrial purposes. Alcohol was chosen as fuel in the early stages when internal combustion engines and cars were invented, and soon it was replaced by oil due to its higher quality and cheaper price. Yet a hundred years later, alcohol made an unexpected comeback and forced oil to make way for its return. During the world oil crisis that occurred in the 1970s, alcohol fuel emerged in Brazil and the United States. And it soon gained growing popularity in many countries at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The world beer consumption registers at 150 billion liters and wine at 40 billion liters. Their total consumption, coupled with hard liquor consumption, is still far less than that of fuel ethanol. According to the research report rendered by U.S.-based Hart Energy Consulting in October 2009, the global demand for fuel ethanol will account for 12 percent to 14 percent of gasoline consumption by 2015, and the Asia Pacific region will contribute about 20 percent of the global fuel ethanol supply. Just within a few years, fuel ethanol has enjoyed an amazing development. Wine is the treasure of human culture and the common wealth of human society. Now wine-based ethanol can find widespread applications ranging from driving cars, producing various chemical products, and even sending planes into the blue sky in Brazil.

8.2. THE FIRST GENERATION OF BIOFUELS: FUEL ETHANOL Which fuel takes the leading role among contemporary biofuel? The answer definitely is the first generation of fuel ethanol. It overshadows other counterparts in terms of development speed and scale, output and impact. The first generation of fuel ethanol refers to ethanol, which is made from starch or sugar of crops by hydrolysis and alcohol fermentation. Recently, the United States termed this kind of food-based biofuel as conventional biofuel (CRS, 2007). Fuel ethanol is environmentally friendly, containing no sulfur and ash. The carbon dioxide emission of a pure alcohol vehicle is only one-twelfth

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of a similar car fueled by gasoline. Compared with gasoline vehicles, an E10 ethanol-fueled car boasts 30 percent less carbon dioxide emission and 10 percent less nitrogen oxide emission, as well as much less discharge of lead compounds, hydrocarbons, and other harmful substances. In addition, MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) has been officially prohibited as gasoline antiknock for its pollution to groundwater, but, by mixing 10 percent of ethanol, gasoline can achieve the same effect as adding MTBE as antiknock. So the substitution of gasoline by fuel ethanol is multiply beneficial. Since the first global oil crisis in the 1970s, Brazil and the United States began to use fuel ethanol as a substitute for gasoline. Until the late twentieth century, Brazil maintained an annual output of fuel ethanol around ten million tons, and the United States around five to six million tons. The United States experienced a substantial surge in fuel ethanol production in 2009, with output soaring to 31.56 million tons and ranking the first place in the world. Following suit, Brazil also rapidly pushed its output to 1.98 million tons, and the EU jumped to 3.13 million tons. As a result, the global fuel ethanol output registered at 58.59 million tons. Recently, the United States issued a plan, setting its annual output higher than one hundred million tons by 2022. With the same zealousness, the EU, Brazil, and many other countries also laid down ambitious goals for their fuel ethanol development. The first generation of fuel ethanol is made of starch and sugar. Starch is a kind of polysaccharide containing rich nutrients, and it can be found in the seeds of corn, wheat, and other cereal crops, or the roots of tuberous crops. In botany, a seed is a gonophore, and a tuber is a trophozoite. Starch stored in gonophore needs more energy for growth and only starts to get stimulated in the late period of the crop growth duration. On the contrary, starch stored in tuberous trophozoite consumes less energy for growth and can be accumulated throughout the whole growing season. So this explains why starch output of tuberous crops is more than that of cereals, and the former imposes less rigorous requirements on growth conditions and field management than the latter one. Under normal circumstances, one hectare of cornstarch could produce 2.25 tons of fuel ethanol, while one hectare of cassava produces six tons, almost three times that of corn (table 8.1). As a kind of polysaccharide, starch cannot be fermented with alcohol until it goes through hydrolyzation and is saccharified into disaccharides and monosaccharides. Sugar plants, such as sugarcane, sweet sorghum, sugar beet, Jerusalem artichoke, and others are monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) and disaccharides (sucrose) accumulated in the stems or underground stems, tubers, which can be directly fermented with alcohol without the hydrolysis process.

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A Dazzling Array of Biomass Product (I) Table 8.1.

Ethanol yield of various raw materials (Liu, 2003)

Raw Material Sugarcane Cassava Maize Wheat Rice

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Yield (ton ha–1)

Sugar or Starch Content (%)

Ethanol Yield by Raw Material (liter ton–1)

Ethanol Yield by Land Area (kg ha–1)

70 40 5 4 5

12.5 25 69 66 75

70 150 410 390 450

4,900 6,000 2,050 1,560 2,250

The processing techniques for ethanol production from starch and sugar are basically the same. The only difference is that the hydrolysis process is indispensable for starch-based production and is unnecessary for sugar-based production. Raw materials can be processed by either dry or wet methods. Generally speaking, stewing, liquefying, and saccharifying processes cannot progress intermittently. Stewing temperature is normally higher than 100°C. In recent years, Germany and the United States developed lowtemperature stewing as well as simultaneous saccharification and fermentation techniques, with temperature requirements being brought down to 50°C, which greatly reduced energy consumption and saved saccharification equipment. Fermentation, the main process for ethanol production, is usually carried out intermittently. Solving problems in fermentation such as a long duration of time, large dosages of glucoamylase, and the high risk of bacteria contamination has been well underway. Distillation is the most energy-consuming process in ethanol production, for which great innovation efforts should be made to cut energy consumption. Substituting the distillation process by adsorption separation is a major innovation achieved in ethanol production. Italy-based ETA Company has achieved certain results in this regard. The traditional ethanol dehydration process mainly resorts to molecular sieve technology. Innovative dehydration processes based on membrane technology with a low consumption of steam is under study now. Distiller’s Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) techniques capable of producing high-quality feed are normally applied to distilled kettle liquid. Brazil sugarcane ethanol is usually produced from extracted juice with the liquid fermentation method, and the technology is quite mature. The liquid fermentation method is also applicable to ethanol production with sweet sorghum as raw material. While 100 kg of sweet sorghum juice can produce 54.4 liters of ethanol in the United States, one ton of sweet sorghum stalk can produce forty-five liters of absolute

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ethanol in India, with production cost staying at $0.39 per liter. India is also home to fermentation plants boasting a daily output of forty-eight tons of 95 percent ethanol using liquid-fermentation methods. Besides, India also has transferred such technologies to the Philippines and some African countries. However, liquid fermentation is troubled by many problems (i.e., high energy consumption, sugarcane stalk/juice preservation, and wastewater treatment). Tsinghua University has developed an advanced solid-state fermentation technology (ASSF) with merits such as simple processing and equipment requirements, short fermentation duration, low energy consumption, high yield, and convenience for mechanized manufacture and automatic control (please refer to chapter 20 for detailed information). Well aware of the significance of the well-conceived fuel ethanol standards in consolidating the production, use, and supervision of ethanol, the United States, Brazil, and other countries have worked out their own standards. China also has developed the national standard for E10 in 2001. In a conference held in 2007, representativess from Brazil, the United States, India, China, the European Union, and South Africa explored ways for stipulating universal standards for fuel ethanol so as to facilitate fuel ethanol entry into the scope of primary products in the world marketplace and to promote the formation of a global fuel ethanol trade system.

8.3. CELLULOSIC ETHANOL: A RISING STAR Human food mainly consists of carbohydrates (starch and sugar), protein, and fat. And the most ubiquitous component of plants is cellulose (including hemicellulose, the same below), which may account for more than 70 percent of the total components. However, due to less developed technology, these celluloses and lignin end up being used as firewood or feed, or thrown into ditch, or set on fire for a convenient settlement. The latest research results indicate that the global supply of cellulosic biomass has an energy content equivalent of between 34 billion to 160 billion barrels of oil a year, numbers that exceed the world’s current annual consumption of thirty billion barrels of oil (Huber, 2009). The number is surprisingly encouraging. Given reasonable treatment, such boundless treasure reserves will bring an optimistic prospect for human beings. We can either make the best use of the existing untapped and deserted cellulose resources or grow energy plants to harvest more cellulose. Since they are much less fastidious about water and soil conditions and cultivation care than most crops, and their energy consumption is much

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less than that of fossil energy, cellulosic energy plants are highly valued for their low cost, high energy efficiency, and sound emission reduction. Investment of one energy unit of fossil energy can only bring out 1.36 energy units of corn ethanol but 10.31 energy units of cellulosic ethanol. The energy efficiency of cellulosic ethanol is eight times as high as corn ethanol, and thirteen times as high as gasoline (Wang, 2005). So the United States decided that the best way toward its goal that biomass fuel will replace 30 percent of transport fuel by 2030 is that cellulose-based biomass will account for 80 percent of 1.366 billion tons of biomass expected to be produced (USDE and USDA, 2005). In 2008 and 2009 alone, the United States has invested more than $2 billion to support cellulosic ethanol research and development and built more than thirty sets of pilot and demonstration facilities. As a kind of polysaccharide, cellulose functions like a human skeleton to protect the shape of plant cells as well as various tissues and organs (such as cell walls, vascular bundles, xylem, phloem) and to make plant bodies firmly extended. Resembling a long chain, it is comprised of thousands of glucose molecules linked by hydrogen bonds in stacked layers. This kind of plant structure shows strong resistance to hydrolysis; namely, it can seal sugar molecules up tightly and prevent them from being impacted by external force. Researchers have devoted decades to decoding the mechanism behind such strong antihydrolysis, and now they are in the process of a technical “sprint.” After World War II, sulfuric acid was commonly used as a catalyst for the hydrolysis of cellulose. However, such an approach was quite costly in terms of equipment investment and production cost, and it was coupled with serious environmental pollution. Thanks to its dogged effort in exploring enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic for the production of ethanol, the United States has successfully developed solid-state fermentation (SSF) and simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation (SSCF) techniques for saccharification and fermentation attempts in the 1970s, which still remains the dominant technology for cellulosic ethanol production up until now. During the years 1999 to 2005, the production cost of cellulosic ethanol enzymes have been reduced to one-thirtieth of the previous level, with less and less room left for further cost cuts. Iogen, a Canadian company specializing in the production of cellulose enzymes, successfully produced ethanol by adopting cellulose enzymes for the hydrolysis of celluloce, the solidliquid separation techniques for the hydrolysis of sugars (xylose, glucose), and engineering yeast for fermentation. The first lignocellulose ethanol pilot test factory in the world was built in Ottawa, which can produce three thousand tons of fuel ethanol annually. Its wheat straw processing capability is forty tons per day, with three hundred liters of ethanol generated by

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one ton of wheat straw. The ethanol production cost is as high as US$0.55 to US$0.69 per liter, showing poor economic efficiency. In 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy invested US$375 million to establish three cellulosic ethanol research and development centers in the Great Lakes region of Wisconsin, Oakridge in Tennessee, and Berkeley in California, respectively, and it supported six cellulosic ethanol demonstration factories. In 2008, it earmarked US$33.8 million to assist ongoing cellulase research by four companies—DSM Innovation Center, Genencor, Novozymes, and Verenium. According to the estimate of the U.S. Department of Energy, the cost of cellulosic ethanol production can be reduced to US$1.07 per gallon by 2012. European countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Austria, France, and Italy have also engaged in cellulosic ethanol research. Sweden’s ETEK ethanol factory has a 10 m3 fermentation tank well in place for separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) process trial tests. With sawdust as raw material, cellulose enzymes for hydrolysis, and yeast for fermentation, its ethanol production cycle takes seventy-two hours. The factory plans to bring its production cost from 1.8 euros per gallon to 1.4 euros per gallon in the near future. As an ideal technology for cellulosic ethanol production, consolidate bioprocessing (CB) aims to realize cellulose enzyme production, cellulose hydrolysis, and ethanol fermentation within the same microbial system for ethanol production in one step. However, the technology is at the trial stage now, still harassed by many technical problems such as low ethanol yield (Li, 2006). During the Tenth Five-Year Plan Period (2001 to 2005), the demonstration project for producing cellulosic ethanol at six hundred tons per year with the acid hydrolysis method was funded by the China National Basic Research Program. The technical route adopted by the demonstration project was roughly the same as its counterpart projects abroad. During the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2006 to 2011), the Chinese government enhanced its support of cellulosic ethanol research, namely simultaneous multienzyme synthesis and hydrolysis separate fermentation (SMEHF) processes, by developing a series of technologies for molecular vibration-assisted pretreatment, cellulose hydrolysis by cellulase simultaneously produced by microbial flora, online separation of fermentable sugars, and engineering bacteria fermentation of pentose and hexose. With such research progress, cellulosic ethanol production in China is expected to cost much less. The Chinese business community also set foot in cellulosic ethanol research and development. For example, after building a set of production facilities to produce three hundred tons of cellulosic ethanol each year, COFCO Group Zhaodong Alcohol Co., Ltd., now is busy setting up another set of production facilities for five thousand tons

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of annual cellulosic ethanol output. Tian Guan Group in Henan also put a set of kilo-ton-scale test equipment well in place. Cellulosic ethanol technology has become a very promising and hot research field in the world.

8.4. BIODIESEL: ENDOWED WITH MULTIPLE ADVANTAGES Rather than ethanol, EU focuses its attention on biodiesel as an alternative to fossil fuel. That is because biodiesel does have many advantages. As a kind of long-chain fatty acid alkyl esters with plant and animal oils and fats as raw materials, it’s a prime clean fuel and fine chemical raw material generated after the transesterification of natural oils with methanol, with performance equal or even better than that of petroleum-based diesel. Lipids, widely available in cells of plants and animals, are important energy storage compounds for cell metabolism. With more hydrogen atoms contained, lipids can store more energy than sugar does. Neutral fat is a combination of glycerol and fatty acid, known as fats in animals and oils in plants. The practices of extracting neutral fat from soybean, rapeseed, sunflower, cottonseed, tung, oil palm, and other oil plant fruits for food and lighting purposes have long existed since ancient times. And the extraction of plant oil as motor fuel also can be dated back to the year 1900 to the Paris Exposition, where a peanut-oil-fueled engine was on display for the first time. But as a motor fuel, vegetable oil has many drawbacks, such as high viscosity, poor volatility, low in cetane, difficult for cold start, and high carbon deposition during combustion. To overcome these disadvantages, chemists had undertaken extensive research and found that vegetable oil could, after going through transesterification, produce smaller molecules, shorter molecular chains, lower viscosity, and higher volatility, thus making it more closely resemble petroleum-based diesel in nature. It is found by a Germany-based company in a performance comparison test between biodiesel and petroleum diesel that biodiesel is better than petroleum-based diesel fuel in terms of property indicators such as flash point, heating value, cetane, sulfur, oxygen, as well as better safety performance in storage, transportation, and use. According to a test report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2002, it showed that adding 20 percent of biodiesel into ordinary diesel is not only a safe practice but also can ensure the same performance and durability as well as to reduce emissions of unburned hydrocarbon, carbon dioxide, and particulate matter. The U.S. National Biodiesel Board (NBB) also put forward that compared with regular diesel engines, biodiesel added engines can reduce the emissions of cancercausing toxins by 75 percent to 90 percent. Biodiesel is the only alternative

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fuel that met with health test indicators prescribed by the Clean Energy Act of the United States. Biodiesel, as the key alternative fuel in EU countries, registered 3.85 million tons of output in 2006, a 27 percent increase over the previous year. As a whole, the EU set its goal for biodiesel development by 2010 as follows: the proportion of biodiesel added in ordinary diesel should rise to 5.75 percent from 2 percent in 2005. In Germany, only B20 blend fuel (namely, 20 percent of biodiesel blended into petroleum-based diesel) gains the privilege of being sold on main roads. French gas stations began to sell a B5-blend diesel. Austria applied B100 biodiesel in environmentally sensitive areas. First adopted by major cities and environmental sensitive sectors such as the shipping industry, B100 biodiesel now has penetrated to nearly four hundred departments of the federal government, the largest consumer of B100 biodiesel in the United States. Developed countries have imposed increasingly strict requirements on the quality of diesel. In the 1990s, the sulfur content of diesel should be less than 500 micrograms per gram in Europe and the United States. Recently, the United States announced that the sulfur content of diesel should be less than 50 micrograms per gram by 2010. At present, China’s standard for the index is 2,000 micrograms per kilogram. According to a study made by the University of Georgia, buses fueled by biodiesel still remain strongly competitive, even when the price of biodiesel stays at $3 per gallon. Malaysian authorities also declared that its domestically produced biodiesel with palm oil will be economically viable when the international crude oil price rises to $60 per barrel. Why is biodiesel, which boasts so many merits and such huge demand, only 10 percent of fuel ethanol in quantity? The problem lies in scarce raw material and high cost.

8.5. BIODIESEL: DRAGGED DOWN BY RAW MATERIALS The cost of raw material of biodiesel (namely natural plant and animal oils) accounts for 80 percent of the total production cost. The development of biodiesel is largely determined by the supply and price of its raw material. Raw materials for biodiesel production can be divided into three categories; namely, oil crops, woody oil plants, and waste oil. While the major biodiesel raw material in Europe is rapeseed oil, the United States resorts to soybean oil, Malaysia palm oil, Australia animal fat, and Japan kitchen waste grease. Rapeseed has enjoyed a time-honored cultivation tradition in Europe. In addition, the chemical composition of rapeseed is quite close to that of ordinary diesel, thus making rapeseed an ideal raw

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material of biodiesel. All of these explain why Europe shows great favor toward rapeseed, and 60 percent of rapeseeds planted in Europe have been consumed for biodiesel production. After going through a great deal of fuel oil plant research in the early 1980s, the United States selected twelve kinds of hydrocarbon plants as raw materials for biodiesel. In 1999, the U.S. Department of Energy organized a research project participated in by scientists from France, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and many others to explore certain tropical plants such as oil palm and algae. The joint research drew an optimistic conclusion that 80 percent of the global liquid fuel oil would come from woody and herbaceous oil crops as well as algae by 2050. As the world’s largest rapeseed producer, China’s rapeseed cultivation area and output account for about 30 percent of the total global share. Many European investors have come to China to seek out cooperation. An Austria-based company, Biolux GmbH, intends to build a biodiesel factory in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, with an annual capacity of 270,000 tons. In addition, American investors also plan to build a biodiesel plant in Shanghai with an output up to fifty thousand tons annually. German investors plan to set up a biodiesel factory in collaboration with Zhejiang Xinshi Oil Co., Ltd., with its annual output set at two hundred thousand tons. Italian investors intend to build a biodiesel factory in Heilongjiang to produce two hundred thousand tons of biodiesel each year. Why doesn’t China develop its own rapeseed diesel projects? First, China’s annual vegetable oil deficit is about four hundred million tons. China needs to import 6.7 million tons of vegetable oil to bridge the gap every year. Second, though Europe has promulgated many favorable policies to underpin the development of rapeseed-based biodiesel, China prefers to protect the rapeseed-based food oil supply rather than encourage rapeseed-based biodiesel production. But some Chinese researchers still feel optimistic about the seven million hectares of fallow fields in South China, which, in their opinions, holds great promise for cultivating rapeseed in winter. China is also rich in cotton production. Therefore, the proposal of using cotton seeds oil as raw material for biodiesel production has gained great attention, too. What matters most is still the price factor of raw materials. Woody oil plants have many advantages, as they can be planted in medium- and low-elevated mountains and hilly lands, causing no competition over lands growing grains and oil crops, and they are beneficial to ecological protection. However, such plants are highly scattered, bringing many problems for large-scale cultivation and management. Jatropha curcas L., or the hibiscus tree, is the first one deemed as a promising candidate for woody oil plants for biodiesel production. In 1995, under the assistance of the Rockefeller Foundation and the German government, Jatropha was cultivated as an energy crop in Brazil, Nepal, and Zimbabwe. Britain’s BP

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invested US$9.4 million to plant eight thousand hectares of Jatropha trees in India, a country with 39.2 million hectares of land suitable for Jatropha cultivation. Semiwild and cultivated Jatropha trees are found in the southwest provinces of China. Sichuan has planted 17,300 hectares of Jatropha trees, with 170,000 tons of seed and sixty thousand tons of oil harvested. China’s tung tree and oil palm have decades of cultivation history, too. Cornus wilsoniana, pistacia, aleurites moluccana, eucalyptus, sasanqua, and other energy fuel plants also enjoy a promising economic outlook. Japan has attached great importance to the recycling of waste grease. As a nation with an annual consumption of edible oil and fat staying at two million tons and waste grease about four hundred thousand tons, Japan started research on waste grease–based diesel as early as in 1993. As part of its efforts in promoting waste-oil-turned diesel, Japan launched buses fueled by biodiesel for commute service; designated partial food delivery cars turning to biodiesel as fuel; supported biodiesel projects with waste cooking oil fetched from McDonald’s and KFC; and worked out tax exemption and other favorable policies to back the production and sales of biodiesel. Algae oil has drawn great concern around the world, especially in the United States, in recent years. Algae have extremely strong fertility and adaptability, with oil content as high as 40 percent to 60 percent. Algae can be found from temperate to tropical climate zones, from fresh water to salt water. Algae oil might emerge as another “dark horse” among the biodiesel raw material pool. It is now still in the experimental stage, and its great commercial value will take some time to become apparent. Biodiesel is produced through the transesterification of triglyceride with methanol. While small-scale production is usually carried out by intermittent transesterification methods, large enterprises use continuous transesterification methods. At present, biodiesel production in foreign countries usually use two consecutive alcoholysis processes at room temperature and atmospheric pressure with a liquid alkali catalyst. The German company Lurgi’s technology is the most popular one. In addition, the German Hankel Company developed the continuous high-pressure alkali-catalyst alcoholysis process, which makes biodiesel production possible with high acid value raw materials and less catalyst. Such technology only needs a short production duration and is suitable for large-scale continuous production. However, it demands rigorous reaction conditions and requires highenergy consumption for glycerin recycling. The major tasks for biodiesel processing technical innovation are: to reduce the production device cost and production cost, relieve environment pollution caused by wastewater, and make such processes adapt to more raw materials. The main direction of the current technical innovation includes: strengthening mutual miscibility reactions of oil and methanol

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through a mutual solvent and enhancing transesterification technology by supercritical reaction. The traditional technique of transesterification under normal pressure with liquid caustic soda as a catalyst is quite complex, with serious environmental pollution. The solid base catalyst is a highly promising solution to overcome such drawbacks. Enzymecatalyzed transesterification technology allows esterification and transesterification to happen simultaneously. The catalyst can be repeatedly put into use for the processing of high-acid ingredients.

8.6. THE SECOND GENERATION OF BIOFUEL: READY FOR A BOOM With conventional plant and animal oils as raw materials to produce biodiesel, its production will be hindered by limited resources and great cost. Besides, most biodiesel products can’t be used alone; instead, they only can be blended with petroleum-based diesel within the proportion range of 2 percent to 20 percent. If we can break through the limitations of oil raw materials, open the door to the treasurehouse of “oil cellulose,” we will be free from such vexation. Nowadays, scientists engaged in energy research around the world are immersed in the research and development of the second generation of biodiesel—something innovative such as cellulosic ethanol. The core idea of BtL (biomass-to-liquid) technology is to use agro-forestry leftovers, animal offal, urban solid waste, sewage, tires, and other organic wastes to produce high-quality clean fuel, fertilizer, and other chemical products. At present, the fuels are made mainly through biomass gasification, FT (Fischer-Tropsch) synthesis, and thermal depolymerization processes. Synthesis gas will be generated after biomass, such as when straw is crushed and dried at high temperature and high pressure. After purification, synthesis gas will be put into the FT synthetic devices to synthesize fuel. Gaseous hydrocarbons (C1 to C4), naphtha (C5 to C10), diesel oil (C11 to 12) and wax (> C20) are under the umbrella of FT synthesis products. Among those, the organic matters with more than five carbons can be easily separated and recycled by condensation to serve as fuel; the waxy substance can be produced into the middle distillates of C10 to C12 through selective hydrocracking with low temperature fluidity improved through isomerization, before it can be converted into fuel through conventional distillation. The exhaust gas usually contains unconsumed hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and low carbon alkane, which can be recycled after being channeled into the reactor before going through the restructure and transfer reactions in the reformer and transfer reactor or serve as a byproduct of FT synthesis for direct combustion to generate electricity.

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FT synthetic biodiesel, with a cetane value of 85 and better performance than petroleum-based diesel, is one of the most promising biodiesel products. CHOREN, a Germany-based company, has successfully developed the technology for FT synthetic biodiesel production and has started to set up a set of industrial demonstration units with an annual biodiesel output of fifteen thousand tons. This technology is quite similar to integrated coal gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology in nature. However, since the composition of biomass used for FT synthetic biodiesel production is more complex than that of coal, enormous investment is necessary for the equipment and prestage preparation. Currently, the cost of biodiesel produced from straw biomass is 40 percent to 50 percent higher than fuel ethanol produced with biochemical techniques. How to bring the cost down is the core research goal lying ahead. Thermo depolymerization (TDP) technology works to produce biodiesel based on the mechanism of fast pyrolysis of biomass. Generally speaking, it will go through three processes; namely, preprocessing, pyrolysis, and separation. The key of the technology is to strictly control the temperature and the residence time of raw materials in the pyrolysis reaction so as to ensure that raw material can be transferred into a pyrolysis steam in extreme fast heating and heat conduction duration and to avoid carbon and ash work as a catalyst in the twice decomposition to pyrolysis steam. The United States has established a pilot plant in Philadelphia to use organic waste to produce biodiesel with TDP technology. Recently, another plant based on TDP technology was under construction in Carthage, Missouri, with US$20 million of investment to turn two hundred tons of turkey waste into 274 barrels of diesel a day. However, the technology has found it hard to win popularity at present due to the low liquid production rate, the complex composition of the raw material, the high processing cost, and more. More than ten research groups with members from the United States, Canada, Finland, Italy, Sweden, Britain, among others, have carried out research and development in this field for more than ten years under the organization International Energy Agency (IEA). In 1995, more than twenty sets of biomass fast-pyrolysis pilot test facilities were built in Canada, the United States, Italy, and Finland to deal with such biomass treatment at a scale ranging from tens of kilograms to hundreds of kilograms per hour. China’s research in biomass pyrolysis for liquid fuel production is still at the trial stage. Shenyang Agricultural University, funded by the UNDP, has introduced a set of 50 kilogram per hour rotating cone flash pyrolysis units from BTG in The Netherlands to conduct related experiments. The Shanghai Institute of Technology, Zhejiang University, Guangzhou Institute of Energy, and the Institute of Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have been engaged in the research of biomass pyrolysis liquefaction as well.

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PART II GASEOUS BIOFUEL 8.7. RURAL HOUSEHOLD BIOGAS: THE LEGEND OF CINDERELLA At the mention of methane, it is easy for people to think of animal manure and rotten grass or the scene of dim lights, faint flames, and cooking fumes in a farmer’s shabby house. However, no one can underestimate methane anymore, if time is rolled back hundreds of millions of years ago and the chemical equation of methane is revealed. Once the organic matter of a demised organism is put under anaerobic conditions, it will soon be attacked by hundreds of microbes with various functions. After being decomposed step by step, such organic matter will be finally converted into water and gas with CH4 as a main ingredient—methane. Thanks to the very decomposition and conversion process, certain organic matters were transformed into coal, oil, and natural gas hundreds of millions of years ago. The same process, which took place in the geological period dating back hundreds of millions of years ago, is still in process now. Yet as assisted by modern technologies, the whole process can take only a few days or decades. With methane constituting 95 percent of total composition, fossil natural gas is very pure in essence. In contrast, besides 55 percent to 65 percent of methane, the biogas produced nowadays contains a large amount of mixed water vapor, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen, and other gases. Under the dual effect of anaerobic conditions and anaerobic microorganisms, the chemical equation for the decomposition of organic matter without nitrogen is: C6H12O6 → CH3(CH2)2COOH + 2H2 + 2CO2 4H2 + CO2 → CH4 + 2H2O Every coin has two sides. While methane is one of ideal clean energy, however, if it is released into the atmosphere arbitrarily, it will cause a greenhouse effect twenty-one times higher than that of carbon dioxide. Methane is responsible for 20 percent of the negative contribution to global warming. Chemical oxygen demand (COD), a common terminology in the environmental protection discipline, reveals the fact that large amounts of oxygen need to be consumed to decompose organic matter contained in industrial and domestic wastewater and sewage; meanwhile, the produced methane and carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere as byproducts, causing double harm to the environment. So the development and use of methane is an initiative with multibenefits.

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Biogas has been introduced to rural life in China for nearly four decades. It still remains a fledging duckling, if compared to the booming application of biogas in developed countries. However, on aspects of its wide application coverage and great benefits brought to farmers, it is as pretty as Cinderella. There are more than two hundred million rural households in China, which have lived a quite simple life over thousands of years with firewood and straw as the major domestic fuel. They are denied the privilege of access to clean and modern energy that is reserved to urban residents. What’s more, their way of life also trigger problems such as excessive deforestation and ecological degradation. The energy application in rural China really yearns for a brand new look. Since the 1970s, the Chinese government has made consistent efforts in promoting biogas across the rural area, making about five million of rural households beneficiaries of such domestic fuel. Since the year 2000, the government has doubled its efforts in providing favorable policy and funding aid to biogas development in rural China. At the end of 2005, nearly one hundred million farmers living in eighteen million urban households gained assess to a total of seven billion cubic meters of biogas supply, which also saved ten million tons of straw and firewood from serving as fuel. What’s more, 2,700,000,000 rural households are expected to join the biogas supply network in China in 2010. The glittering figures are unique in the world. China has fostered many mature technologies and valuable experiences in the fields of biogas digesters, anaerobic microbes, fermentation techniques, and biogas use after three decades of exploration and accumulation. For example, different fermentation methods, such as the semicontinuous feeding method, stratified charge method, bulk feeding method, dry fermentation process, and two-step fermentation process are available for different situations. Using altitude differences between the liquid surface of the water pressure room and the fermentation room to control the pressure of the biogas chamber is also another original invention contributed by China. The Chinese government promulgated a series of national standards and technologies for promotion, such as China Hydraulic Biogas Digester Atlas, Chinese Acceptance Criteria for Hydraulic Biogas Digester, and Small Biogas Stove. The main problems facing China’s application of biogas include: low biogas feed concentration, low conversion rate of fermentation material, poor biogas production rate, and poor operation stability and weak utilization channel. Based on individual households as a basic unit, China’s agricultural economy is characterized by such features as small-scale production, low productivity, apparent decentralization, and domestic fuel scantiness. Developing biogas for household use—the so-called China model—is the right solution adaptable to China’s actual conditions in rural areas. The

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United Nations FAO has vigorously promoted such a model to developing countries in the world as early as the 1970s and 1980s.

8.8. INDUSTRIALIZED BIOGAS: A NEW STAR Developed countries as represented by the United States and the EU, enjoying sound industry and technology foundations and free from the worry of a vast, backward, rural area like China’s, were at a position to set their sights on how to integrate modern industry and modern agriculture in a environmentally friendly and sustainable way at the very beginning of promoting biogas development. During the 1970s oil crisis, Brazil and the United States immersed themselves in developing ethanol, Sweden dived into biomass heating power, and Germany successfully built the world’s first industrial biogas project. A sufficient, timely, and continuous supply of raw materials is the premise for the industrialized production of biogas. Take Sweden, for example—its biogas development for industrial purposes is guaranteed by sound cooperation with large slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, or with urban sewage or organic waste treatment plants; and by special efforts in cultivating wheat plants for biogas production. Lund University of Sweden has developed a “two-step” biogas production technology with straw biomass as raw material and low-temperature (10°C) and high-yield (200 liters per kilogram) biogas production technology. The United States has found a good way to make the best use of its large- and medium-sized farms for biogas-based power generation and greenhouse heating. Such attempts ensure that heat and carbon dioxide generated in such farms can be recycled to the maximum degree, with excessive electricity sold to the grid. Relying on large-scale livestock farms, China has built about 1,500 large- and medium-sized biogas factories and industrial organic sewage biogas factories, with its annual biogas output staying around ten billion cubic meters in 2005 (NDRC, 2007). Regretfully, the large- and mediumsized livestock farms do not show high enthusiasm for the development of biogas. It is mainly because of the absence of matched distribution systems for the use of power generated by biogas. In such farm owners’ opinions, connection to the power grid is a far less expensive and convenient option. Beijing Deqingyuan chicken farm solved this problem in 2009 by establishing a large-scale heat, electricity, and fertilizer cogeneration project combining the production of biogas and 2 megawatts of electricity with chicken manure as raw material. With such a project in place, Beijing Deqingyuan not only meets its own demand for electricity but also can sell excessive electricity to the local power grid for additional income.

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Agricultural product processing industry is another good resource for industrial biogas development. The wastewater and sludge released by the former are rich in organic matter, which are both the source of pollution and the raw materials for biogas production. As a large sugar- and starch-producing province in China, Guangxi is also a major province with a wastewater discharge of high COD value. The up-flow anaerobic sludge bed-turbulent, laminar, and pulsation (UASB-TLP) technology for effective treatment of high concentration organic wastewater, which was jointly researched by the China Agricultural University Biomass Engineering Center and the Guangxi Bijia Company, was proved successful at the Zhanjiang Agronomic Group in Guangdong Province in February 2009, opening up a new way for the industrial production of biogas with a high concentration of organic wastewater discharged from sugar-making residue as raw material. In virtue of UASB-TLP technology, the Zhanjiang Agronomic Group could produce one hundred million cubic meters of biogas based on its 1.1 million tons of annual sugar output and three hundred thousand tons of annual companion molasses output.

8.9. INDUSTRIALIZED BIOGAS = NATURAL GAS In Sweden and Germany, the industrialized biogas will, after purification and compression, be directly sent into gas pipelines or be canned before reaching the marketplace or its final users. Biogas in Sweden is also widely used as motor fuel in Sweden. The purification compression technology is to remove hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen gas, and other miscellaneous chemicals from biogas (usually through washing, molecular sieve, activated carbon adsorption, and other physical methods, or an alkaline solution and other chemical methods) in the first place to make methane content no less than 97 percent, and then it goes through a compression process to produce compressed biogas (biogas for short), which shares the same components and traits as natural gas. Since CBG (compressed biogas) is generally transmitted through the natural gas pipe network, with main pipeline pressure of 8 megapascals (MPa), a biogas factory is built near a natural gas pipe network as a rule. It can also be canned and sent to users, too. In Sweden, the cost of compressed gas is less than 5 SEK per kg (1 SEK is equivalent to 1.02 RMB yuan), while the cost in China is estimated to be about 3 yuan according to China’s current technology and production conditions. Equiped with mature production technology, CBG enjoys huge market and economic prospects. With large energy density, CBG is easy to use and to be standardized and is convenient for storage, transportation, and trade. In addition to being canned and channeled to pipeline transportation, it is also com-

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monly used to substitute natural gas as transportation fuel in Europe. One cubic meter of methane is equivalent to 1.1 liters of motor gasoline. The greenhouse gas emission of a biogas vehicle is lower than that of an ethanol vehicle, and it is far less than that of a gasoline vehicle. Just like a natural gas vehicle, a biogas vehicle also has a dual-fuel system; namely, a gasoline tank and a methane tank under the pressure of 20 MPa. The critical pressure of methane is 4.58 MPa, and the critical temperature is –82.64°C. Since the density of methane is slightly lower than that of gasoline, a methane box is slightly larger than the latter one. One box of methane gas can sustain a car to travel 250 to 400 kilometers. Sweden’s Volvo Motor Company took the lead in introducing the first Volvo 850 dual-fuel (methane and gasoline) vehicle in 1996. Since then, a variety of methane-gasoline cars have sprung onto the market. Generally, dual-fuel vehicles are sold at a price 10 percent higher than that of a common one. Driven by rising oil prices, government incentives, and growing environmental awareness, dual-fuel vehicles showed a clear upward trend in sales performance. At the end of 2005, Sweden has more than five thousand biogas vehicles, more than seventy biogas stations, and a train running between Stockholm and the coastal area with biogas as fuel. In 2007, there were fifteen thousand biogas-fueled vehicles, of which thirteen thousand are cars, as well as more than one hundred biogas stations across the world. Currently, 4.1 million CBG-fueled vehicles and 8,300 CBG stations are put into service in the world (figure 8.1). Industrial biogas, a term put forward by Professor Cheng Xu as a distinction from household biogas prevalent in China’s rural areas, refers to biogas being generated through large-scale production and purification activities and being transported by pipe or gas cylinder (bottle) in a way like natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (Cheng, 2009). Witnessing a surging demand for natural gas and a huge gap in supply, Europe is now accelerating its pace for biogas development. China’s supply of natural gas is in serious shortage. Professor Cheng Xu recently wrote a paper to analyze the five major resources for industrial biogas production in China and technical and policy bottlenecks in the way toward biogas industrialization (Cheng et al., 2010). Professor Cheng concluded his article with an optimistic forecast that as a very promising biomass energy product, biogas’s midterm output potential is equivalent to ninety billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.

8.10. BIOMASS GASIFICATION AND HYDROGEN PRODUCTION Biomass gasification technology has served human society for over a hundred years. The first gasification reactor was born in 1883 with charcoal as the raw material. The gasified fuel was used to drive machines back then.

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Figure 8.1. Bio-gas station (upper left); fuel tanks for duel fuel automobile with left pipe adding gas and right adding liquid fuel (upper right). Bio-gas-driven bus in Linkoping (lower left) and intercity train driven by bio-gas in Göteborg, Sweden (lower right). Source: Cheng Xu, Li Shizhong

Since the 1970s, Europe, the United States, and other developed countries continued their efforts on biomass gasification research, aiming to have biomass converted into high-quality fuel such as high hydrogen gas and pyrolysis oil and to generate electricity in combination with gas turbines and fuel cells. Gasification research in China started in the 1980s, such as the up-suction biomass gasifier and circulation fluidized bed gasifier developed by the Guangzhou Institute of Energy and the Chinese Academy of Sciences; ND series biomass gasifier developed by the China Academy of Agricultural Mechanization Sciences; XFL series straw gasifier developed by the Shandong Institute of Energy; wood carbonization process developed by Dalian Institute of Environmental Sciences; and rice husk gasification power generation technology developed by Hongyan Machinery Factory under the Ministry of Commerce, and so on. At present, more than five hundred straw gasification stations have been built across China to provide gas for farmers. Though the biomass gasification process is simple, with low demand on equipment, it suffers some setbacks as low energy conversion efficiency (only 60 percent to 70 percent of biomass energy could be converted), low calorific value (the calorific value of one cubic meter of biogas is 4 to 6

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MJ), high tar level, and pollution threat from tar and particulates. Biomass gasification technology has gradually faded away in Europe, along with the improvement of biomass (including briquette) direct-fired heating technology as well as power generation and cogeneration technology (the thermal efficiency now exceeds 90 percent thanks to such technical innovation). It is predicted that in the future the syngas obtained through the gasification of biomass will either go through FT (Fischer-Tropsch) synthesis before it is turned into biodiesel or a chemical product or be purified and compressed to replace natural gas. Hydrogen is a clean energy with high heat value. The rapid development of the hydrogen storage technology (such as hydride alloy) and fuel cell technology hold great promise for the possibility that hydrogen can be used as fuel to drive a car. And the hydrogen-powered vehicles have become a highlight in the modern motor show. Hydrogen can be produced by three methods: water electrolysis, water and gas conversion, and methane pyrolysis. The latest hydrogen production technology in the United States has enabled the cost of hydrogen produced from natural gas to be reduced down to US$3.6 per gallon from $5 per gallon. Relatively speaking, hydrogen bioproduction is economical in cost, with waste able to be recycled and free from the disadvantage of high-energy consumption as observed in other hydrogen production methods. Along with the promulgation of the Energy Act in August 2005, the United States earmarked US$3.7 billion for hydrogen and fuel cell research and infrastructure construction to promote hydrogen vehicles. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) as well as the Science and Technology Department kicked off a twenty-eight-year-long program for hydrogen bioproduction in 1995. The European Commission and International Energy Agency also launched a large-scale hydrogen bioproduction research program in 1996 and 1999, respectively. Photosynthetic bacteria are usually used in hydrogen bioproduction. In spite of the fact that such bioproduction is simple in requirement, low in cost, and free from light, its production efficiency is low and hard to control. Pure hydrogen-producing bacteria as produced in anaerobic fermentation can also be resorted to for hydrogen bioproduction; however, such an approach is not suitable for industrial production due to the complexity of the raw materials. Italy’s ETA Company developed hydrogen production technology by directly gasifying biomass with a simple process, a fast production space, and significantly lower cost than hydrogen production with biomass electrolysis and ethanol. Europe now is actively promoting such technology. While hydrogen still remained in the limelight, the U.S. Energy Policy Committee, the very first advocate of the hydrogen-powered vehicle, has made it quite clear in its 2004 annual report that compared with gasolinepowered vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles will be still noncompetitive

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in three key indicators, such as the supply of raw materials, emission reduction of carbon dioxide, and compatibility with the existing infrastructure until 2020. According to the prediction made by the American Academy of Sciences, only with another half century’s dogged research could the superiority of hydrogen be shown. Ten Chinese academicians also aired their opinion in a joint letter of suggestion in 2006: “A long-term plan should be worked out for the research of the hydrogen fuel cell. Key problems concerning raw material and technical issues should be solved in a steady and pragmatic way. Special attentions should be given to research subjects like environmental adaptability, product reliability, extended life circle, low-cost material and components. It is no good for us going for a ‘car update’ rush, or, even more terrible, hasty mass production.” In April 2009, U.S. Energy secretary Steven Chu cut funding for the research of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle on the grounds that the fuel cell costs are high with poor durability, it is tough to solve hydrogen compression technology challenges for high-capacity vehicles, and national hydrogen station networks are absent in the United States for now.

REFERENCES Cheng, X. “Prospect of Industrialized Methane Production and Use in China.” PowerPoint presentation, April 27, 2009. Cheng, X., J. G. Liang, H. S. Zheng, and W. B. Zhu. “Prospect of Industrialized Methane Production and Application in China.” Chinese Journal of Agricultural Engineering 26, no. 5 (2010): 1–6. CRS. Report for Congress. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007: A Summary of Major Provisions, December 21, 2007. Accessed August 2010. http:// www.seco.noaa.gov/Energy/2007_Dec_21_Summary_Security_Act_2007.pdf. Huber, G, and B. E. Dale. “Grassoline at the Pump.” Scientific American, July 2009. Li, S. Z. Cellulosic Ethanol Production Technology, 2006. (unpublished) Liu, T. N. Fuel Ethanol and China. Beijing: Economic Science Press, 2003. NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission). China Medium- and LongTerm Development Plan on Renewable Energies, 2007. Accessed July 2010. http:// www.sdpc.gov.cn/zcfb/zcfbtz/2007tongzhi/W020070904607346044110.pdf. (In Chinese) SRRCRE (Strategic Research Group on China Renewable Energies). China Academy of Engineering Consultant Group for Key Projects. Series on Development Strategy of China Renewable Energy. Biomass Energy. Beijing: China Electric Power Press, 2008. (In Chinese) USDE and USDA. Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply, April 2005. Wang, M. “Updated Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Results of Fuel Ethanol.” PowerPoint presentation on the 15th International Symposium on Alcohol Fuels, San Diego, California, September 26–28, 2005.

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PART III SOLID BIOFUEL 9.1. BIOMASS COMBUSTION AND BIOMASS-COAL COMBUSTION: MORE DAUNTING THAN IMAGINATION There is a biogas train heading from Stockholm, Sweden, with a slogan reading “Biogas Can Drive All Vehicles.”

Without the trouble of going through liquefaction and gasification, solid biofuel can serve as fuel directly or after slight processing. You might ask: “Adding firewood and straw to a stove for cooking and warmth— wasn’t that a natural and simple thing for farmers to do for the past thousands of years?” Yes, it was. However, it will be a totally different thing to throw hundreds or thousands of tons of firewood or straw into a large boiler. Could you do this for cooking and heating for your own family? Do you agree that living with a US$1,000 monthly salary and managing an energy project worth of hundreds of millions of dollars are two totally different things? It is by no means an easy job to put a large amount of low-density and loose fuel into a huge stove and let it burn fully with thermal efficiency improved from 10 percent to 30 percent, or even to 90 percent. This is a really big issue, for which polytechnic universities open courses such as Thermal Physics, Combustion Science, and so on to carry out in-depth studies. In addition, raw material collection and transportation are also 163

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big problems. It is an arduous task to transport 0.2 million tons of straw, which are scattered over farmland with a radius of one or two hundred kilometers, to power plants in a timely and continuous manner for a twenty-five-megawatt generating unit each year with minimal power consumption and lowest cost. Using biomass directly or mixing it with coal to generate heating or power in Europe has a long history. Finland developed biomass-coal combustion fluidized bed stove technology in 1970; the Denmark Energy2 power station runs five thousand hours yearly, with forty thousand tons of straw consumption to generate forty-nine million kilowatts of electricity and 360 terajoules of heat (energy efficiency is about 30 percent). The direct-fired energy efficiency of the Sweden Umea Energy waste thermal power plant also reaches 30 percent; Denmark, Austria, and other European countries invented the boiler for electricity generation by using a mixed fuel of biomass and coal. Thanks to its more than three hundred power plants with mixed fuel of biomass and coal, the United States boasted an installed capacity of 9800 megawatts and electricity generation capable of thirty-seven billion kilowatts per hour in 2004. And the electricity generation output by direct-fired biomass accounted for 70 percent of the total output by renewable resources in the United States (Li, 2005). Forest waste wood and forestry residues are major direct-fired biomass used for electricity generation in Europe and the United States, while crop straws are rarely used. Following the order requiring some state-run power plants to add a certain proportion of biomass fuel as power generation raw material, the Chinese government introduced subsidies to support biomass electricity. In 2004, the National Development and Reform Commission gave official approval for the construction of three straw-fueled power generation demonstration plants. Later, with investment from the National Bio Energy Group, dozens of straw-fueled power generation plants were under construction across Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, Hebei, and other provinces. By the end of 2008, ten sets of 30 MW and seven sets of 12 MW power generators were officially put into operation (Zhuang, 2008). The Inner Mongolia Mu Us Biomass Thermo Electron Corporation, a private enterprise in the energy field, invested 270 million yuan to collect psammophytes such as the flat stubble branches of Salix as raw material to generate electricity at the power of 25 MW per hour. It was a very successful attempt to combine biomass power generation and desertification control. Traditional boilers are designed to adapt to the characteristics of coal combustion. As raw material for power generation, crop straw is bulky in volume; impure with alkali metals (potassium, sodium, etc.), silicon, and chlorine ions; easy to form slag in high temperatures and will block

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furnace flues; and highly corrosive. The medium- and small-sized furnaces developed by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences have dedicated bores, grates, and special burners that fit biomass fuels of high ash content, as well as additives to make the slag crash easily. In addition, the large boilers are equipped with bubbling, fluidized beds and mixed with 5 percent of peat for combustion. The China National Bio Energy Group also owns advanced technology and furnaces for straw-based power generation. It is true that biomass is usually adopted by small power plants of less than 20 MW, due to such setbacks as low energy density, low thermal efficiency, transportation difficulty, and low investment returns when compared with coal-based power generation. However, they can do a great job in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as a kind of sustainable clean energy. Biomass is sold for 200 to 250 RMB yuan per ton, providing new income sources and employment opportunities for famers. These social benefits are far beyond the reach of coal electricity and are particularly important for developing countries.

9.2. BRIQUETTE—BIO COAL Often seen in paintings and photographs for its elegant beauty, the fireplace is a landmark facility in European families. The European energy revolution also originated from fireplaces. In Europe, wood and charcoal served as the dominating fireplace fuel until the twentieth century, when European households gradually adopted coal, oil, or gas. Fossil energy gradually retreated from the traditional domain in the late twentieth century to make a place for biomass pellet fuel. As one type of solid fuel, pellet fuel was as widely accessible as briquette and honeycomb briquette in Chinese cities in olden times. Besides, it is very clean, convenient, highly combustible, and environmentally friendly. Mounding fuel is made by crushed residues collected from forests and forest product processing sites, or crop straws without the heating process and application of adhesives. Mounding fuel can be directly compressed into granular pellets or block briquettes. After going through such a simple process, mounding fuel has its energy density increased, and it makes it well accepted by the market for its convenience in packing and transportation. While the thermal efficiency of firewood in an ordinary stove is slightly higher than 10 percent, that of direct-fired biomass in industrial boilers is about 30 percent, and that of mounding fuel is more than 30 percent. Mounding fuel can be used for household cooking and heating, industrial boilers, the generation of electricity and liquid gas, and for raw materials of biochemical products.

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In 1973 when the global oil crisis broke out, oil was the source for 70 percent of heating energy in Sweden. In 2003, bioenergy satisfied 68.5 percent of the total energy consumption in Sweden, providing heating throughout the country at the level of 38.5 TW per hour (1 TW hour = 1 billion kW hour). The industrial use of biomass fuels reached the level of 51.2 TW hours, far higher than that of oil (22.4 TW hours) and coal (16.6 TW hours) (Li, 2005). Black coal evolved into “green coal,” and fossil oil was replaced by the “green oil” in Sweden as driven by the crisis. The annual briquette consumption in Sweden, a European country with nine million people, is two million tons, namely 200 kg per capita. The number in Denmark, another European country with six million people, is 0.7 million tons, namely one-hundred-plus kg per capita. Please refer to figure 9.1 for the raw material composition of biofuel energy production and the deployment of pellet fuel in the EU. The Second World Conference of Biomass Briquette was jointly held with the World Biomass Conference in Sweden in 2006. There were many kinds of pellet and chip-mounding machinery such as special boilers and power generation equipment on display in mechanical equipment shows for the promotion of biomass briquette production and application. European countries developed their own standards of briquette, such as the ONORM M 1735 of Austria, SS 187120 and SS 187121 of Sweden, SSDIN 51731 of Germany, CTI-R 04/5 of Italy, and CEN/TS 14961 of European Union classification criteria, and so on. Briquette also enjoys sound logistics service in Europe. Dedicated delivery vehicles will bring briquettes to each household and power generation plant. The force transmission performance of biomass is poor. However, by shortening the force transmission distance and giving shear force, the cellulose molecules wrapped by lignin will get dislocated, deformed, and extended, thus enabling adjacent celluloses of biomass to interlock with each other and recombine into a new shape under small pressure. Manufacturing mechanical equipment based on this principle is capable of making biomass compress at room temperature without any additives or adhesives under natural moisture conditions. In the 1950s, Japan successfully developed the impact briquetting machine. In the 1980s, particleforming technology gained a breakthrough, and screw extrusion technology gained universal applications. Italy also developed the technology to make biomass take shape at the conditions of high moisture content (50 percent) and room temperature. Jilin Hong Ri Biomass Fuel Company, which succeeded in developing a full set of pellet fuel manufacturing equipment with an annual output of twelve thousand tons, contracted a four-star hotel with 40,000 m2 heating areas in Changchun City in 2008. When pellet fuel was adopted as a displacement to traditional bunker coal, Jilin Hong Ri brought the

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Figure 9.1. Constituents of bio-energy production in 25 member countries in EU (left); Europe-wide distribution of pellet fuel in 2005-2006(right). Source: Photographed by Cheng Xu at 2006 World Conference on Bio-energy.

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thermal efficiency of the hotel up to 83 percent, with 50 percent cost cut and a more prominent environmental effect.

9.3. 97 PERCENT! BIOENERGY COMBINE The thermal efficiency of different combustion ways, though all powered by biomass fuels, are highly different. For example, the thermal efficiency of an ordinary stove is 10 percent, a direct-fired boiler 30 percent, and a briquette boiler 40 percent. The thermal efficiency of “Bioenergy Combine,” which has developed rapidly in recent years in Europe, can be as high as 80 percent or even 97 percent. The 2006 World Bioenergy Conference was held in Jonkoping City, a small town in Sweden with the population of thirty-eight thousand, where the first biofuel boiler was born in 1982 and the first bioenergy combined boiler and generators were installed in 1992. Jonkoping City also worked out an annual 350 MW electricity generation plan in 2002 based on briquette fuel (with shrubs—artemisia willow [Salix, Viminalis L.] as raw material) and bioenergy combine technologies. The Kraft Thermoelectric Factory in Sweden is the pioneer in the world in realizing the commercialized joint generation of biomass-based power and heat as well as pellet processing. A large bioenergy combine plant in Sweden, which installed a fluidized bed boiler, began to run in 1996. Poor-quality wood and slices processed from logging residues are used as fuels to generate electricity, then the afterheat of electricity generation is used to supply heat and to process pellet fuel. The Sweden plant registers an annual heat supply of 57 MW, electricity generation of 34 MW, pellet output of 130,000 tons, with energy conversion efficiency up to 86 percent. The Storuman-seated bioenergy combine project even targets a higher energy conversion efficiency of 97 percent (Atterhem, 2009). Among district heating for different purposes, community heating generally is at the energy level of 200 kW, primary and secondary heating 95 kW, and household heating and power generation 60 kW. In line with the situations of towns and villages, Italy developed village power plant technology. With briquette, straw, and wood chips as fuel, it takes oil as a medium in the boiler to heat silicone and to produce steam to drive the internal combustion engine for electricity generation. In a view to seek more economical and environmentally friendly biomass raw materials, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences developed a mixture formation and combustion technology by mixing 30 percent of waste and 70 percent of energy crops (Reed canary grass) to solve the problem of excessive dioxin emissions during the combustion process of garbage. Among others, the Reed canary grass cultivated by

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the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Miscanthus cultivated by the German Bavaria Biomass Technology and Renewable Raw Materials Research Center, and the fast-growing poplar cultivated by the University of Pisa, Italy, are all high-yield energy plants good at displacing fossil fuels.

9.4. TWO CASES Now I would like to introduce two cases concerning briquette and bioenergy combine applications from Li Shizhong’s diary of his visit to four European countries to study biomass energy (Li, 2005). Case 1: Generation of heating and power by biopellet fuel in Skellefea of Sweden. On July 1, 2005, I left hotel at 6:15 a.m. and arrived at Arlanda Airport of Stockholm at 7:00, boarding flight SK1012 which took off at 9:00 and arrived at Skellefea airport at 10:20. Lars Atterhem, the manager of Kraft Thermo Electron Corporation in Skellefea City welcomed me at the airport with his colleagues. There is a 300 kW boiler installed in airport responsible for providing 1 GW heating every year. Formerly relying on oil or electricity as fuel, the boiler turned to pellet in 2004. Its annual pellet consumption is 150 tons and the price of pellet is 1,800 Swedish krona per ton. The thermal efficiency of pellet is 40 percent. Fuel quantity detector in the fuel feed system is connected to Kraft Company, the fuel supplier, for a real-time supervision. Dedicated truck with a load capability of 35 tons will be employed to deliver pellet through the automatic feeding system to the boiler. After leaving the airport, the delegation visited the heating system based on a 50 kW boiler, which provides heating for 50 units. Only with small proportion of oil tanks left as backup, the majority of oil tanks are replaced by pellet biofuel storage warehouse. In Skellefea City, Kraft Company operates more than 40 heating systems, each of which is equipped with 2,000 kW boiler and uses pellet biofuel to provide heat for 5,000 residents in more than 40 communities. The investment for each system is between 10 million to 12 million Swedish krona. It is quite amazing that only 5–6 staff is needed to see to the sound operation of the 40-plus systems. The cogeneration factories for heat, electricity and pellet biofuel in Skellefea City generate electricity and heating through mixed combustion of peat and biomass, mainly including sawdust and wood chip, in boiler. The surplus heat is then employed at the same time to dry the raw material for pellets biofuel. In return, the high-pressure steam, low-pressure

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steam and energy released from the process of pellet biofuel production are used to generate electricity. The overall energy exploitation efficiency in such factories is 86 percent, dwarfing that observed in traditional heating system (only at 45 percent). Case 2: Pellet fuel plant with wheat straw as raw material in Copenhagen, Denmark. On July 3, 2005, after busy traveling from Umea Airport to Stockholm Airport and then to Copenhagen Airport, we finally accommodated at Scandic Hotel at night. The next day, we visited a pellet fuel plant which consumes 110,000 tons of wheat straw on a yearly basis to produce 110,000 tons of pellet fuel. Through dock built by the factory, the pellet fuel can be directly carried away by ship. Bundles of straw are crushed with debris sorted out, before they are channeled into molding equipment for pellet production. The plant owns 12 molding equipment of 3.5 tons/hour, with total investment of 180 million Danish krona. Danish produces 6 million tons of grain and 600,000 tons of straw-based pellet fuel every year. In the afternoon, we visited Energy2 straw power generation plant. The plant consumed 40,000 tons of straw each year to produce steam for power generation. The heat value of straw is 14.5 GJ/kg (1 GJ = 109 J). While the steam generated from straw combustion is used for electricity generation, the flue gas is utilized for heat generation. The combustion efficiency of straw is 89 percent with 33.4 MJ of heat produced every second. The boiler produces gas 12 kg/s. It works for 4,990 hours and boots 5 times annually, producing 49 JKW of electricity per hour and 360 TJ of heat each year. The ash content in straw is about 5 percent. The factory paid farmers to fetch ash back to their field as soil conditioner.

PART IV: BIO-BASED PRODUCTS 9.5 PLASTIC: GREAT AND TERRIBLE INVENTION The twentieth century witnessed great material prosperity in human society. Plastic was both hailed as one of the greatest inventions of the twentieth century by the public in retrospect, and it ranked in the list of “the worst invention of the 20th century,” an evaluation made by the Guardian in the United Kingdom. Plastics have too many adorable features. For example, it can be shaped and made into a membrane by mould pressing, laminating, injecting, squeezing, blow molding, and casting. Plastic has a light texture; a high specific strength; great resistance against acid, alkali, corrosion, and wear; a great tolerance for shock and sound absorption; good insulation and is

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translucent; and is easy to be colored. Besides, the raw material of plastic is easy to get, and plastic can be mass produced with low cost. Plastic can be widely used in industry and agriculture, construction, packaging, and daily life as well as in aviation, aerospace, communication engineering, computers, the military, and other fields. Plastic is almost seen everywhere and every minute. With so many excellent performances in one, it is no wonder that plastic ends up being recognized as one of the greatest inventions of the twentieth century. As early as in 1868, celluloid was invented as the very first plastic product, by nitrifying the natural cellulose and using camphor as a plasticizer. It ushered in the history of plastic. Leo Baekeland, a chemist from the United States, came up with the first synthetic plastic in the world by heating and mould-pressing phenolic resin in 1909. Amino plastic (aniline formaldehyde plastic), another kind of synthetic plastic, was created in 1920. Both of the two synthetic plastics made significant contributions to the electric industry and equipment manufacturing industry back then. Large-scale production and the use of plastic appeared in the 1940s, along with the immense exploitation of petroleum resources and great advances in petrochemical technology. A polymer revolution was later made possible thanks to the emergence of polyethylene, polypropylene, unsaturated polyester, epoxy resins, and other raw materials. With the impact of a falling mountain torrent, a wide variety of plastic products rushed into people’s lives. Currently, the world’s annual consumption of plastic is two hundred million tons, registering an average annual growth rate of 7.6 percent in recent years, much higher than other industries. During this decade, the sales of plastic doubled in the United States, accounting for one-fourth of global plastic consumption. According to the latest report published by Research and Markets Company, the consumption of packaging membrane like polyethylene and polypropylene make up one-fourth of the plastic raw material in the world. Europe and North America alone consume 30 percent of the global plastic membrane supply. China now is a really big producer, consumer, and importer of plastic in the world. Registering an average annual growth rate of 10 percent strong in recent years, China boasts an apparent consumption of nearly forty-five million tons, accounting for one-fifth of the total global consumption. Despite the extremely rapid development, plastic still can’t escape from the governing rule in the universe: “No extreme will hold long.” The complex structure of organic polymer, the underlying reasons behind the great properties of plastic, is also the decisive factor leading to its notorious trait—nonbiodegradable under its natural state for hundreds of years. It might not be such a panic problem if plastic was not so popular. However, due to its fabulous usefulness at a low price, the “white

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pollution” pervades its way into each corner of our cities. All-pervasive plastic products are dancing with the wind in the streets, swaggering above tree branches and power grids after being deserted by people. Plastic waste such as mineral water bottles and fast-food boxes are scattered along railways and highways, and drifting on the surface of lakes. What’s more, the plastic trash flowing into the sea also causes many problems, such as entangling with propellers and being swallowed by seabirds and sea turtles. The soil is also duped by plastic. On the surface, a farmland covered with plastic membrane witnesses increased soil moisture and yield, however, the growing debris of plastic buried among the soil leads to declined soil fertility. Soil is the birthland for human beings. “Drinking poison to quench thirst”—what a silly and horrifying approach it is! Plus, the residual vinyl chloride monomer in PVC plastics can cause people’s upper phalanx to melt, the face to bloat, the skin to harden, and other fatal diseases such as liver cancer. Plastic food boxes and packages as well as other plastic products will release carcinogens at the temperature of more than 60°C or when mixed with fat. Every year, human beings produce some eighty to one hundred million tons of plastic waste. They cannot be buried because they have great resistance to biodegradation, nor can they be burned because they will emit of a great deal of hydrogen chloride and highly poisonous dioxin. It is really a “hot potato.” In 1975, the United States first proposed to ban PVC plastic from food and beverage packages. Later, world governments also developed their own policies of limiting plastic usage, which were implemented seriously by most companies and shops to help alleviate the unbearable plastic burden suffered by Earth. Just as the old Chinese sayings state: “No extreme will hold long,” “Things will develop in the opposite direction when they become extreme” and “Danger is the next neighbor to security,” the trajectory of plastic from its birth to prime time and to being widely accused of polluting the environment also echoes with such permanent truths. It also sounds reasonable for plastic to be named as the best and the most terrible invention of the twentieth century. Sure enough, Albert Einstein’s mass energy equivalence equation is one of the greatest discoveries of the twentieth century, but it also brings the disaster of the atomic bomb to humans. Humans, the greatest masterpiece of biological evolution, are also the culprits for deteriorating Earth and its biosphere. Fossil energy is the dual causes of brilliant industrial civilization as well as global warming and environmental pollution. It appears that far from an exception, plastic also has its dual nature. Science and technology in themselves are a two-edged sword, too, which should be under good control of the human conscience and reason.

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9.6. SUBSTITUTES OF GREAT ARE MORE THAN GREAT There are many kinds of alternatives to fossil energy—nuclear power, hydropower, wind power, solar power, biomass power, hydrogen power, and so on. However, just like the old saying reveals, “There is only one road leading to the top of Mountain Huashan,” only one substance, biologically based plastic, can replace petroleum-based plastic. The solution not only tackles the “white pollution” problem but also guarantees the sustainability of raw material. In addition to conserving the greatness of plastic, the solution also does a great job of getting rid of the terrible aspects of plastic. The twentieth century is, if we can say, the century of petroleum-based plastic, then the twenty-first century should be the century in which petroleum-based plastic will be gradually replaced by bio-based plastic. However, the gestation, birth, and growth of bio-based plastic is doomed to be a long and eventful process. Please refer to table 9.1 for China’s plastic products and production conditions in 2007. Biodegradable plastic refers to plastic that is produced with biomass as raw materials, has similar traits and price-quality ratio as petroleumbased plastics, and can be degraded by microbial activity. People were preoccupied with attempts to make “disintegrating plastic” back in the 1970s and 1980s. The core idea of such attempts is to mix starch or calcium carbonate with (petroleum-based) polyolefin material and then introduce light and (or) thermal as well as a degradable catalyst to have polyolefin disintegrate and starch/calcium carbonate components disintegrate in a biological way. Plastics manufactured based on this idea, namely plastic degradable by a light, heat, and biology catalyst, once was very popular in the United States and Japan and other countries. However, the additive that can be degraded and causes disintegration Table 9.1.

Plastic products and outputs of China in 2007

Product Plastic film Film for agriculture use Foam materials Packing box Knitting Utensils

Output (104 ton year–1)

Share in Total Plastic Products (%)

605.1 96.1

18.3 2.9

Molded sheet Pipes

138.1 166.3 404.2 371.0

4.2 5.0 12.2 11.2

Artificial leather Synthetic leather Others Total

Product

Output (104 ton year–1)

Share in Total Plastic Products (%)

345.4 331.8

10.5 10.1

105.0 62.5 676.8 3302.3

3.2 1.9 20.5 100.0

Note: Data is acquired from the China Light Industry Statistical Yearbook 2008.

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accounts for only 10 percent, while 90 percent of disintegrated debris or fine particles are still nondegradable petroleum-based plastics. It cannot solve the problem of white pollution, so it gradually lost its popularity in the early 1990s. Later, the experts shifted attention to biomass plastic precursors that used starch as the material for fermentation or directly biosynthesized biomass plastic. The representative one is polylactic acid (PLA), which is produced by using starch as raw material to produce lactic acid after fermentation and then having lactic acid polymerized. The energy consumed to generate PLA (5.12 × l07 J/ kg) is 30 percent lower than that for oil-based plastic (such as the energy consumption for high-pressure polyethylene is 8.07 x l07 J/kg). The polylactic acid production plant built by U.S. Cargill was put into production in 2001, with an annual output of 140,000 tons. This was really a landmark achievement. Using natural polymer to prepare biodegradable products is also a viable solution. While U.S. Warner Lambert and Italy Novamont took the lead in developing thermoplastic starch, Japan’s Toyota churned out automotive parts with sweet-potato-starch-based plastic and published an article titled “Sweet Potato Saves the Planet.” The biodegradable plastic processed with cornstarch by Japan’s Fujitsu has been used as computer casing. In addition, Star Tektronix and KTM produced a large number of PLA packaging materials. Natural polymer is renewable, biodegradable, environmently friendly and has good biocompatibility. However, it also has certain disadvantages, such as less satisfying molding performance and mechanical and thermal stability compared with petroleum-based plastic. Polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxy butyrate (PHB), polyhydroxy valerate ester (PHV), and a copolymer of carbon dioxide and epoxide (PPC) are fully degradable polymer material that can be mass produced by developed countries at present. The production cost of fully degradable polymer material is high. Among those, PLA is the one with the least expensive cost. The price of PLA biorenewable plastic packaging materials produced by Cargill was reduced from US$1 to sixty-three cents per pound in 2006, but it is still 50 percent higher than petroleum-based plastic. Therefore, technical improvements and policy support are the key driving forces for its development in the early stages. The price war between bio-based plastic and petroleum-based plastic will not die out soon. Currently, a more advanced technology route and industry development direction for the production of fully degradable biological material with good performance, low cost, and a controllable degradation cycle is aimed at the thorough modification and plastification of starch. For this purpose, great efforts should be made to tackle theoretical problems such

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as molecular design, molecular trim, and the chemical modification of synthesized polymer material with biological degradable characteristics, as well as technical challenges for the modification of starch and the mixation of synthesized polymer.

9.7. MISSION FACING CHINA: BIODEGRADABLE PLASTIC FILM Biodegradable plastic film is a special product adaptive to special needs. It needs to overcome much more technical difficulties than common biodegradable plastics. China is a monsoon climate country with distinct wet and dry seasons, confronting drought as a major threat in agricultural production. In the 1980s, China began to promote covered plastic film techniques, which can increase soil moisture and soil surface temperature, resulting in a 30 percent increase in agricultural output. Therefore, farmers highly welcomed it. Every year, plastic film covers about ten million hectares of farmland in China. However, along with increased agricultural output, film fragments that cannot be degraded for hundreds of years has been deposited on the soil surface, leading to the compromised growth of crop root, worsened soil physical properties, and declined fertility. Agricultural output began to decrease within less than ten years. As a bad side effect of years of plastic film application, plastic debris was piled up on some cotton field surfaces of the Xinjiang Legionary Farm at the intensity of 30 kg per mu. Considering the fact that the crop field would suffer a serious decline in output if the intensity reaches 40 kg per mu, the leader of the farm ordered all plastic film scattered on the farmland to be collected and recycled. In fact, the best way to solve the problem is to invent a film with all acclaimed merits remaining and that can be timely degraded. This is biodegradable plastic film, indeed. Much more demands are imposed on agriculture-purposed film than general plastic film. For example, it should be very translucent and good at heat preservation; no water should be condensed under the film; it should be tough and resilient enough for manual or mechanical operations; it should be able to withstand the impact of sun and rain and sudden cold and hot; it should degrade neither too fast nor too slow; and it should be cheap enough for farmers to bear. It turns out that Chinese experts and enterprises are expected to make themselves the solvers of such extremely demanding research tasks because the film is mainly used in China more so than other countries. While some wavering experts have retreated from the field, some still persist with great commitment. Now the popular technical route is to copolymerize and blend polylactic acid with aliphatic polyester of high

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toughness and resilience. That is to say, a large number of active groups in natural polymers such as hydroxyl and amino monomer will react with aliphatic polyester or prepolymer to improve the toughness and resilience of natural polymer materials. China has made significant progress in the field, but it still has a long way to go. China has not only achieved fruitful research results in bioplastics (thermoplastic starch) but also realized the massive manufacture of sheet, foam material, thin film, woven goods, and filler for tableware and packages. As a result of higher costs and the lack of necessary support policies, such achievements are difficult to enter into the domestic market and are mainly exported to Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asian countries. In recent years, Japan and South Korea have allowed the combination of starch and oil-based plastic to produce partially degradable packing material and membrane materials, with the content of starch staying about 50 percent. This is really a sound transitional product with good performance. The efforts to replace petroleum-based plastic with bio-based plastic have continued for twenty or thirty years. Although many technical problems still remain unsolved and the cost pressure is still high, researchers have gradually gained clear ideas, and the technical route and policy and market environment also have been greatly improved. In the past, the primary task was to control “the white pollution.” Now the task of finding an ideal replacement for petroleum is also needed. According to the current manufacturing capability that 1.1 tons of oil is needed for the production of one ton of oil-based plastic, the world would need to spend 6 percent of its oil reserve to produce plastic (China, 8 percent). That is to say, we both need to produce and control “pollutants” at great expense. Rather than resorting to an ineffectual makeshift, we should take a drastic measure to shoot the underlying problems—speed up the research and development of a bioplastic alternative.

9.8. BIO-BASED CHEMICAL PRODUCTS: PERPETUAL FOUNDATION Mainstay polymers before the age of oil, such as ethylene, butadiene, and vinyl acetate, all were produced with bioethanol as raw material. However, bioethanol and other chemical products were quickly pushed out from the market along with the thriving, large-scale mining activities and decreased price of oil. After one hundred years, bio-based materials and chemical products made an unexpected comeback to replace oil-based products. Just like bio-based plastic, whose uniqueness is compared with the saying of “only one road onto Huashan forever,” biobased chemical products are also the unrivaled peculiar one compared

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with other renewable energy sources and new energy material. That is also why I choose the title of “Bio-based Chemical Products: Perpetual Foundation” with sure confidence. Alcohol itself is a basic organic chemical product, with such derivatives as ethylene, butadiene, ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol, ethanolamine acetaldehyde, butyric, aldehyde, paraldehyde, butyraldehyde, b-hydroxy-butyric aldehyde, acetic acid, acetic anhydride and pyridine, picoline, nicotinic acid amide, nicotinic acid, and other downstream chemical products. Biodiesel has such symbiotic products as glycerol, fatty acids, methyl ester, and ester derivatives. Aliphatic ester of biodiesel can be used not only as fuel but also for the production of surfactants, industrial solvents, plastics and plasticizer, industrial chemicals, agricultural chemicals, lubricants, adhesives, and more. As one new application of glycerol, 1,3-propyleneglycol can produce new fiber products equivalent to Sorona by DuPont. What follows is a brief introduction of several main downstream organic chemical products of bioethanol and biodiesel. This section is mainly based on the relevant content drafted by Professor Li Shizhong and collected in the book that I edited, China Renewable Energy Development Strategy Research Series, Volume of Biomass Energy (SRRCRE, 2008). Bio-based ethylene develops after getting rid of one water molecule from ethanol. This is the very process of ethylene production before oil has been widely applied. As one basic organic raw material, ethylene is one of the important symbols to measure a country’s petrochemical industry level. Ethylene is mainly used to produce polyethylene, vinyl chloride, ethylene oxide and styrene glycol, ethyl benzene, acetaldehyde, acetic acid, vinyl acetate, and a-olefin. Various derivatives of ethylene can be further processed into PVC (polystyrene, polyethylene, synthetic), synthetic fibers (terylene), synthetic rubber ethylene (propylene rubber), and other synthetic materials. Global consumption of ethylene in 2004 is 103.66 million tons, 57.5 percent of which were used to produce polyethylene, 14.1 percent for the production of ethylene glycol ethylene oxide, and 13.2 percent for the production of PVC. Ethylene is mainly gained from naphtha/condensate oil and gas with the steam cracking method. Generally speaking, by fluidized bed dehydration technology, the consumption of alcohol can be decreased and the purity increased from 95.0 percent to 99.3 percent. Molecular-sieve-type catalytic technology can be deployed to decrease the reaction temperature. In recent years, China’s ethylene output has leaped to third place in the world, registering an average annual output growth rate of 7.6 percent and an annual total output of 6.06 million tons by sixteen ethylene production enterprises. With the rapid growth of domestic ethylene production, ethylene import

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has been reduced to below one hundred thousand tons, but the import dependence of downstream products is still up to 63 percent. Ethylene finds its biggest market in polyethylene production. Thanks to the integrated domestic production of ethylene and ethylene downstream products, ethylene produced by the sixteen ethylene production enterprises can not only sustain their self consumption demand but also offer raw material to others for downstream production. Ethylene oxide and Ethylene glycol ethylene oxide (EO) is mainly used for producing important fine petrochemical intermediates—ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, ethanol amine, glycol ether, and ethylene oxide compounds, and more—which are widely used in cleaning, electronics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, textiles, papers, automobiles, petroleum extraction and refining, and many other fields. At present, almost all industrialized production of EO in the world rely on direct oxidation of ethylene by applying silver as a catalyst. High-performance catalysts are expected to be developed in the future to reduce the consumption of ethylene. There are eleven enterprises equipped with cogeneration facilities for ethylene oxide/glycol in China, with a production capacity up to 1.14 million tons a year and commodity output around 332,000 tons in 2004. Despite the leap in the growth of EO output in recent years, the hottest market demand is mainly for downstream products as represented by ethylene glycol. The import volume of the downstream products of ethylene oxide in 2004 is about 3.25 million tons of ethylene oxide equivalent. Ethylene glycol is mainly used to produce polyester (PET), which is raw material for all kinds of containers for beverages, food, medicines, and daily necessities. The demand is very high. In 2004, China consumed 4.3161 million tons of ethylene glycol, 92 percent of them for the production of polyester and the rest used for antifreeze engine cooling systems in automobiles and as part of the raw materials of chemical products. In recent years, the import of ethylene glycol drastically increased in China, an average annual growth of import up to 46.2 percent in 1999 to 2004 and a self-sufficiency rate reduced from nearly 60 percent to 22 percent. The demand for polyester and ethylene glycol in textile industries and packaging industries is expected to experience a huge increase; the demand for polyester is 15.90 million tons and 19.00 million tons in 2010 and 2015, respectively. The corresponding demand for ethylene glycol is 5.5 million and 6.6 million tons, respectively. SM styrene is also an important organic chemical raw material, mainly for producing polystyrene resin (PS), ABS resin, SAN resin, SBR/SBR latex, and ion-exchange resins, and it can also be used in pharmaceuticals, dyes, pesticides, and in mineral-processing industries. Currently, the production methods of styrene in the world are mainly ethylbenzene dehydrogenation

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or the combination method of epoxy propane-styrene. By the end of 2004, China had fourteen manufacturers of styrene, and the annual total production capacity is over 1.2 million tons, about 4.6 percent of the total production capacity of styrene in the world and consumption at 3.866 million tons. As a surge in imports occurred to a severe shortage of domestic supply, the average annual growth rate of the import volume was about 23.0 percent in 1999 to 2004, the degree of dependence on import was about 75 percent, and the demand in 2010 for styrene reached 5.6 million tons. Acetic acid is mainly used for the production of vinyl acetate monomer, acetic anhydride, phthalic acid (PTA), polyvinyl alcohol, acetic acid ester, cellulose acetate, and more and is widely used in the chemical industry, textile, pharmaceutical, and dye industries. The industrialized production of acetic acid in the world is mainly carbonylation of the methanol synthesis method, acetaldehyde oxidation, and so on. In recent years, due to the PTA and the development of downstream products of acetic acid, acetate demand is increasing rapidly. The acetic acid yield in China is 1.152 million tons; the net import is 509,000 tons (2004). The demand volume of acetate, diketene acetate, acetic anhydride, and chloroacetic acid rapidly increased due to the downstream products’ development increase, and as applied fields expanded, the demand for acetic acid derivatives in 2010 was approximately 13.22 million tons, which is equivalent to 3.11 million tons of acetic acid. Propionic acid and acetaldehyde propionic acid is the most economical and practical, safe and effective food preservative. It was recognized by the world, it can inhibit mold and bacillus while remaining harmless to people and livestock, and it is widely used in cereals, fodder, and food preservation. Propionic acid is an important chemical raw material that can make propionic anhydride, propionyl chloride, a- chloropropionic acid, and more. The synthetic routes of industrialization of propionic acid are mainly adopted from propionaldehyde oxidation, and it is mainly dependent on imports for domestic use due to the larger technical difficulty. Acetaldehyde is mainly use for producing acetaldehyde acetic acid, ethyl acetate, and acetic anhydride, which can make pentaerythritol, butanol, and others. Acetaldehyde can be prepared by hydrating acetylene or ethylene oxide. Use of the hemicellulose of plants to produce xylose, xylitol, furfural, tetrahydrofuran, polytetrahydrofuran, and more is increasing. Because the raw material is mainly agricultural and forest residues such as corn cobs, developed countries are no longer producing it, so the main exporters are in China. Hydrolysis of hemicellulose is xylose, and the hydrogenation of xylose xylitol can generate the functional food of xylitol. Now the annual sale of xylitol in the world is about fifty thousand tons, more than 60 percent of Chinese exports.

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The dehydration of xylose to produce furfural and the use of furfural oxidation, hydrogenation reactions, carbonylation reactions, condensation reactions and so on can produce organic solvents, plastic additives, fine chemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, adhesives, and polymer materials. Poly THF, which was aggregated by the precursor of THF, is the material to produce spandex (advanced fiber fabric “Lycra”). Because the cost is lower than petroleum-based raw materials, furfural demand has multiplied, the world market demand is nearly a million tons, and China’s annual production is about two hundred thousand tons. Furfural can be oxidized to produce maleic anhydride under the action of V2O5 catalysts, 1, 4-butyl glycol, and g-butyrolactone, and other products can be produced by maleic anhydride. Due to the rise of petroleum-based chemical products’ price, the market competitiveness of bio-based products are stronger and stronger, and alternative space is bigger and bigger. The production of biodiesel can produce fatty acid methyl ester, glyceride, polyhydroxy ester, polysaccharides esters, and other kind of fatty acid esters and its downstream derivatives, and they can be used as environmentally friendly industrial solvents, surface active agents, lubricants, plasticizers, and so on to replace the nonenvironment-oil-based chemical products. Environmentally friendly industrial solvents require flash and high fire points and a low content of toxic and volatile organic compounds and a strong dissolving ability. Because it is easily biodegradable and environmentally friendly, biofatty acid methyl ester is representative of this class of new solvents. Seeking the environmentally friendly surfactants to replace the oilbased surfactant is the current development trend. The surfactant that was made by bio-based fatty acid methyl ester is easy to biodegrade, safe for humans and the environment, versatile, efficient, and it is the main development trend of surfactants in recent years. Fatty acid methyl ester is produced to be fatty alcohol by hydrogenation. The process is to get general glutamine after ammonolysis and have it react with alkanol amide (such as ethanol amine) to get alkanolamide by being catalyzed. The amino-amide and b-Keto ester, a-sulfo fatty acid methyl ester, glycerin ester, sucrose esters, and so on were made by the catalytic reaction of aliphatic diamine or polyamines. The types of biodiesel fatty acid ester can also produce various kinds of lubricants, such as epoxidized fatty acid ester, which used as lubrication enhancers. Types of sulfide biodiesel fatty acid esters and wax can increase the lubricant’s high-pressure lubrication. The type of sulfide biodiesel fatty acid esters can be directly used as a lubricant for metal processing to prepare the process of seamless vessels, or as a lubricant for the metal rolling process of high cutting speed. Fatty acid ester is also an important plasticizer compound, and it can be used as a plasticizer for tires that were

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made by synthetic rubber or natural rubber, a viscous resin stabilizer, and a plasticizer for copy paper adhesive. It can also be used as a pharmaceutical and in various kinds of fine chemicals, printing inks, and as a synergist in fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides for agriculture.

REFERENCES Atterhem, L. “Bioenergy Combine,” Nanning, China, PowerPoint presentation, February 2009. Li, S. Z. “Investigation Diary on Bioenergy in Four Countries of Europe,” 2005a (unpublished). (In Chinese) Li, S. Z. “Investigation Report on Technology and Policy of European Bioenergy Development,” 2005b (unpublished). (In Chinese) SRRCRE (Strategic Research Group on China Renewable Energies). China Academy of Engineering Consultant Group for Key Projects. Series on Development Strategy of China Renewable Energy. Biomass Energy. Beijing: China Electric Power Press, 2008. (In Chinese) Zhuang, H. Y. “Practices of Power Generation Using Agro-Forestry Biomass Materials,” Nanning, China, PowerPoint presentation, 2008. (In Chinese)

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n his high-diversity, low-input grassland biomass negative carbon experiment, David Tilman finds that underground plant organisms account for two-thirds of the whole plant organism, and this plays a great role in protecting soil regulation mechanism and fertility. If Heaven will entrust heavy burdens with a designated person, Heaven will firstly perplex him, belabor him, starve him, empty his body and disturb his soul and action. Only then will they be able to forge their character, develop patience and endurance and attain outstanding abilities, beyond the ken of the multitude. —Mencius

In the section “Plastic: Great and Terrible Invention” in the last chapter, we explored both the marvelous advantages and devastating shortcomings of petroleum-based plastic; we also mentioned the “theory of dichotomy” of Laotze and the governing rule of “no extreme will hold long.” In this and the next chapters, the “theory of dichotomy” will be once again proved right with what is happening to biomass. In addition to being a clean, renewable energy the same as water energy, wind energy, and solar energy, biomass is endowed with many unique advantages—it can store energy and be produced into various energy and nonenergy products, and it brings great momentum to the agricultural economy thanks to its great abundance and cheap price. How can biomass integrate so many advantages? It is because of its biological 183

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property. Wait a moment! Its biological property is also the very source of its problems. Due to the close and sensitive relationship it shares with food, land, and the ecosystem, biomass is also at risk of bringing negative impacts to other interdependent factors and is at the center of the heating controversy. Thank goodness, biomass is quite different from petroleum-based plastic. Its problems are far from fatal, and they can be avoided through technical advancement. The doubts and criticisms tossed toward the biomass industry mainly focus on two issues: one is the effect biomass brings to the ecosystem and environment, which will be discussed in this chapter; and the other is the effect that biomass brings to food security, which will be discussed in the next chapter. The United States is where the major battlefields of these heating controversies, with Science and Time providing a high-ranking platform for participants.

10.1. A UNCUT GEM DOES NOT SPARKLE The Roman Catholic Church accused Nicolaus Copernicus of being the devil and being guilty of heresy for purposing his heliocentric theory, and they burned Giordana Bruno at the stake due to his adherence to science. Machines in the early days of the Industrial Revolution were seen as monsters and were smashed by workers. The pea experiment of Mendel was scorned by biological authorities at the time. The relativity theory was rejected twice by Nobel award panels. Things such as these are never rare occurrences throughout human society. The emergence of something new is usually confronted with many criticisms and accusations. Those who hold traditional ideas consider this to be “heterodoxy” and “heresy”due to its uniqueness and peculiarity. New things also need to accommodate themselves to the surrounding environment. It also suffers growing pains. In crop cultivation, special care should be given to a cereal crop to restrain the growth of its seedlings; a cotton plant should be frequently pruned and decapitated; fruit trees should be pruned before winter; perennial shrubs should be duly stumped, with the aboveground parts cut off every three or four years. People and new things alike all are required to go through hardship before they can be someone or something great. Mencius, a great sage in ancient China, once commented in chapter “Gao Zi” of Book of Mencius: Shun the Great (the legendary Sage King of ancient China) rose from plowing farm fields; Fu Yue (an able minister of King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty around 1200 B.C.) was discovered and promoted from a construction site; Jiao Ge (a loyal minister of King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty) started his ca-

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reer as a peddler of fish and salt; Guan Zi (prime minister of Duke Huan of Qi in the Zhou Dynasty) was ever a prisoner before he ascended to his position; Sun Shuao (prime minister of Duke Chu of the Zhou Dynasty) was ever a sea fisherman; Bai Lixi (a minister of Duke Qin of the Zhou Dynasty) also distinguished himself from the marketplace. Hence if Heaven will entrust heavy burdens with the designated person, Heaven will perplex him, belabor him, starve him, empty his body and disturb his soul and action. Only then will he be able to forge his character, develop patience and endurance and attain outstanding capabilities, beyond the ken of the multitude. Man always makes mistakes, but corrections will follow; confused in mind and then innovation will be evoked.

The main idea implied in the above text is that distinguished persons usually originate from a humble start. Only by surviving adversity with a chastened mind and an enhanced ability can one finally succeed. Mencius also said, even if a person often does make mistakes, as long as he can gain good lessons from them with serious self-reflection, he will definitely end up being a man of achievements based on past errors. Such remarks match the current situation of biomass exactly. Biomass, with a scope ranging from farm crop to a towering tree, from scattered straw to extended branch, from decayed forest wood to livestock excrement, from factory waste to urban sewage, is reduced to an ugly duckling when compared with perky coal and petroleum. Upon their debut on the stage of energy as newcomers, energy experts and tycoons felt it hard to conceal their scorn: “They had better return to their normal paths as cooking fuel and livestock feedstuff in rural households.” When biological ethanol registered an output volume as high as tens of millions of tons, and millions of ethanol-petrol powered automobiles ran on the highway, more noises were heard everywhere: • “Ethanol is not a net additional energy source, is an uneconomical fuel, and its overall production system causes serious environmental degradation” (Pimentel, 2003). • “Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases through Emissions from Land-Use Change” (Searchinger, 2008); the “biofuel boom is doing exactly the opposite of what its proponents intended: it’s dramatically accelerating global warming, imperiling the planet in the name of saving it” (Grunwald, 2008). • “It is clear that some biofuels have huge impacts on food prices” (an article published in The Guardian on July 3, 2008). • “Producing biofuel today is a crime against humanity” (a senior official of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization [UNFAO]).

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How sharp these remarks are! How fortunate it is for a very tender seedling to survive after a violent storm or a scorching day. As far as corn ethanol is concerned, spouts of condemnations have exploded toward its so-called negative energy and greenhouse effect. What a scene it was! The twenty-first century is a century in which fossil energies will be gradually replaced by renewable and clean energies. It is normal that different thoughts and ideas thrive in a time of transition, which benefits the development and progress of society. We should treat it with great calmness. People can dissent from each other in matters, but the attitude they hold toward science, truth, and responsibility for society should be the same. It is wrong to be parochially prejudiced against each other and to act on impulse. For the sustained development of biomass, it is necessary for all insiders to uphold the truth, correct faults, and make indefatigable efforts in days to come.

10.2. POSITIVE? OR NEGATIVE? According to the law of energy conservation, the total energy within the universe and closed system is a constant, which can be converted and moved but cannot be created and destroyed. Energy should be consumed for material production. Even for the creation of a wicker basket, we must do work on it. People need energy from food for survival. We judge the soundness of energy products from the input and output of energy; namely, the ratio of the input and output of energy or efficiency of energy. Net energy is produced, if efficiency of energy is positive. The more, the better. If the input of energy is more than the output of energy, then we lose more than we gain. The production of corn ethanol in the United States was under waves of rebuke for the so-called negative energy balance. David Pimentel, professor at Cornell University, published a paper titled “Ethanol Fuels: Energy Balance, Economics, and Environmental Impacts Are Negative” in the journal Natural Resources Research in 2003. The paper sharply pointed out that “the forgoing analysis, for which all major energy inputs required in ethanol production were assessed, confirms that ethanol production produces a 29% negative energy balance. Ethanol is not a net additional energy source, is an uneconomical fuel, and its overall production system causes serious environmental degradation” (Pimentel, 2003). Hence Professor Pimentel concluded that ethanol derived by petroleumbased corn production cannot be considered a clean energy as previously expected. His paper preaches a total disparagement of corn ethanol. Corn requires fertilizer and pesticide, ploughing, irrigation, harvesting, and transportation. In addition, fuel is consumed and greenhouse gas is emitted during the many steps in which corn is converted into ethanol.

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It is not strange that the United States, a country with a high degree of agricultural mechanization (or so-called petroleum agriculture), would consume more fuel energy than others. According to Pimentel, the energy balance of corn production in America is –29 percent. However, later in the year 2005, Michael Wang, an environmental scientist at Argonne National Laboratory under the U.S. Department of Energy, proposed research results diametrically opposed to Pimentel’s conclusion (figure 10.1). Michael Wang found that among all special research reports and more than twenty studies published in the recent thirty years on the so-called energy balance of corn ethanol, most studies upheld the conclusion that corn ethanol produces a positive energy balance. He found that only nine studies drew the conclusion that corn ethanol production leads to negative energy balance. Except for four studies rendered in a quite early time, the remaining five ones were all published by Pimentel. Now that the fossil energy consumption for the cultivation of ethanolpurposed corn was calculated, then for an objective comparison, the fossil energy consumption should also be counted for the mining of coal, oil, and gas, as well as for the processing of gasoline, coal, and electricity commodities. Argonne Laboratory engaged in the comparison study of the energy balance of various substances during their full life cycle for twenty-five years and brought forward the conclusion that for

Figure 10.1. Literature review on the net energy balance of corn etOH (Wang, 2005). Note: Energy balance here is defined as Btu content a gallon of ethanol minus fossil energy used to produce a gallon of ethanol. 1 Btu = 1055.06 Joule. Names in the figure are authors of reviewed literature.

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every 1.055 gigajoule (GJ) of energy produced, 0.78 GJ of energy should be invested for corn ethanol production (including energy needed for corn plantation and corn ethanol processing); while for the same amount of energy produced, 1.30 GJ of energy should be invested for the conversion from oil to petroleum. Let’s put it in another way for better understanding: for every unit of energy invested, corn ethanol produces 1.36 units of energy, while coal, gasoline, and electricity produces 0.98, 0.81, and 0.45 units of energy, respectively. It showed that the energy efficiency of these three fossil products is negative; only corn ethanol is positive. What’s more, cellulosic ethanol could even produce 10.31 units of energy, a very impressive positive energy balance indeed. Argonne National Laboratory as well as the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office (EERE) of the U.S. Department of Energy published a special report in August 2006, with the main data and views being quite similar to the one proposed by Michael Wang. Jason Hill, a professor at the University of Minnesota, published an article in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences in 2006, making a detailed analysis over the input and output of energy during a complete life cycle of corn ethanol and soy diesel (including nine energy inputs and five energy output steps in agricultural production and industrial processing) (Hill, 2006). While the energy efficiency of corn ethanol and soy diesel is 1.25 and 1.93, respectively, the former one demands higher fertilizer and pesticide input than the latter one (figure 10.2). In my opinion, soy diesel is better than corn ethanol as far as food-based biofuel is concerned. However, both of them are still far from the ideal fuel. In comparison, nonfood-based fuel is believed to have obvious advantages in terms of net energy output, environment and economic effect, and the application of marginal land. Jason Hill, in my opinion, neglects two important merits of corn ethanol in recycling corn stalk residue and waste water in its full life cycle. With the two merits combined, the net energy output of corn ethanol will be much higher than 1.25. Please refer to the first pair of columns as shown in the left part of figure 10.2 for the energy output-input ratio of corn ethanol and soybean diesel with byproducts (1.25 and 1.93, respectively) during their whole life cycle, while the energy output-input ratio of corn ethanol and soybean diesel without byproducts excluded is 1.25 and 3.67, respectively, as shown in the second pair of columns to the left of the figure. The right illustration shows a list of detailed energy input and output items. Bruce Dale, a chemistry professor at the University of Michigan, pointed out in his article published on Mexia Daily News in April 2008 that while Pimentel added precipitation into the water requirements of corn ethanol production, and included solar energy that the corn crop absorbed during the process of photosynthesis also into the energy consumption of corn

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Figure 10.2. Net Energy Balance of corn grain ethanol and soybean biodiesel production (Hill et al., 2006). Note: Reprinted from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

ethanol production, he omitted the energy input required in the operation of well drilling, transportation, and refining from the energy consumption of gasoline production. Such a way of calculating contributed to his problematic conclusion that there is a negative energy balance in corn ethanol production. Some international organizations are also very concerned about the energy efficiency of corn ethanol. Based on its research results from the past decade from 1991 to 2002, the International Energy Agency (IEA) claimed that the energy produced by cereal-turned-ethanol is higher than that of fossil fuel consumed during the manufacturing process and concluded that the so-called negative energy balance results from the neglect of energy saving achieved by technological progress during the process of ethanol production. The documents prepared for the APEC Energy Minister Conference also confirmed that most of research results showed that the energy balance of ethanol production is positive, and the carbon emission of ethanol is lower than that of fossil transportation fuel. The energy output and carbon mitigation of cellulosic biofuel is even several times higher than crop-based biofuel. This speaks volumes for the fact that biofuel is blessed with bright prospects for its great capability in ensuring the security of energy and the environment.

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It is quite good that various voices can be heard in debates concerning the energy efficiency of corn ethanol, which have lasted for three decades. The majority of research results approbate that the energy balance of corn ethanol in the United States is positive, and that the energy efficiency of corn ethanol, though not high, is still significantly higher than that of fossil energy, which stays at negative value. A “dark horse”—cellulosic ethanol with high energy efficiency—stands out from the long-lasting and heated debates, leaving people a deep impression and great hope for the future.

10.3. REDUCE EMISSION? OR INCREASE EMISSION? The corn ethanol production in the United States is also under waves of rebuke for the so-called increased emission of greenhouse gases. To a large extent, energy efficiency and carbon emission are two sides of one coin. So the dispute on the carbon dioxide emission of corn ethanol is also the other side of the dispute about energy efficiency. Alexander E. Farrell, a professor at the University of California, published an article in Science magazine in 2006, pointing out that while Brazilian sugarcane ethanol could reduce an additional 90 percent of greenhouse gas emission in comparison with gasoline, the figure for U.S. corn ethanol was only 10 percent to 30 percent (Farrell et al., 2006). David Tilman also proposed his idea in a article published in Science in the same year: “Both corn ethanol and soybean biodiesel are net carbon sources but do have 12% and 41% lower net GHG emissions, respectively, than the combustion of the gasoline and diesel they displace” (Tilman et al., 2006). The two articles shared the similar findings with Argonne Laboratory; namely, corn ethanol boasts the merits of emission reduction. Timothy Searchinger et al. published an article with an opposite conclusion in the February 2008 issue of Science magazine titled “Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuel Increases Greenhouse Gases through Emissions from Land-Use Change” (Searchinger et al., 2008), the article articulated great concerns about carbon emission as caused by the change of land-use purpose. The article begins with the following opening paragraph: Most prior studies have found that substituting biofuel for gasoline will reduce greenhouse gases because biofuel sequesters carbon through the growth of the feedstock. These analyses had failed to count the carbon emissions that occur as farmers worldwide respond to higher prices and convert forest and grassland to new cropland to replace the grain (or cropland) diverted to biofuel. By using a worldwide agricultural model to estimate emissions from land-use change, we found that corn-based ethanol, instead

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of producing a 20% savings, nearly double greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increase greenhouse gases for 167 years.

Searchinger’s conclusion is mainly based on the greenhouse gases, regulated emissions, and energy use in transportation (GREET) model. However, immediately after the publication of the article, Michael Wang, the original developer of GREET, corresponded with the Science editor and pointed out eight errors he found in the article, including that the model’s calculation of greenhouse gas emissions from direct land-use change was misapplied in calculation for indirect land-use change without due upgrade; the parameter of Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGs) should be 1:1 rather than 1:1.2; the supposition that the plant switchgrass for cellulosic ethanol production on fields formerly used to plant corn would increase greenhouse gas emissions was groundless; and the corn ethanol output goal of the United States in 2015 was mistaken as ninety million tons (the correct figure should be forty-five million tons). Consequently, it ran into a wrong conclusion that 10.8 million hectares of additional arable land were needed across the world for the cultivation of corn, including 2.8 million ha in Brazil, 2.3 million ha in China and India, and 2.2 million ha in the United States; and that rain forests in the Amazon, as well as grasslands in China, India, and the United States, should be destroyed as the cost of biofuel development. These are just wild imagination and arbitrary predictions based on erroneous data and calculations. In the same month that Searchinger’s paper was published, David Morris wrote an article to refute it, with remarks like “Dr. Searchinger draws a conclusion not supported by his own data. Both studies offer data that can be used in ‘What If’ scenarios” (Morris, 2008). Based on a large amount of empirical data for direct and indirect land-use change, David Morris came to a conclusion that “there is a net GHG reduction from using ethanol produced in 2007.” He also pointed out some mistakes made by Searchinger in the use of the GREET model, for example: “It is likely that future corn ethanol plants will achieve 2–4 times greater GHG emission reduction than the GREET model currently estimates.” Moreover, when Morris talked about the impact of biofuel on crop prices, he remarked, “This is a difficult process, but certainly biofuels cannot be the only factor.” Truly, it is quite unfair to ascribe the rising food price to nothing but biofuel as the only driving force. Searchinger made a great fallacy on these “what if” scenarios—the socalled land-use change mainly refers to the deforestation and destruction of grassland, and the consequent speculation that 10.8 million hectares of additional arable land are needed across the world, including Brazil,

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China, and India, for the cultivation of corn. The case well illustrates a proverb in Chinese, “a miss is as good as a mile.”

10.4. EVENTFUL EARLY SPRING IN FEBRUARY The year 2008 witnessed an eventful early spring in February. In light of Searchinger’s paper and the subsequent two refutation papers published in the U.S.-based Science journal in February, Independent, a UK-based publication, also echoed the objection to biofuel in the same month by publishing a Steve Connor–authored article titled “Biofuels Make Climate Change Worse, Scientific Study Concludes,” the content of which was focused on deforestation. Searchinger’s and Connor’s articles appeared on both sides of the Atlantic, and it did play a great role in pushing some green organizations in the United Kingdom to appeal to the government to refuse the decree enacted by the EU, which stipulated that 5.75 percent of transportation fuel should be displaced by biofuel in 2010. In April, another article of sensational effect was published in the U.S.-based Time. Why was the spring of 2008 so eventful? It had much to do with the outbreak of the global food crisis. Joseph Fargione, a lead scientist for the Nature Conservancy, published an article in Science, and he concluded that “soybean biodiesel produced on the converted Amazonian rainforest with a biofuel carbon debt of >280 Mg of CO2 ha−1 would require 320 years to repay as compared with GHG emissions” and “converting lowland tropical rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia to palm biodiesel would result in a biofuel carbon debt of 610 Mg of CO2 ha−1 that would take 86 years to repay from petroleum diesel.” The data supported by valid experiments undoubtedly has great reference value. However, it was quite cursory for Connor to jump to the conclusion that “biofuels make climate change worse.” A cover story for Time on April 7, 2008, with the title “The Clean Energy Myth,” was also about deforestation (Grunwald, 2008). Michael Grunwald, the author of this article and a journalist from the Washington Post, did do a great job in delivering a well-written article with a vivid and powerful narrative based on in-depth interviews and investigation. Time even selected several short articles to go with the central piece, whose great influence is not hard to imagine. Michael Grunwald’s story runs as follows: From his Cessna a mile above the southern Amazon, John Carter looks down on the destruction of the world’s greatest ecological jewel. He watches men converting rain forest into cattle pastures and soybean fields with bulldoz-

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ers and chains. He sees fires wiping out such gigantic swaths of jungle that scientists now debate the “savannization” of the Amazon. The Amazon was the chic eco-cause of the 1990s, revered as an incomparable storehouse of biodiversity. It’s been overshadowed lately by global warming, but the Amazon rain forest happens also to be an incomparable storehouse of carbon, the very carbon that heats up the planet when it’s released into the atmosphere. This land rush is being accelerated by an unlikely source: biofuels. An explosion in demand for farm-grown fuels has raised global crop prices to record highs, which is spurring a dramatic expansion of Brazilian agriculture, which is invading the Amazon at an increasingly alarming rate.

Searchinger expounded the emission increase arising from corn ethanol production from the angle of land-use change. Laymen might find it is quite difficult to go through the article because it’s professional and jargon-laden. While the articles of Connor and Grunwald are easy to understand, both point an accusatory finger at biofuel for its claimed damages to the tropical rainforest, particularly the Brazilian Amazon rain forest. Amazon, what is wrong with you?

10.5. AMAZON, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? The Time cover story is undoubtedly very appealing, but unfortunately, the author lacks certain knowledge about the local history of land reclamation. Professor Cheng Xu, the former director of the Biomass Engineering Center of China Agriculture University and a renowned agricultural ecologist, made an investigation trip to Mato Grosso, the number-one soybean state in Brazil, in 2007. He refuted Grunwald’s article as follows (Cheng, 2009). The author, wittingly or unwittingly, confused the Brazilian Amazon rainforest with Cerrado, with the purpose to support his conclusion that “development of soybean biodiesel will lead to large-scale exploitation of the Amazon rainforest, resulting in a significant increase in greenhouse gas emission and damaged biodiversity.” However, the actual situation is not like this. Everyone, with the basic idea about the agricultural history of Brazil, knows that: 1) rather than being part of the tropical rainforest, the agricultural area in northern and central Brazil was developed from Cerrado thanks to early cultivation efforts. In retrospect, we can know that Cerrado had been evolved into savanna grazing grass, before partial grazing grassland was cultivated into farmland. 2) Cerrado borders with the tropical rainforest to the south. Therefore, it is not surprising that a small amount of agricultural land is adjacent to the tropical rainforest. It is groundless to conclude that such adjacent agricultural land is out of large-scale cultivation of the tropical rainforest.

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3) Even in the Mato Grosso state, the home to the largest soybean cultivation in Brazil, the soybean area accounts for only 6.5 percent of the total land area.

Cheng Xu also noted that tropical countries engaged in wood export for foreign exchange for a long time. The problem of deforestation in tropical countries has little to do with the plantation of biofuel crops. Indonesia and Malaysia are known for their time-honored production and export of edible palm oil, too. Their efforts in the development of biodiesel can be traced back to many years ago, and now such efforts are under good control for a healthy, balanced development. Another error Grunwald committed was that he believed that “in Brazil, for instance, only a tiny portion of the Amazon is being torn down to grow the sugarcane that fuels most Brazilian cars.” Now, let’s have a look at what Antonio Jose Ferreira Simoes, the former director of the Brazilian Energy Department, said in an article: The total area of sugarcane acreage is 650 million hectares in 2007–2008, 82.5 percent concentrated in the non-tropical rainforest of southeastern Brazil (Sao Paulo). Half of the harvest is made in sugar, half of the harvest produces ethanol. Sugarcane acreage is great, but only 10 percent of farmland of Brazil, it is not necessary to reclaim the Amazon rainforest or occupy the farmland. Moreover, Amazon rainforest has a unique pattern of precipitation, low soil fertility, and it is not suitable for being a farmland of sugar cane. Sugar cane requires a dry environment to form sucrose. Therefore, the assertion is unfounded about the growth in requirement for ethanol leading to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. (Simoes, 2008)

In other words, the sugarcane growing area was not in the Amazon region, and the Amazon is not suitable for sugarcane plantation. Then, has the Amazon tropical rain forest of Brazil remained unscathed from outside impact? No, it has been subjected to severe deforestation, but it has not been compromised by the soybean biodiesel development program because it was just kicked off in 2006. Besides, the soybean growing area is mainly in Cerrado, not the Amazon rain forest (Cheng, 2009). Expedito Jose de Sá Parente, the first biofuel patent owner in the world and the person Brazilians feel proud of, once told journalists in an interview: Over a hundred species native to the Amazon region have already proven themselves capable of producing biodiesel. Short term, they already suffice to offer local populations not only the hope of social inclusion, but also fuller participation in the Union and a better sense of national citizenship . . . The Amazon region has suffered enormous devastation, where millions of square kilometers have been clear-cut or deforested. This is an opportune time to provide plant cover in the form of energy-producing reforestation. (de Sá Parente, 2010)

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Expedito Jose de Sá Parente has made himself quite clear—the Amazon region had been deforested, and the ongoing biodiesel development programs do not do any harm to it. Instead, it plays an active role in repairing and restoring the rain forest ecosystem. The awareness of protecting the ecological environment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions has been further enhanced around the world. Brazil, a country renowned for its pioneer efforts on this front, will be more concerned about and treat well its Amazon rain forest. Some people in rich countries often like to make themselves the guide of others, but such eagerness only betrays their insufficient knowledge. G. C. Dismukes had said sharply: The topic is emotionally charged, with divisive positions held by laypeople and scientists alike, making policy choices controversial and their economic and environmental outcomes potentially devastating. (Dismukes, 2008)

Now, let’s have a look at what has been happening to rain forests in Malaysia and Indonesia. Palm oil is one of four major traditional edible oils in the world (the other three are soybean, rapeseed, and sunflower). The global output of palm oil was more than thirty-five million tons in 2006, and 26.3 million tons of palm oil was produced for export in 2005. Palm oil accounted for more than 50 percent of global oil trade in 2007. The output of palm oil in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Nigeria accounted for 88 percent of the total production in the world. The palm fields in Malaysia account for about one-third of the arable land, with 90 percent of the output exported abroad. To meet its biodiesel production demand, the EU increased its palm oil import from Malaysia by 63 percent in 2005, greatly stimulating the price and production enthusiasm of palm oil. In 2006 to 2007, certain tropical rain forests in Malaysia were made into palm plantation gardens as driven by lucrative profit. Such short-sighted activities were soon under control thanks to the joint efforts of the international community and the Malaysia government. Such episodes were made into publicity stunts by some media and people with clamors like “bioenergy is developed at the dear cost of tropical rain forests,” “biofuels make climate worse.” The public opinions were misled by such groundless accusations and transitory events.

10.6. AN ARTICLE WORTH HIGH ATTENTION I would like to recommend an article published in Science magazine in 2006 by Professor David Tilman. Titled “Carbon-Negative Biofuels from Low-Input High-Diversity Grassland Biomass” (Tilman et al., 2006), this

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article was based on ten-year-long, rigorous, systematic researches on 152 pieces of land. The header and summary of the article is as follows: Biofuel derived from low-input high-diversity (LIHD) mixtures of native grassland perennials can provide more usable energy, greater greenhouse gas reductions, and less agrichemical pollution per hectare than can corn grain ethanol or soybean biodiesel. High-diversity grasslands had increasingly higher bioenergy yields that were 238% greater than monoculture yields after a decade. LIHD biofuel is carbon negative because net ecosystem carbon dioxide sequestration (4.4 megagram hectare−1 year−1 of carbon dioxide in soil and roots) exceeds fossil carbon dioxide release during biofuel production (0.32 megagram hectare−1 year−1). Moreover, LIHD biofuel can be produced on agriculturally degraded lands and thus need to neither displace food production nor cause loss of biodiversity via habitat destruction.

The experiment was carried out on 152 pieces of degraded land and abandoned sandy land between 1994 and 2005. Above-ground biomass was measured once a year. Soil samples were collected in 1994 and 2004, respectively, for a better understanding of the sequestration of soil carbon. The experiment results showed that the energy output-input ratio of LIHD grassland biomass is 5.44 to 8.09, two to five times higher than that of corn ethanol and soy diesel; and the greenhouse gas emission reduction contributed by LIHD grassland biomass is six to ten tons per hectare on average, while the contribution by corn ethanol and soy diesel is less than one ton. In addition, the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium input for LIHD grassland biomass was 0 kg, 4kg, and 6kg per hectare per year, while the input for corn ethanol is 148 kg, 23 kg, and 50 kg, respectively. The pesticide application for corn ethanol is about 2 kg per hectare, while little pesticide is demanded by grassland biomass. In addition, with the underground part accounting for two-thirds of the plant organism, LIHD grassland biomass is good at maintaining soil carbon adjustment capability and soil fertility (figure 10.3). The paper showed that the total bioenergy generated by LIHD land is 68.1 GJ/(ha·year), while fossil energy input for the production, harvesting, and transportation of biomass is about 4.0 GJ/(ha·year). Though corn ethanol and soy diesel release 12 percent and 41 percent lower greenhouse gases than fossil fuels do, they emit certain carbons. While LIHD biofuel is carbon-negative, its contribution to emission reduction is six to sixteen times higher than corn ethanol and soy diesel. Switchgrass will enjoy a very high biomass output in fertile soil after the application of fertilizer and pesticide, but the biomass output of switchgrass and other monoculture crops in degraded lands are quite close, about (23.0 ± 2.4) GJ/(ha·year) and (22.7 ± 2.7) GJ/(ha·year), respectively. According to the paper published recently in PNAS, the journal of the U.S. Academy

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Figure 10.3. Net Energy Balance (NEB) for first- and second-generation biofuels (Tilman, and Hill, 2006). Note: Reprinted from Science.

of Sciences by Professor Vogel from the Feedstuff and Grass Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the energy output-input ratio of switchgrass-based fuel ethanol is 6.4:1, which is drawn based on long-term stationary and multiple-site experiments over vast lands. Biofuel varies greatly in terms of raw material and transformation. Tilman took corn ethanol, soy diesel, high-diversity grassland plants, and switchgrass as objects for his comparative study, and he compared energy efficiency and mitigation effect for different study subjects. The energy efficiency of corn ethanol, soy diesel, the power generation of LIHD biomass, LIHD biomass ethanol, and the general use of LIHD biomass were 1.25, 1.93, 5.51, 5.54, and 8.09. Emissions reduction performance of all study subjects is better than fossil fuels, with high-diversity grasslands gaining negative emissions effect. Tilman noted that the higher the fuel efficiency, the lower the carbon emission. The qualitative change happened in the case of carbon-negative emission, in which carbon was released before being picked up, and the carbon source was converted into carbon sequestration during the process of carbon balance. No test, of course, is perfect in design and result. But the research results released from the experiments in Tilman’s paper are highly scientific

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and credible. The experiment is especially remarkable in introducing lowquality traditional farmland as well as high-diversity grassland perennials and a single crop as major study subjects. This scientifically serious article is worthy of attention. Echoing the idea proposed by Sivan Kartha in his article “Promises and Challenges: Environmental Effects of Bioenergy” that “the net impact of a bioenergy critically depends on how it is generated,” the article makes a conclusion based on many real examples: “Bioenergy crop systems can—if properly designed—yield significant benefits, both environmental and social. The right choice of biomass crops and production methods can lead to favorable carbon and energy balances and a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (Kartha, 2006).” The LIHD model made by Dr. David Tilman is a good example.

10.7. NEW ACHIEVEMENTS OF BIOFUEL IN EMISSION REDUCTION The Global Renewable Fuel Alliance commissioned (S&T)2 Consultants, Inc., of Canada to make a special study on the emission reduction effect of biofuel. The research report was proposed officially in November 2009 ([S&T]2 Consultants, Inc., 2009). Based on the GHGenius model developed by the Department of Canadian Natural Resources and the GREET model developed by the U.S. Argonne National Laboratory, the report calculated the whole life cycle (including the production and use duration) of greenhouse gas emissions of fuel ethanol and biodiesel manufactured from different raw materials, and it compared them with the emissions of the petroleum products that were replaced by them, so as to acquire the effect of carbon emission. According to the report, the emission of gasoline and diesel is 92 g/MJ as measured by the carbon dioxide equivalent. Among various fuel ethanols, sugarcane ethanol has the largest emission reduction; corn and other cereal ethanol have the minimum emission reduction. Among various biodiesel, animal fat biodiesel and waste fat biodiesel have the largest emission reduction; palm biodiesel and rapeseed biodiesel have the minimum emission reduction. Please refer to Table 10.1 for relevant study results. Based on the biofuel production information of relative countries and the world acquired from F. O. Lichts as well as related technical parameters, the report revealed corresponding reduction effects of major production countries (table 10.2 and table 10.3). In terms of fuel ethanol, the values of emission reduction of all major production countries are positive. With corn as main raw materials for biofuel production, the United

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Table 10.1. GHG emission abatement by fuel ethanol and biodiesel derived from various raw materials (g 10–6Joule–1) ([S&T]2 Consultants 2009)

Raw Material Sugarcane ethanol Corn ethanol Sugar beet ethanol Other cereal ethanol Rapeseed biodiesel Soybean biodiesel Animal fat biodiesel Palm oil biodiesel Waste grease biodiesel

GHG Emission

GHG Emission Abatement

23 44 (Canada), 56 (USA) 37* 38* 41 30 10 45 10

72 48 58 57 51 62 82 47 82

Method Used GHGenius GHGenius EU RED (Europe JRC) EU RED (Europe JRC) EU RED (Europe JRC) GHGenius GHGenius GHGenius GHGenius

Note: GHG is measured by CO2 equivalent; * is average value.

States and China perform worst in terms of emission reduction, namely 0.85 kg/liter measured by the carbon dioxide equivalent. Brazil, a country mainly relying on sugarcane for its biofuel production, boasts the highest emission reduction in the world, namely 1.7 kg/liter measured by the carbon dioxide equivalent. The major production countries registered 87.57 million tons of greenhouse gas emission reduction in 2009, among which, 87 percent of the contribution was made by Brazil and the United States. Generally speaking, biodiesel has better performance than fuel ethanol in terms of emissions reduction. The EU contributed 59 percent of green gas emission reduction among the main producing countries in 2009, followed by the United States, Brazil, and Argentina. The total emission reduction of the world is 35.87 million tons in 2009. Table 10.2.

GHG emission abatement for fuel ethanol ([S&T]2 Consultants 2009)

Country and Region USA Brazil European Union China Canada Others Thailand Colombia Australia India Total

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Output (108 liters)

GHG Abatement (kg liter–1)

Total GHG Abatement (104 ton)

397.00 249.00 39.35 20.50 11.00 9.36 4.50 3.15 2.15 1.50 737.51

0.85 1.7 1.28 0.85 1.13 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.5 1.7

3374.5 4233.0 503.7 174.3 124.3 159.1 76.5 53.6 32.3 25.5 8756.7

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200 Table 10.3.

Chapter 10 GHG abatement by biodiesel ([S&T]2 Consultants 2009)

Country and Region

Output (108 L)

GHG Abatement (kg L–1)

Total GHG Abatement (104 ton)

European Union USA Brazil Argentina Thailand Malaysia Colombia China Korea Indonesia Singapore Philippines Canada Others World

98.48 16.82 13.86 12.50 6.14 2.84 2.05 1.91 1.82 1.70 1.24 1.08 1.02 2.93 164.36

2.13 2.40 2.38 2.39 1.7 1.7 1.7 3 2.34 1.7 1.7 1.7 3 1.7

2098.6 403.0 330.2 298.8 104.3 48.3 34.8 57.3 42.5 29.0 21.1 18.4 30.7 69.8 3586.6

The conclusion of the research report is: The production of 110.8 billion liters of ethanol and biodiesel in 2010 is the equivalent of 1.2 billion barrels of crude oil valued $135.4 billion at 2011 prices. The displacement of crude oil with biofuels is projected to increase to nearly 2.3 billion barrels by 2020 valued at $253.6 billion. The combined biofuel GHG emission reduction is 123.5 million tonnes, an average reduction of about 57% compared to the emissions that would have occurred from the production and use of equivalent quantities of petroleum fuels.

The study, made by (S&T)2 Consultants, Inc., under the commission of the Global Renewable Fuel Alliance, is something like a summary of a controversial time, in which the theory of negative energy efficiency of corn ethanol as proposed by Chambers, Pimentel, Timothy Searchinger, and others has fought forcefully against the opposite idea as supported by Michael Wang, Jason Hill, and David Tilman for thirty years. In retrospect, we can find that human society’s comprehension of the truth is a process of progressive advance, and the dispute of controversial ideas is the very compass toward the ultimate truth.

10.8. DOWN-TO-EARTH EFFORTS, LEARN FROM IMPERFECTION People have gone through a lot with indefatigable practice, countless failure, and improvement to bring out the latest car and aircraft models since

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their first appearance a century ago. The biomass industry is just learning to walk and is in great need of down-to-earth practices. The questioner will be the best learner. At the early stage of development, various biomasses were thriving across different parts of the world; for example, corn ethanol in the United States, sugarcane ethanol in Brazil, rapeseed diesel in Europe, biomass power generation in Denmark, the methane car in Sweden, and others. Then, why did corn ethanol in the United States turn out to be the subject of doubts and impugnments? The answer is that it did deserve such arraignment due to its many inherent problems. Professor Pimentel threw the first spear at corn ethanol. Though his theory that corn ethanol caused a negative energy balance was proved to be a fallacy during heating disputes, it did highlight a number of problems facing corn ethanol, such as its energy efficiency was the lowest among various biomass energy, and it competed against man for food and agriculture for land. Professor Searchinger proposed that rather than being a driving force for greenhouse gas emission reduction, corn ethanol and soybean biodiesel exacerbated greenhouse gas emissions because of the change of land-use patterns. Although his problematic assumption and conclusion were confuted by more valid studies later, he did introduce an important proposition to the public that land-use change may exert great affect on energy efficiency and emission reduction. The articles appeared in Time, Independent, and other mass media; though flawed with extreme arbitrariness, they still did a great job in reminding people to pay more attention to the tropical rain forest. As far as the biomass industry is concerned, it needs to uphold the truth, remain modest in the face of criticism, and be ready to correct any deficiency. These are qualities a rising industry is expected to have. So what great and useful ideas can be gained from such noisy reprehensions? 1. Corn-based ethanol production was a natural and reasonable choice for the United States at the early stage of ethanol development, but it needs a new and better strategy with the expansion of its development scale and the emergence of conflicts. The United States has been vigorously tackling the problem of the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol. With the release of the Energy Independence and Security Act at the end of 2008, the United States has come up with a very good answer in how to adjust their way ahead; that is, 90 percent of raw materials for ethanol production will come from nonfood-based biomass (USDE and USDA, 2005). 2. Giving priority to nongrain/nonfood-based biomass to crop plantations on low-quality marginal land has won growing recognition as a bright path for biomass development. This new path is believed

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to lead to improved energy efficiency, an ameliorated ecological environment, and enhanced social acceptance. No competition for food and less competition for land should be upheld as a guideline for the biomass industry. Diversifying biomass raw material is the safeguard toward the path. 3. Another guideline for the biomass industry is to pay great heed to ecology/environment protection. Great efforts should be made to maintain high-energy efficiency and low carbon emission, to maintain the healthy operation of the ecosystem, and to maintain sustainable development of the land after change-of-use patterns. It is true that biomass is highly diversified in raw materials and products and has differentiated development in different localities. Yet as with the correct use of raw materials and production methods, biomass will exert a sound impact on the environment. With a well-designed development path, it is entirely achievable to make biomass industry more and more environmentally friendly. 4. The high diversification of raw materials and products of biomass are easily neglected by people as the intensive debates over corn ethanol and the tropical rain forest have grabbed too much attention around the world. It is quite dangerous for people to fail to see the whole picture. Sweet sorghum, potatoes, switchgrass and other perennial herbs, high-diversity grassland, energy plants with high content of algae oil, crop residues, forestry residues, animal manure, organic waste of the processing industry, urban organic waste and other organic wastes, are all highly potential raw material for biomass, as long as they are backed with investment from the government in pushing technology advancement and speeding up the commercialization process, and they are backed by growing attention from the media for widely covered publicity. A uncut gem does not sparkle. A uncultivated talent cannot be a man of great achievement. For a healthy and benign development, the biomass industry should stick to the following guidelines: • High net energy output and deep greenhouse gas emission reduction • No competition for food, oil, and sugar with people; less competition for land with agriculture • Land, which is applied for biomass raw material plantation after change-of-use patterns, should be guaranteed with high performance in carbon emission reduction as well as water and fertilizer balance • Advanced technical support and product market competitiveness should be well guaranteed

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It is delightful for us to note that the biomass industry has followed the above-mentioned guidelines during recent years when confronted with numerous doubts and criticisms. People can feel that the biomass industry has grown to be more mature and lovely.

10.9. OUT OF THE TRAP OF DEBATE There are some traps existing in the debates concerning the effect of biomass energy on the ecology and the environment. Such traps are highly devastating in confusing people’s minds, misleading public opinion, and compromising the development of society. The first trap is the disguised replacement of concept. The most common one is to confuse corn ethanol or soybean diesel with biofuel. For example, though what Michael Grunwald focused on in his article published in Time magazine was how the development of soy diesel destroyed the Brazilian rain forest and how corn ethanol affected food prices of the the United States, in the subtitle of the article, he wrote: “All biofuel are really doing is driving up food prices and making global warming worse—and you’re paying for it.” It is highly possible that the reporter did see for sure the biomass power generation in Europe, whose thermal efficiency can reach as high as 90 percent or even more, the “biogas” car running in some Sweden cities, the electricity generation by methane in German rural areas and towns, the pellet fuel widely used in Denmark and Sweden with an annual consumption of 200 kg per capita. What is really important is not to see for sure in person, but to have the intention and attitude to know more about the truth and to think about them with a whole picture in mind. It is common sense that corn ethanol and biodiesel cannot equal to the entire bioenergy empire. So it would be very impetuous to jump to the conclusion that “all they’re really doing is driving up food prices and making global warming worse—and you’re paying for it.” Such disguised replacement of concept will inevitably mislead public opinion, fool the public, and do harm to the development of society. The second trap is to confuse the public. All of these—from some developing countries in tropical areas that have engaged in deforestation and wood export for over a century; palm oil accounts for more than half of the international oil trade; to palm gardens making up one-third of arable land in Malaysia—all are well-known facts. It is true that excessive deforestation did happen in 2006 to 2007 in certain tropical rain forests for palm plantation, as stimulated by the soaring price of palm oil due to the brisk development of biodiesel. But such short-sighted practices were controlled quickly. Yes, the situation was serious, but it was only a small vortex that soon disappeared into a surging river. It can only muddy

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the water by exaggerating the notion that “bioenergy makes the climate worse.” Bioenergy can be made from and into a variety of raw materials and products, so why does it restrict itself to the silly practice of excessive deforestation? Prohibition from excessive deforestation is the binding duty shared by all human beings and especially the local governments. The action of turning a blind eye to the dereliction of local government in curbing excessive deforestation, while letting out the misleading remark of “bioenergy makes the climate worse” is just like the ridiculous complaint of “an oven cannot work for meat!,” when the temperature of the oven is not properly adjusted and therefore scorches the meat. The third trap is to quote out of context to suit undue purpose and to overexaggerate. American scholars Tilman and Fargione deduced in their articles published in Science magazine that if energy crops were grown in wetlands, then four hundred years were needed to pay off the resulting “carbon debt” with emission reduction contributed by biodiesel; the “carbon debt” repayment duration would last 320 years if soy was planted in the Amazon rain forest for biodiesel production, and so on. These warnings or scientific data were originally intended to draw the public’s attention, while Connor and Grunwald unduly came to the conclusion that “bioenergy makes the climate worse” by quoting out of context this set of data, without even providing any evidence to support the alleged damages to the forest and resulting “carbon debt” due to the development of biofuels. The development of renewable, clean energy as an alternative to fossil energy is the trend of the times. As one sort of renewable clean energy, biomass energy might bear some deficiencies in the beginning of development. It needs to overcome such shortcomings and aspire to excel, rather than be brutally beaten to death. Articles with the purpose of asking and answering questions can be divided into two categories. One is written by professionals with original research data and indirectly acquired data, and they are usually published in professional journals with professionals, too, as the targeted readership. Such articles are scientific and empirical in nature, objective in debate, and easy to be judged. The other is nonprofessional articles based on the professional articles, and they generally appear in publications of wide common readership. Such articles are lively in tune and easy to understand. If coupled with a wonderful way of expression, such articles will enjoy a more powerful social influence than the former ones. It does have the dual magic to significantly bring either positive or negative impact to society and government. This is where the problem lies.

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REFERENCES Cheng, X. “Biomass Energy and Food Prices Soaring in Recent Years and Its Environmental Effect,” 2009. (unpublished) de Sá Parente, Expedito Jose. “Interview: Expedito Parente.” Biofuels in Brazil: Realities and Prospects. Accessed August 2010. http://dc.itamaraty.gov.br/ imagens-e-textos/Biocombustiveis-10ing-entrevistaexpedito.pdf. Dismukes, G. C., D. Carrieri, N. Bennette, G. M. Ananyev, and M. C. Posewitz. “Aquatic Phototrophs: Efficient Alternatives to Land-Based Crops for Biofuels.” Current Opinion in Biotechnology 19, no. 3 (2008): 235–40. Farrell, A. E., R. J. Plevin, B. T. Turner, A. D. Jones, M. O’Hare, and D. M. Kammen. “Ethanol Can Contribute to Energy and Environmental Goals,” Science 311, no. 5760 (2006): 506–8. Grunwald, M. “The Clean Energy Myth,” Time, April 7, 2008. Hill, J., E. Nelson, D. Tilman, S. Polasky, and D. Tiffany. “Environmental, Economic, and Energetic Costs and Benefits of Biodiesel and Ethanol Biofuels.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103, no. 30 (2006): 11206–10. Kartha, S. “Promises and Challenges: Environmental Effects of Bioenergy.” International Food Policy Research Institute, Focus 14, Brief of 12, December 2006. Morris, D. “Ethanol and Land Use Change.” New Rules Project Policy Brief, February 2008. Pimentel, D. “Ethanol Fuels: Energy Balance, Economics, and Environmental Impacts Are Negative.” Natural Resources Research 12, no. 2 (2003): 127–34. Polasky, S. Bioeconomics of Biofuels: Grassland Restoration and Renewable Energy. Presentation at the University of Minnesota, Cedar Creek LTER, 2007. (S&T)2 Consultants, Inc. GHG Emission Reductions from World Biofuel Production and Use, Global Renewable Fuel Alliance, November 23, 2009. Searchinger, T., R. Heimlich, R. A. Houghton, F. Dong, A. Elobeid, J. Fabiosa, S. Tokgoz, D. Hayes, and T.-H. Yu. “Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases through Emissions from Land-Use Change.” Science 319, no. 5867 (2008): 1238–40. Simoes, A. J. F. Biofuel: Experiences Learnt and Challenges Faced in Consolidating Its Position on the International Market. Brazilian Embassy to China, 2008. Tilman, D., J. Hill, and C. Lehman. “Carbon-Negative Biofuels from Low-Input High-Diversity Grassland Biomass.” Science 314, no. 5805 (2006): 1598–1600. USDE and USDA. Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply, April 2005. Wang, M. Updated Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emission Results of Fuel Ethanol. PowerPoint presentation at the 15th International Symposium on Alcohol Fuels, San Diego, California, September 26–28, 2005.

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he doubts and questions people impose against the impact biofuel development has on food security are far more than those against the ecosystem. That is because food security has a more direct and sensitive influence on the livelihood of human beings. However, the questions and doubts raised against food security bear less scientific reasoning than those against environmental impact. Most of the arguments lack rigorous and serious research. Articles about biofuel and food security are never seen in such high-end scientific journals as Science and Nature. Most articles available in the public media are full of sensational grandiloquence rather than reason. Lester Brown, chairman of the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.–seated policy research organization, once published a heavily weighted article titled “Supermarkets and Service Stations Now Competing for Grain” in 2006, with a spearhead pointing toward corn ethanol production in the United States. During the global food crisis that lasted from the end of 2007 to mid 2008, corn ethanol became a scapegoat, with accusatory fingers pointed from all directions. Biofuel was implicated in the vortex of criticisms, too. What had triggered that global-scale food crisis? Who were the victims of it? What was the root of the crisis? What types of roles had corn ethanol and biofuel played in it? During the global food crisis period, with these questions in mind, I eagerly collected, arranged, and analyzed the information at my disposal in a bid to reveal the truth. Such efforts resulted in an article titled “Food! Oil! Biofuel?”

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published in China Science and Technology Daily in June 2008. This chapter is a revised and extended version of that essay. As Galileo has said: “Truth possesses such power that the more you attack it, the more it will corroborate and prove itself.” After going through such adversity, ethanol regained a firmer foothold as people began to better understand it. China seemed immune from the food crisis plaguing the world, and biofuel enjoyed a sound development in China then. Whether biofuel would impact Chinese food security is far from a simple question, which I would like to discuss in the China-specific section of the book.

11.1. A STORY OF POLES APART In a Chinese ancient classic Strategies of Warring States, there is a story, “Acting in a Way That Defeats One’s Purpose,” meaning that someone can run counter to their predetermined goals due to heading in the wrong direction. In his renowned Peasant Movement in Hunan Province, Mao Zedong mentioned that people of different interest groups would hold totally different opinions even on the same matter—while some acclaimed it “good enough,” some condemned it as “bad enough.” At the turn of the century, a heated battle for genetically manipulated organisms (GMOs) was staged between the United States and the European Union (EU), with both sides falling into an impasse. In recent years, a battle of similar intensity has arisen again, with biofuels as the focus of controversy. The direct consequence of such a battle was the termination of the Rome Declaration on World Food Security Summit in 2008. Why would both sides, the United States and the European Union, hold such radically opposed views toward same matter? There must be hidden facts that cannot be easily revealed. Corn ethanol still remains at the heart of the debate over whether biofuel is a good enough or bad enough thing. Again, Lester Brown stood out to air his view: In agricultural terms, the world appetite for automotive fuel is insatiable. The grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV gas tank with ethanol will feed one person for a year. The grain to fill the tank every two weeks over a year will feed 26 people. . . . For the 2 billion poorest people in the world, many of whom spend half or more of their income on food, rising grain prices can quickly become life threatening. (Brown, 2006)

Such emotional remarks recall his other equally sharp and moving article titled “Who Will Feed China,” released in 1994. The enormity of his in-

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fluence as a world-renowned opinion leader is self-evident. What’s more, in his subsequent articles, he elevated his opposition against biofuel with more alarming remarks, such as automobiles competing for food with humans, humanitarian crisis, and antihuman crime. A more aghast viewpoint was even proposed by researchers from the University of Minnesota: far contrary to the original supposition that the global population in hunger would decrease to 625 million by 2005, now, with biofuel competing for food with humans, the number would be doubled to 1.2 billion by then. How surprisingly sensational the viewpoint is! Where reporters and commentators are, debates and arguments occur. The renowned commentator Matthew L. Wald, a prolific reporter from the New York Times, published a paper on ethanol biofuel, summarizing the questioning opinions, both other’s and his, over biofuel ethanol. This widely covered and well-written article was translated by Zhao Xueqi and published in the second issue of the Chinese version of Scientific American (Wald, 2007). At the other end of spectrum, the federal government of the United States held a resolute and firm stance on the side of biofuel development. Taking the output goal of ethanol biofuel by 2012 as an example, President Bill Clinton set 16.35 million tons as the target in 1999, while the U.S. National Energy Policy Act elevated the goal to 22.5 million tons in 2005, and the Energy Independence and Security Act once again drove the number up to 39.6 million tons in 2008. Though heated debate occurred over many other issues regarding social and economic development, the two parties of the United States reached a surprising consensus on biofuel development. Why is the U.S. government and Congress so steadfast in pushing biofuel development? We can find some clues from the sources below. Ethanol mandate requires fuel manufacturers to use 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol in gasoline by 2012—a move that will reduce oil consumption by 80,000 barrels of oil a day by 2012. It reduces crude oil imports by 2 billion barrels and reduces the outflow of dollars largely to foreign oil producers by $64 billion; it creates 234,840 new jobs in all sectors of the U.S. economy; it increases U.S. household income by $43 billion. (Ethanol Mandate of Energy Policy Act of 2005) Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. Here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. . . . By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment . . . move beyond a petroleum-based economy . . . and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past. . . . Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal: to replace more than 75

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percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. (State of the Union Address 2006 by George W. Bush)

In 2004, the United States successfully managed to replace 3 percent of fossil-oil-derived transportation fuel with bio-based ethanol. Based on the material released by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2005, the targeted substitution percentage by 2020 is 30 percent (USDE and USDA, 2005). So far, we have had many talks over the positive sides of biofuel in chapters 5, 6, and 7. We also can find from previous chapters that the major concern opponents have for biofuel development is fuel-food competition. Yet the underlying reason behind such countries as the United States and Brazil promoting biofuel development is to adapt to climate change and decrease energy dependence on foreign countries. Biofuel-centered conflicts became extremely intensive during a global food crisis, which is a good thing in a certain sense, since the truth becomes clearer through debates. The things that really matter are the true situation of fuel-food competition and how to address the problem.

11.2. A GLOBALLY SURGING FOOD CRISIS Concerns about U.S. corn ethanol not only stemmed from the United States itself but also from outside the country. As a world power, the United States’ problem is also a problem for the world. The United States is the number-one corn producer and exporter in the world, and therefore it exerts huge influence on the global corn market. It is a natural thing for people to be concerned about that dozen million tons of corn that had been used to produce ethanol. Such concerns as represented by Lester Brown proved to be not totally groundless in the food crisis of 2008. By the end of 2007, UNFAO released news claiming that the world food reserve had decreased to a twenty-year low and that the global grain supply had tightened. The news caused panic around the world. The major grain exporters rushed to declare a food export ban with a view to satisfying their domestic food consumption. On February 13, 2007, the Indian government announced it would ban grain export for the whole year. In November 2007, the Argentina government decided to lift an export duty on soybean from 27.5 percent to 35 percent, and an export duty on wheat from 20 percent to 28 percent. Russia tripled its export duty on wheat from 10 percent to 40 percent. By the end of 2007, China cancelled its export tax rebate for eighty-four grains and their derived products (i.e., wheat, rice, corn). And immediately after that, in early 2008, China determined it would levy a one-year-long export tax on the aforementioned agricultural products, with rates varying from 5 percent to 25 percent. Be-

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sides, an export quota permit system was also adopted by China to manage food exports. On March 26, Cambodia and Egypt declared the ban on rice exports. On March 28, Vietnam decided to cut its rice export volume by 23 percent, and no further rice export contract would be signed during the following three months. All of a sudden, the dark clouds of food scarcity shrouded the whole world, forecasting a looming thunderstorm. The soaring food price observed later in early 2008 ignited the fuse of crisis. For instance, the price of wheat rose sharply from US $200 per ton at the end of 2007 to US $482 per ton in March 2008. On March 27, 2008, the export price of Thailand rice rose remarkably from US $580 per ton to US $760 per ton, a 30 percent increase in one single day! And on April 17, the price even exceeded US $1,000 per ton. In the meantime, the price of corn also soared from US $166 per ton in early 2007 to US $233 per ton in March 2008, an amazing 40 percent increase! With soaring food prices came social unrest. On February 5, 2008, a great mass of people in the capital city of Mozambique, Maputo, swarmed into the streets to protest the inflation of food prices. Unrest soon developed into a violent and bloody conflict. Massive protests triggered by the rising prices of food and basic necessities also broke out in the capital cities of both Cameroon and Burkina Faso on February 27, 2008. Just like dominoes collapsing, social unrests resulting from food price hikes soon spread to over thirty countries through Costa Rica, Senegal, Egypt, and then into countries in Asia and Latin America (i.e., Philippines, Indonesia, Haiti, Peru, Mexico, and Bangladesh). Take Haiti, for example—80 percent of rice consumption of this underdeveloped country depends on import. The majority of its population makes do with an income of less than US $2. The exorbitant food prices triggered violent protest in the city of Les Cayes on April 3, with food shops and groceries being plundered by hungry people. On April 12, due to the incompetent actions taken in the riot, Jacques Edouard Alexis, the premier of Haiti, was dismissed by parliament and left congress. At last, the world food crisis broke out! The food crisis also gave rise to some ridiculous remarks and arguments, such as Indians consume too much grain, and Chinese eat too much meat! More accusations, of course, were directed toward U.S. corn ethanol. An UNFAO official even rebuked that ethanol production with grain as a raw material is a sort of antihuman crime while there were still eight hundred million people around the world staying hungry. An article in the Guardian on July 3, 2008, claimed that biofuel should be held responsible for the 75 percent price jump of grain in the world over that period. What is the root cause of the food crisis? If we cannot answer the question clearly and correctly, the dirty water pouring on biofuel will always smell strangely odorous.

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11.3. AUTHENTICITY OF THE FOOD SUPPLY SHORTAGE (SHI, 2008) As the term suggests, a food crisis is a result of shortage in food production and supply. Is that right for this case? No. If we closely examine the curves as illustrated in figure 11.1, we can find out some hidden tricks about the true cause of the crisis. The left panel of figure 11.1 shows that world food production and consumption rose synchronously in the last twenty years, and there was no signs of an abrupt output reduction. Moreover, the increased rate of production was a bit faster than that of consumption. According to UNFAO data, global grain output amounted to 2.101 billion tons in 2007, a 4.6 percent increase compared with last year. So the alleged claim that the food shortage was the reason behind the food crisis was groundless. The right panel of figure 11.1 was directly cited from the Food and Agriculture Report 2006, which was released in the 131st committee session of UNFAO. The figure shows that the food storage has remained stable despite minor decreases since the new century. The ratio of food consumption to storage was well above the alarming line defined by UNFAO (i.e., 17 percent to 18 percent). Figure 11.2, prepared with data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), illustrates the global production, consumption, and reserve of three major grains (rice, wheat, and corn) over the period of 1995 to 2007. We can learn from it that the global production and consumption of three major grains all experienced certain growth during the period. While rice and corn’s annual production growth rates exceeded their annual consumption growth rates, the wheat production growth rate was less than its consumption growth rate as a result of slumped wheat production in Australia and France. The figure did confirm the conclusion made by UNFAO that the world food reserve had reached the twenty-year low. However, rice and wheat storage did not fall below an

Figure 11.1. World cereal production and utilization (left); world cereal stock and stock-to-utilization ratio (right) (1991–2007). Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Services (left) and FAO (right).

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Figure 11.2. Changes in production, utilization, stock and stock-to-utilization(small subfigures within each panel) for three major grains (i.e. rice, wheat, and corn) in the world. Note: The dashed line in subfigures in each panel indicates the security criteria (18%). The data is from USDA.

alarming level, and maize was a bit below that level. Overall, UNFAO failed to capture a complete picture of the global food supply tendency and the exaggerated food supply strain on a global scale. This may be one of the fuses that ignited the crisis.

11.4. IMPACT OF CORN ETHANOL ON FOOD PRICE One of the major criticisms against U.S. corn ethanol is that it spurred the price soaring of the international corn market because United States had used tens of millions of tons of corn to produce ethanol. So it is critical for us to know exactly how big the influence corn-based ethanol had on the maize price. During the period of 2003 to the fall of 2006, the U.S. corn price kept at a level below US $2.5 per bushel (1 bushel = 25.40 kg). Afterward, the price increased to US $4 per bushel, which definitely had something to do with the boom of corn-based ethanol. But it was by no means the sole reason. According to a report released by Informa, a consultant organization, in 2008, the impact that corn has on the United States’ consumer price index (CPI) was negligible based on an analysis of the data spanning twenty

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years. The CEO of Informa, Bruce Hill, said that this report overturned the widely accepted idea that bio-based ethanol has to be responsible for the soaring price of corn. As revealed by professional analysts, the reason behind the approximate 6 percent increase in CPI of the United States over the first nine months of 2007 was the record-high price of raw materials. The USDA estimated that for every dollar paid by the American consumer, only nineteen cents went to farmers while the remaining eighty-one cents went to labor, fuel, transportation, packaging, and other nonagriculture sectors. Hence, nonagriculture cost, especially the record-setting oil price since 2007, may be the major cause responsible for rising food prices. Figure 11.3 reflects the price dynamic of the three major crops (i.e., rice, wheat, and corn) on the international market. Four stages can be identified from the figure: the 1990s is the stage of normal price fluctuation; 1998 to 2004 was characterized by low prices; 2004 to 2006 was the stage with the price driven by the rising cost of raw materials; and early 2008 was the abnormally soaring stage. Of the three major grains, wheat and rice experienced a stunting price rise. From January 2007 to March 2008, the price of wheat and rice increased by 131 percent and 83 percent, respectively, while corn increased by only 40 percent. Hence, among the three major crops, corn had the slightest price increase. Hence, the attack on corn-based ethanol as the major contributor to the world food crisis is proved to be prejudiced.

11.5. HAVE CORN EXPORTS FALLEN ON THE U.S. SIDE? Lester Brown in many cases indicated that corn-based ethanol development in the United States is a competition over food with humans, since there were still over eight hundred million people in want of food. His concern and attention to the matter is justified, but he has no solid proof

Figure 11.3. Price dynamics of wheat, rice and maize on international market (Shi, 2008). Source: Data is from website of China Xinhua News Agency.

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to testify to his proposition. Most of the social unrests that occurred during the food crisis were in underdeveloped African countries, where extremely low income and unaffordability for exorbitantly priced food had to be responsible for most street protests and riots. Basically speaking, food was not in real shortage then on a global scale. Had the U.S. corn export to such underdeveloped countries been affected by its corn-based ethanol production? An analysis of data collected for 2001 to 2007 will be presented in the following subsection to answer the question. The United States is a major producer and exporter of corn in the world, with an annual output of about three hundred million tons, 60 percent of which is processed into animal feeds, 20 percent of which is converted to chemical products, and the rest of which is for export. In 2004, the United States produced twenty million tons of corn-based ethanol by consuming seventy million tons of corn, accounting for just one-fifth of its total corn output. Table 11.1 shows that in recent years both corn yield and output have risen substantially in the United States, with total output up from 240 million tons to over 300 million tons. The extra sixty million in output had basically closed the gap from growing corn-based ethanol. As a matter of fact, more corn has been exported from the United States during recent years. In 2007 to 2008, the United States exported a record 76.8 million tons of corn. Moreover, the corn reserve in the United States has always been kept at a high level, which plays a significant role as a great cushion for the international corn market. Another fact worth noting is that cropland acreage of corn in the United States has remained constant, far from the hearsay that a great amount of fields originally planting other crops and new fields have been converted into corn plantation for ethanol development. Many wonder how the United States managed to maintain the stability of its domestic corn market and corn export while a large amount of its corn has been dedicated to ethanol production. Two factors may explain Table 11.1.

Sowing acreage, output, export and conversion of U.S. corn in 2001–2007

Year

Acreage under Harvest (104 ha)

Output (104 ton)

Yield (ton ha–1)

Export (104 ton)

Ethanol Purpose (104 ton)

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

2,783 2,806 2,871 2,979 3,040 2,859 3,501

24,138 22,777 25,628 29,991 28,231 26,750 33,117

8.67 8.12 8.92 10.06 9.28 9.36 9.46

4,794 4,769 4,341 4,874 4,535 5,608 5,415

2,088 2,226 2,820 3,373 4,200 5,775 7,000

Note: Data from FAO and USDA.

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the unusual achievement. The first is the sheer large corn output in the United States, allowing ample room for multiple-purpose use. The second is the high enthusiasm toward corn production by American farmers and the consequent high unit output of cornfields. Has corn-based ethanol production in the United States competed for grain with the American people? Has corn-based ethanol production in the United States shadowed corn exports, and therefore threatened the livelihoods of poor people in underdeveloped countries? The answer is no.

11.6. GRAIN OR NONGRAIN? FOOD OR NONFOOD? Perhaps Lester Brown may argue that because corn ethanol does not compete with grain for human beings at present does not necessarily mean that in the future it will not compete. But that is IMPOSSIBLE! As a matter of fact, the U.S. federal government and think tanks have been well aware of the weaknesses of corn ethanol, including the large consumption of corn, the impact on the corn market price, the high cost of raw material, the low conversion efficiency, and the poor emission reduction effect. As early as 2004, the U.S. National Energy Commission compared the strengths and weaknesses of hydrogen energy, corn ethanol, cellulose ethanol, and biodiesel with respect to their raw material availability, carbon dioxide emission reduction, compatibility with infrastructure, and competitiveness over petroleum by 2020. It concluded that, among the four new energies, corn ethanol is the least promising one, while cellulose ethanol is the most promising one (NCEP, 2006). In a report submitted to Congress in 2005, the USDA and the Department of Energy (DOE) jointly proposed that among the 1.366 billion tons of biofuel raw material, which are expected to be produced by 2030 as substitute for 30 percent of transportation fuel needed in the United States then, only 6.7 percent (namely eighty-seven million tons) of which will be converted from corn, above 90 percent from the second generation (2G) of nonfood-based raw material (USDE and USDA, 2005). In addition to that, the Energy Independence and Security Act, which was signed into law in 2008, mandated that for the realization of the preset goal of introducing 108 million tons of biofuel to the United States in 2022, more attention should be directed toward the second generation (2G) of biofuel since 2015, because corn ethanol production would not be allowed for further expansion as long as it has reached the annual output of forty-five million tons in 2015 (CRS, 2007). Since the switch from food-based biofuel to nonfood-based biofuel is a trend nobody can afford to miss, those worrying that biofuel might compete for food with human beings can be free from such concerns with an eased mind.

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Since the advantages of cellulose ethanol came to the surface and the invention of biodiesel based on FT technology and thermal cracking, people started to distinguish them from traditional grain-derived ethanol and bio-oil-derived diesel and termed them 2G biofuel. Raw material for 2G biofuel is more easy to get, with a lower price and higher energy efficiency and emission reduction effect. The emergence and prevalence of 2G biofuel is a technology-propelled industrial revolution throughout the whole process from raw material to final product. 2G biofuel has done a great job in dispelling the deep-seated doubt people hold for biofuel, such as human-automobile competition over grain, being the triggering factor behind soaring food prices, and concerns about low energy conversion efficiency and the emission reduction effect. The developing trend of biofuel is not merely nongrain-based, but nonfood-based. The Jenny textile machine, the first prototype automobile manufactured by Daimler, and the ENIAC computer, although they may appear quite simple and crude by today’s standards, did pave the way toward their much more sophisticated and refined counterparts available today. Thus, why are we so demanding and fastidious about biofuel at its infancy? Do we have any reason to be prejudiced against corn-based ethanol and put the blame on biofuel development?

11.7. WHY HAS BIOFUEL BEEN FORGOTTEN? When the food crisis occurred, corn-based ethanol was given high attention. When the crisis receded, however, corn ethanol was soon forgotten. After July 2008, the prices of major crops on the world market dropped remarkably. In August of 2008, the rice free on board (FOB) price dropped to US $550 per ton from US $1,000 per ton (People’s Web-Stock Times, August 20, 2008). If measured by FOB price on October 31, 2008, the global price of wheat, maize, soybean, and rice decreased by 53.3 percent, 42.6 percent, 42.6 percent, and 57.9 percent from their respective peak ones (http://www.cnfol.com, November 18, 2008). According to the vice president of the China National Commission of Development and Reform, the price of U.S. corn arriving in Chinese ports dropped to 1600 RMB yuan per ton on November 5, 2008, from 2800 RMB yuan per ton in March 2008, while the price of soybeans dropped to 3800 RMB yuan per ton from 5500 RMB yuan per ton (November 13, 2008). Globally, the Indian government also loosened the restrictions on grain exports in September 2008. On November 13, 2008, the Chinese government also repealed the temporary duty tax levied since December 20, 2007. Other major grain exporters lifted the ban or loosened the restrictions on grain exports. China’s maize output in 2009 reached a record

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high of 156 million tons, resulting in a supply surplus of 5.22 million tons on the domestic market. On the other hand, demands from animal feed and exports were sluggish. The price of corn plunged to a low level, bringing sorrow to peasants with high hopes. Therefore, another spectrum of the crisis was manifested. Easy come, easy go. The food crisis evaporated about a half year after its sudden eruption. The extremely violent fluctuation of food prices over such a short period also demonstrated the abnormality of the food crisis itself. People preferred to cite three reasons to explain away the ending of the crisis (i.e., increased crop output, plummeting oil prices, and the rebounded U.S. dollar and retreated hot money). Now, let us examine them one by one. First, was it true that the crop harvest happened in just half a year? Definitely not. It is just a pretext because crop shortages had never served as the true reason of the crisis. Then, how about the plummeting oil prices and retreated hot money? Yes, they did happen. The skyrocketed oil price and influx of hot money are the genuine troublemakers, which should shoulder responsibility for the crisis. To our surprise, cornbased ethanol was forgotten when people tried to seek out the root cause of the food crisis. Did the output of corn-based ethanol fall in the half year? No! Because it did not cause the crisis. For those blind fighters who put the blame on biofuel in the crisis, they really deserved a Don Quixote medal to be conferred in an awarding ceremony held before windmills. Then what are the true reasons behind the food crisis? According to economists’ analyses, in the wake of the huge depreciation of the U.S. dollar and the subloan crisis, a great amount of floating capital poured into food, oil, gold, and real estate sectors for speculation, which further exacerbated the crisis. Another contributing factor is the panic of social psyche (i.e., grain export bans and restrictions imposed by major grainproducing countries). However, the alarming message of the food supply shortage as released by FAO is also a midwife to the birth of the crisis. On top of these factors, there are still two deeper reasons. As Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, pointed out, soaring food prices in the crisis were deeply rooted in the inappropriate policies adopted by international organizations and developing countries in the last twenty years. Under such policies, the roles of agriculture and food were greatly underestimated and overlooked. Developing countries, in particular, focused their attention on industrial manufacturing, with agriculture neglected. The second underlying reason lies in poverty. The people most vulnerable to the food crisis were those living in underdeveloped countries with low income. They were not able to afford the food available in shops and markets. Governments, in spite of their desperate efforts to stabilize prices, were powerless to bring things under control. If the country plunging into a food crisis happened to be an oil importer, the

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situation would get more gloomy. According to the UN Asia-Pacific social economic watchdog, of all of the fifty poorest countries in the world, thirty-eight are net importers of oil, twenty-five of which depended entirely on oil imports. The rising oil price has already pressed them out of breath, let alone the soaring food price. Among the many factors responsible for the crisis, the one with the most devastating effect is the hot money speculating on the food market. Such merciless investors spread salts on the wounds of developing countries that depended heavily on imported food and oil. Biofuel is just the ideal pretext they resorted to to cover up their overwhelming role in the food crisis.

11.8. A JUSTIFIABLE DEFENSE FOR BIOENERGY Have I become an apologist for the United States’ biofuel development with the defenses mentioned above? No. As I dabbled in the field of biofuel in 2004, I felt strongly that the development of biofuel could not compete over grains and lands with human beings. Besides, I also believed that corn ethanol production was only suited to the United States and was at its early stage then. Sure, corn ethanol production has many problems to be addressed (i.e., competition over grain and land with humans, high conversion cost, low energy efficiency, poor emission reduction effect). OK, maybe corn-based ethanol well deserves sharp criticisms for its performance on energy savings and emission reduction as well as its threat to food security. But any attempt to try to choke biofuel to death cannot be tolerated. Confusing biofuel with corn-based ethanol is not fair and will mislead public opinions. Is it the right thing to do to make a biofuel, a treasure with great potential to benefit human society, into a scapegoat with no room left for future development? I just want to say some words of justice on behalf of it. Biofuel is a God-sent, bountiful gift. It can be extracted from such diverse sources as crop straws, forestry leftovers, animal manures, organic waste liquid and solids, and urban wastes. It can be made into products of various forms such as solid, liquid, and gaseous ones. Besides, it can also be converted into biodegradable plastic and a thousand types of chemical materials and products. The biofuel industry holds great promise for promoting the rural economy, improving farmers’ incomes, and creating new jobs. Moreover, biofuel is a kind of environmentally friendly, clean, and sustainable energy. If we refuse to develop biofuel because of its problems in its infancy, we will lose the chances to witness it grow into a powerful giant. How can we order a school closed down if one of the pupils gets a low grade on one examination?

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The food crisis, in an unexpected way, proved the innocence of biofuel, and it also demonstrated that the best way to lift the countries that heavily relied on food and oil imports out of poverty was to help them develop their economy and agriculture. Biofuel is a blessing rather than a curse for them to improve food, energy, the environment, and rural development. Sure, Lester Brown’s reprehension of bioenergy was based on his careful calculations. But he made one massive mistake of limiting his sight on one particular point without considering the whole situation in general. Just a few months before Brown published his article (July 15, 2006), U.S. president George W. Bush expressed his determination in the State of the Union Address to develop biofuel to make U.S. dependency on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past. He also stressed that the focus would be placed on cellulose-based ethanol. Then why did Brown keep criticizing biofuel? He kept on talking about two million people living in poverty across the world, but why didn’t he criticize the high-subsidy agriculture policy adopted by the United States and the dumping of grains to underdeveloped countries while not helping them to develop their own agriculture, which they desperately needed? Brown’s Eco-Economy and Plan B as well as his idea of sustainable development had won global acclaim, but why didn’t he mention that biofuel development could bring enormous benefits to over two billion poor people, materialize the substitute of fossil energy with clean energy, and make plan B and sustainable development a reality?

11.9. WORDS AND ACTS OF TWO PRESIDENTS IN THE FOOD CRISIS The substitution of fossil energies by biofuel, a decision made despite the encountered numerous doubts and oppositions, has been given great national strategic importance by the U.S. federal government. From President Clinton’s Executive Order Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy to President Bush’s State of the Union Address statement that “one of our ambitious goals is to substitute 75 percent of imported oil from Middle East,” from the Energy Independence and Security Act legislated at the end of 2008 to President Obama’s strategies on energies as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation, the United States has consistently and resolutely given priority to biofuel as a substitute for fossil-based energies in the new century. When corn ethanol became the scapegoat of the food crisis, President Bush responded to criticisms toward biofuel in a news conference held on April 29, 2008, with straightforward remarks: “It’s in our national interests that we—our farmers— grow energy as opposed to us purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us.”

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Let’s turn our eyes to another country achieving remarkable progress in biofuel development—Brazil. Here, over 50 percent of petroleum has been substituted by biofuel, and 25.8 million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been reduced. Biofuel is already one of the pillar industries of the country. The unreasonable attacks on biofuel during the crisis infuriated Brazilian president Lula da Silva. When he was asked about his opinion on the EU proposing to give up its original plan of substituting 10 percent of transportation fuel with biofuel due to rising food prices, he replied, “Don’t talk about rising food prices as a result of biofuel development, we have to hold a reasonable attitude toward biofuel. Don’t be emotional, and don’t echo European’s point of view.” Referring to one FAO official’s remark that biofuel production was equal to an antihuman crime, President Lula da Silva refuted: “Someone wants to attribute the food crisis to biofuel, that is a ridiculous distortion. Brazilian experiences have shown that instead of posing a threat to food security, biofuel development created many jobs for rural areas and pushed farmers’ income upward. . . . The real anti-human crime is putting biofuel aside, pushing every country into a food and energy shortage.” When meeting the Dutch prime minister in April 2008, President Lula da Silva said: “Great hopes lie in producing bio-based ethanol for developing countries, especially for economic development in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. If we can put money in Haiti to develop biofuel, it will bring enormous benefits for both Haiti and investors. Brazil has been ready for related debates over biofuel and I would like to travel around the world for that.” It is not difficult to feel that each and every time President Lula da Silva talks about biofuel, he always devotes enormous emotions and enthusiasms to promoting Brazilian agriculture and improving farmers’ incomes. It is a natural expression of a farmer’s son. At one International Conference on Biofuel held in July 2007, Lula da Silva stressed again that Brazil placed great emphasis on biofuel development to push forward agricultural growth, improve farmers’ incomes, and solve the issues regarding food and poverty. As to the viewpoints that biofuel is pushing up food prices, he said, “To my surprise, I just heard of the criticisms against biofuel and cannot hear of the criticisms against the rocketing oil price from US $30 per barrel to US $103 per barrel. . . . Why had the commentators not mentioned the negative impact the high oil prices have on higher agricultural costs, and why had not those people criticized the strikes the high agricultural subsidies adopted by developed countries have on vulnerable agriculture in developing worlds?” How distinctive and insightful are President Lula da Silva’s standing and attitudes toward biofuel development and the food crisis!

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When the food crisis was at its prime, J. Tschirley, a FAO official, pointed out that FAO required the member states to give sufficient notice on the impact biofuel development had on food security and the environment, while in the meantime not to delay its development by ignoring the roles it played in improving rural economic development. The UN Asia-Pacific Social Economic Watch 2008 also indicated that the irresistible development of the biofuel industry would bring great benefit to improving farmers’ income, creating jobs, and stabilizing prices. With admirable courage and deep insight, such international organizations spoke from a sense of justice under great pressure from many sides at the prime of the crisis. Everything in the world is associated with each other and forms a complex system. Biofuel is involved in the system, too. Lester Brown’s opposition against biofuel is established on an aspect of being mutually destructive of everything while ignoring the aspect of mutually constructive between everything. While Brown wanted biofuel production to slow down in the United States in order to guarantee corn export to poor countries that rely heavily on U.S. export, President Lula da Silva was determined to develop agriculture and to gain food independence by developing the biofuel industry in developing countries. Lula da Silva is right.

REFERENCES Brown, L. R. “Supermarkets and Service Stations Now Competing for Grain.” Earth Policy Institute, July 13, 2006. Accessed August 2010. http://www.earth -policy.org/plan_b_updates/2006/update55. Congressional Research Service (CRS). Report for Congress. Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007: A Summary of Major Provisions, December 21, 2007. Accessed August 2010. http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/ serve?File_id=82061c68-eef5-4fc3-81b6-ecd569a1d8a3. NCEP (National Commission on Energy Policy). Ending the Energy Stalemate: A Bipartisan Strategy to Meet America’s Energy Challenges, August 28, 2006. Accessed August 2010. http://www.bioeconomyconference.org/images/grumet,%20 jason.pdf. Shi, Y. C. “Food! Oil! Biofuel?” China Science and Technology Daily, June 8, 2008. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). United States Department of Energy (USDE) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply, April 2005. Accessed in August 2010. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/bioenergy/pdfs/final_billionton_ vision_report2.pdf. Wald, M. L. “Is Ethanol for the Long Haul?” Scientific American, February 2007.

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FOCUS ON CHINA

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To dampen boiling soup with hot water is doomed a futile effort. Only extracting the firewood from under the cauldron can solve the problem radically. —“Jingshenxun” of Huainanzi

E

xcessive dependence leads to addiction. That is true for energy consumption, too. From drilling wood to making fire in a primitive society, to the introduction of the firewood stove in an agricultural society and to the wide application of electricity, oil, and gas in an industrial society, human beings have shown growing dependence on energy consumption. Only two centuries after the Pandora’s Box of fossil energy was uncovered by human beings, coal, oil, and natural gas that have been deposited in the depths of the earth for four hundred million years were exhausted. Fossil energy not only brings power and prosperity but also, regretfully, a deteriorated environment for human beings. How sharp the doubled-edge sword is! Driven by profit seeking, some leading industrialized countries are still indulging in unrestrained fossil energy exploitation with the environment being badly damaged as a result. Emerging economies such as China and India are not able to get rid of their dependence on fossil energy, too. At the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit held at the end of 2009, though various interest groups debated strongly on carbon emission reduction targets out of their own interests, it was well accepted that great and immediate efforts should be made to hasten the 225

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transition from a fossil-energy-fueled economy to clean energy one. This is the only way, for the developed and the emerging economies alike, to get rid of the trap of fossil energy. No doubt early starters, such as Brazil, Sweden, and the United States, can enjoy more freedom of options than the late beginners. China, a country with scanty fossil energy reserves yet sharply increasing demand, and the number-one carbon dioxide emitter in the world, is seriously troubled by energy problems. Then, how to get out of the dilemma? By relying on foreign resources? Making oil from coal? Resorting to electric vehicles? Sure, maybe there are a lot of makeshifts, but the only way to effect a permanent cure is to accelerate the transition and development of clean energy. It is echoed in the wise words of the ancient saga Huainanzi Jingshenxunm, a classic philosophical anthology of China: “To dampen boiling soup with hot water is doomed a futile effort. Only extracting the firewood from under the cauldron can solve the problem radically.” I would like to elaborate on the dilemma and transition that China’s energy industry has faced and gone through in this chapter; the medicine—energy agriculture—with which China can ease its issues concerning agriculture, farmers, and the countryside in the next chapter and biomass energy, an inevitable road for China’s development, in chapter 14. These are a series of chapters dedicated to expounding the significance of biomass in resolving China’s two fundamental issues—energy as well as agriculture, farmers, and the countryside.

12.1. THE SEVERE ENERGY PROSPECT OF CHINA Currently the energy situation in China is very severe. Specifically speaking, China is confronted with such problems as scarcity of fossil energy, imbalanced structure, rapid increase of demand, a growing gap, dependence on imports, lower energy efficiency, and difficulty reducing emissions. The remaining exploitable reserve of Chinese fossil energy is equal to 88.2 billion tons of standard coal (2005). It only can sustain exploitation of another forty-six years based on 1.9 billion tons of produced quantity in 2005. Back in 1980, when China was at the beginning stage of Reform and Opening Policy, China’s total energy consumption was 0.6 billion tons of standard coal, and in 2000, the figure soared to 1.3 billion tons, with an annual growth rate of 5.8 percent. China witnessed a 13.6 percent annual growth rate for its energy consumption in 2000 to 2007, which further brought a heavier burden on China’s energy supply. With shrinking exploitable reserves and a lessened exploiting duration, China, a big rising power in the world, is vexed by its bleak prospect of energy resources. As to the remaining 88.2 billion tons of exploitable reserves of standard coal, the percentage of coal, oil, and natural gas is 92.6 percent (81.7 billion

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Figure 12.1. Constituents of China energy consumption in 2007. Note: Data from NSBC, 2009.

tons), 4 percent (3.5 billion tons), and 3.4 percent (3 billion tons), respectively. The energy mix, featuring the absolute dominance of coal, is very unfavorable for China, since the imbalance of the energy mix would cause imbalance in consumption structure, too. Among China’s total consumption of primary energy in 2007, fossil energy was 2.462 billion tons of standard coal and accounted for 91.8 percent (the proportion of coal was 68.8 percent), while hydropower, nuclear power, and nonwater renewable energy only makes up 6.44 percent, 0.79 percent, and 0.97 percent of the energy mix, respectively (figure 12.1). Surging energy demand and a coal-dominant energy mix are the major factors behind China’s quick replacement of the United States as the number-one carbon emission emitter in the world. China is expected to be responsible for one-fourth (nearly eight billion tons) of the total global carbon dioxide emissions in 2020. The scarcity of fossil energy in China also triggers enormous oil and natural gas imports to meet the increasing energy needs. China’s import dependence ratio of oil had reached to 53.6 percent in 2009. In addition, the comprehensive energy efficiency of China is ten percentage points lower than that of developed countries. The energy dilemma facing China is like a big family with weak financial strength but huge, expensive bills to pay, or a man born with a weak body but doomed to a disordered and laborious life. In addition to reserve shortages, China is also outdated in its energy concept and strategy, which is exactly what I want to explore in this chapter.

12.2. DEEP-SEATED “COAL-RICH COMPLEX” IN CHINA No objection will be raised if China is said to be poor in oil and natural gas. However, the assertion that China is poor in coal resources will definitely draw intense opposition, because China has been fairly confident of its coal resources all the time.

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Is China rich or poor in coal resources? Let’s first judge it from the aspect of its remaining exploitable reserves. According to the data in the book Clean Coal Technology edited by Yao Qiang, China’s remaining coal exploitable reserves was 114.5 billion tons of standard coal (note: only 81.7 billion tons of standard coal in light of internal data was revealed in 2005), accounting for 93 percent of the total fossil energy resources of China, taking up 10 percent of the world total coal resources and ranking it third in the world. From the sheer scale, China can be deemed rich in coal resources. But China’s per-capita coal energy resource is only 0.89 million tons, one-tenth of that of the United States, one-twelfth of Russia, one forty-seventh of Australia, and one-third of the world’s average. Judged from this angle, China is far from eligible of being called rich in coal. The situation is more worrying if we analyze the “reserve-to-production ratio” (the ratio of remaining exploitable reserves to exploitation production in a year) (Yao, 2005). Then, how many years it will take for the 81.7 billion tons of remaining exploitable reserves to be exhausted? The answer will vary greatly from 3,816 years (still far away ahead) if calculated according to the annual coal exploitation production in 1950 of 30 million tons; to 191 years (not imminent yet) if calculated according to that in 1980 of 0.6 billion tons; to 88 years (pressingly imminent) if calculated according to that in 2000 of 1.3 billion tons; and to only 45 years (unbelievably short) if calculated according to that in 2007 of 2.53 billion tons. How horrifyingly speedy the deterioration is! To the contrary, the reserve-to-production ratio of the United States, Australia, and India are all around 250, and over 300 for Germany. Among these countries, China once was also a member of the “coal-abundant club” in the middle of twentieth century. But now things are totally different. China must wake up from the old good time to face the dire truth. They must bid farewell to the old “coal-rich complex” and learn to live with the cruel reality of “coal-poor.” Unfortunately, up to now China is still wasteful in the consumption of coal. Whenever China encounters a power shortage, coal mining comes to mind as a perfect solution. China’s coal exploitation output was 0.6 billion tons in 1980, 2.2 billion tons in 2005, and 2.526 billion tons in 2007, and it accounted for over 40 percent of the world’s total. China is undoubtedly the biggest coal-mining country in the world. Similarly, whenever it encountered an oil shortage, people resorted to far from satisfactory solutions in spite of the apparent shortcomings. For example, the coal-turnedoil is criticized for its high cost, high pollution, high water consumption, and low energy efficiency; the coal-based alcohol is extremely low in energy efficiency (six to one), high in pollution, toxicity, and corrosion, difficult to store and transfer, and therefore it was terminated by the United States and Europe for further experiments in the 1980s and 1990s. Such phenomena all result from the deep-seated “coal-rich complex” in China. Recently, an article titled “Coal, the Emerging Tycoon in the Energy Family,” eulogizes that “human beings will bid farewell to oil in 25 years,

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since coal resource is sufficient to meet people’s demands for 150 years at least. Coal resource is abundant, low priced, and extensively distributed. Compared with other young renewable energy resources such as highcost wind energy and solar energy, coal energy is obviously superior in its economic competitiveness. . . . Coal is the optimal successor of oil.” How ridiculous these arguments are, just like advertising for coal bosses. The reserve-to-production ratio as mentioned in the article—150—is seriously inaccurate; in fact it’s just forty-five (according to the exploitation production of 2007). OK, even if the article can escape from the condemnation of data inconsistent with the fact or giving unfair privileges to coal energy, the big and well-established energy hegemony in China, it should at least should be reprimanded for a lack of social responsibility in ignoring the huge waste of the natural and financial resources of the nation and the resulting boom in greenhouse gas emission. China’s coal resource is the dominating one among the energy mix of the nation, and the situation will remain unchanged in the long run. However, this fact does not justify any immoderate waste of coal resources. China’s coal exploitation production was 1.3 billion tons in 2000, and it doubled seven years later to 2.5 billion tons in 2007 (figure 12.2).

Figure 12.2. Changes in coal production and reserve-to-production in China over recent 20 years (NSBC, 2009; Yao, 2005). R/P represented reserve-to-production.

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If this pace continues, China will deplete the remaining exploitable coal resources before 2050, unless coal can fall from heaven. President Bush once commented that America is addicted to oil. China’s addiction to coal, I am afraid, is even heavier than the United States’ oil addiction. It’s not the worst if some experts, enterprises, and common people still remain committed to the outdated “coal-rich complex.” However, if the government also sticks to “coal addiction,” this will wreck the country and bring ruin to the people.

12.3. CHINA’S THREE KINDS OF STRATEGIC POSITIONING FOR COAL Since coal enjoys a very special status in China’s energy mix, its strategic positioning is of great significance. Generally speaking, there are three kinds of viewpoints regarding its strategic positioning. Academician Ni Weidou once commented in China Science and Technology Daily on January 25, 2007, that “coal is and will (until 2050 or later) be the dominating one among the energy mix in our country. Although the ratio of coal in energy mix would gradually decrease to 75% to 60%, the total coal consumption would keep on the rise. . . . The ratio of coal-fired electric power will be growing from the present 50% to over 70%. . . . No big imbalance will be caused to overall energy supply, if one eighth of the annual coal output is used to generate liquid fuel for vehicles” (Ni, 2007). Well, what he said in the first sentence is quite true, but the second and the third sentences would give people the wrong impression that resource depletion is a thing far beyond reach. Such opinions represent one kind of coal strategic positioning of “coal dominating, unlimited use, decreased ratio, and increased total quantity.” As early as 1995 when the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that China’s carbon dioxide emissions rank second in the world, academician He Zuoxiu warned people in the nation: “How long can the coal-dominated energy policy be sustained? . . . The time left for us would be less than 20 years, if we still stick to the coal-dominated energy policy” (He, 1998). Professor Mao Zongqiang also pointed out: “Do we need to introduce change to the present energy structure, which is solely dominated by coal? Should we change it proactively at present or passively in future?” (Mao, 2007). The second strategic position is proposed by the China Academy of Sciences in the Strategic Report on Sustainable Energy Development of China: “It is urgent for us to optimize energy structure, decrease share of coal, and significantly increase that of renewable energy and nuclear power. . . . Although the picture of energy request in 2050 cannot be

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depicted in great detail now, but one thing is quite clear: by 2050, China’s energy structure would have big changes, with the share of coal slumped greatly. Though China’s domestic requirement for coal consumption keeps growing and the domestic enthusiasm for increasing coal mining quite high now, we have to point out that in view of factors like environmental pollution, greenhouse gas emission and sensible and sustainable utilization of resource, such fervor in immoderate consumption and manufacture of coil should be forbidden” (Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2007). The report proposed that the proportion of coal in the primary energy mix should be controlled to around 40 percent by 2050. With a clear-cut attitude, the report is full of a sense of crisis and urgency, as well as rational insights. Such coal strategic positioning can be tersely put as: “reducing the share of coal, controlling the consumption of coal, and seeking substitutes of coal.” I basically agree with the second position, but I think too much flexibility is allowed for the goal of share reduction, and too much time will elapse with limited restrictions for coal consumption before 2050. So I would like to go further to propose the third coal strategic position that features “controlling output, enforcing substitution.” Controlling output means the coal yield must stay below a certain line; enforcing substitution means certain nonfossil energy should be adopted to meet the gap between the energy requirement and yield. Rigid targets should be set for both measures. For example, in the Energy Independence and Security Act, the United States set specific goals for its liquid biofuel output by 2022 (0.108 billion tons) and for many future years; and it clearly stipulated that the output of foodbased biofuel should kept constant after reaching the level of forty-five million tons in 2015, while the yield of nonfood-based biofuel should be increased from 1.8 million tons in 2009 to sixty-three million tons in 2022. Such a transparent approach with clear-cut targets set in advance is particularly suitable for China. China’s coal output has stayed at a quite high level now. It is proposed that a cap (namely three billion tons) should be imposed on China’s annual coal output; that is to say, the gap of the annual coal demand exceeding three billion tons needs to be met by clean energy substitutions. This strategic position, which is highly expected to be written into law, is believed with the effect of burning one’s boats behind one in inspiring our potential for developing clear energy.

12.4. CHINA’S RELIANCE ON OVERSEAS OIL AND NATURAL GAS Now, I would like to make certain calculations for China’s oil resources from the aspects of oil reserve, oil requirement, and oil import.

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China’s verified oil reserve was 3.5 billion tons of standard coal in 2005, with the reserve-to-production ratio staying at 14. This means that China’s verified oil reserve only can last for fourteen years without the additional input of newly found and imported oil resources. More terribly, China’s oil reserve-to-production ratio reduced to 11.3 in 2008 (Jiang, 2008). That’s because during the fourteen years between 1994 and 2007, China had made itself the third largest oil consumer in the world, with an annual oil consumption up from 0.15 billion tons to 0.366 billion tons (figure 12.3), as driven by an annual growth rate of 10.3 percent. The news that one oilfield with one billion ton reserves was found in the north of China three years ago did bring great happiness to the nation. However, such reserve will only stand for another two or three years of domestic consumption. Even if the reserve is as reportedly high as 2.5 billion tons, the newly found oilfield only can sustain five or six years at most. Don’t forget, extremely poor oil reserves is one of the basic conditions of China. China imported 2.9 million tons of oil in 1994 when it became the net importer. In 2003, its import-dependence rate rose to 39 percent. In 2009, China produced 188.5 million tons of oil on its own and procured 199.6 million tons from import (import-dependent rate at 51.4 percent). If growing at the same rate (namely, twelve percentage points of growth in nearly six years), China’s import-dependence rate will approach 70 percent in 2020, given no important measure is adopted by then. In order to ensure a high import-dependence rate, the government spent a trillion

Figure 12.3. China oil consumption and net import. Source: based on data from China Energy Statistical Yearbook, 2004, 2008, 2010. The prediction in 2020 is based on unpublished material.

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RMB yuan worth of foreign exchange reserves to the Middle East, Russia, Central Asia, Africa, and Latin America and other regions in last few years, coupled with the investment of rich diplomatic/politic resources. Today, China is involved with an oil- and gas-focused diplomacy, with more emphasis put on oil and gas imported from foreign countries, just as what happened to the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. Times have changed. China is about one century later than Western countries in entering into the global oil landscape. Now, as a newcomer rivaling for the last piece of land in a high-volatile and high-risk battlefield, China needs to be cautioned about not only experienced old players like the United States and the United Kingdom but also new ones such as India. At the beginning of 2010, a delegation led by the India oil minister visited an array of countries such as Sudan, Nigeria, Angola, and Uganda; meanwhile, a series of energy agreements was signed between India and such oil-rich countries as Angola and Nigeria. The 2007 annual report of the IEA noted that if the energy demand of China and India continue to increase unchecked, both countries’ oil imports will double by 2030 and exceed the current import of the United States and Japan. The addiction of excessively relying on Middle East oil will bring both economic and political risks to the two rising countries. In the short term, the domestic inflation rate is at risk to rise; in the long run, both would be severely affected by oil price hikes and supply disruptions if the region is troubled by conflicts and wars. The Middle East, a highly unstable region, is where about 70 percent of China’s imported oil comes from. Every day, more than one hundred Chinese tankers need to struggle their way through the Straits of Malacca, which is crowded with U.S. warships and lurking pirates. In the annual report to Congress, Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2007 released by the U.S. Department of Defense (USDOD), there was a figure depicting China’s critical sea lanes with illustrations that stated: “China is heavily dependent upon critical sea lanes for its energy imports. Some 80% of China’s crude oil imports transit the Straits of Malacca.” No wonder that the U.S. military boasted that China’s oil supply pass was at its disposal. Of course, some Western media and even the EIA would exaggerate their remarks for the purpose of deterring competition from developing countries, but it still can serve as a timely alarm to China. For China itself, so many significant problems are unavoidable, such as how much investment is needed to secure the offshore oil channel, to open the land route through Pakistan to Xinjiang Province, to introduce the oil and gas of Russia to Daqing (famous oil field in China in the northeastern Heilongjiang Province, neighboring with Russia’s Far East), to connect the oil and gas pipelines in Central Asia, and to access to the South American oil transportation line across the Pacific, and so on.

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However, the foreign oil and gas resources are not infinite. In 2000, the world’s remaining exploitable oil reserve stood at 140.82 billion tons, the oil output was 3.42 billion tons, and the reserve-to-production ratio was 41.2. And the corresponding figures for natural gas in the same year were 149.42 trillion m3, 1.76 trillion m3, and 84.9, respectively (Zhang et al., 2012). That is to say, the oil and gas resources can be exploited for fortyone and eighty-five years only, respectively, based on references drawn from 2000. According to the 2005 International Energy Outlook issued by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the world’s verified, increased, and unproved oil reserves between 1995 to 2025 were estimated at 175 billion tons, 100 billion tons, and 128.6 billion tons, respectively (USEIA, 2006). And the corresponding data for natural gas was 171, 66.46, and 121.79 trillion m3, respectively. Along with the gradual depletion of resources, oil and natural gas production cost and sales price would be more expensive consequentially. China, the giant oil and natural gas tanker, is heading for a narrower and more costly channel with a dead end around the corner. That is not to say that the international oil and natural gas trade is not important for China. Instead, it is quite significant, since there is no other way left for China to satisfy its ever-growing demand and the big gap at present. Similarly, that is not to say that the strategy of increasing strategic reserves of oil and natural gas with foreign exchange reserves when the price goes down is not significant. Instead, it is quite significant, since such opportunity is rare. However, it’s by no means a simple relationship solely about purchase and sales. On the contrary, it cannot happen without great input of monetary, political, diplomatic, and military resources. The invisible costs are much greater than the visible ones. The key points I want to stress are that overreliance on foreign oil and natural gas resources will bring down China’s energy independence and security; in addition, to resort to imported energy resources from foreign countries is not beneficial; accelerating the development of clean energy is an imperative task that China should double its efforts for. Finally, I want to emphasize that the oil and natural gas resources will be exhausted one day; renewable energy is the only way out of the dead alley and toward a bright and independent path with boundless prospects. The United States, Europe, and Brazil have been striding along this path now, so why can’t China? Any decision by China, a rising power, may bring influence to the world, more or less. Thanks to its food security policy, China can satisfy 95 percent of its domestic food demand through independent selfreliance. This is also the reason why China was immune from the global food crisis that swept in 2008. But a totally different scene is observed in China’s oil supply, half of which rely on imports. How can such a highly

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dangerous approach be maintained in China and keep them independent and safe from outside impact? Why does China uphold such disparate approaches in dealing with food and energy—the two issues with the utmost significance concerning a country’s freedom and safety?

12.5. ENERGY TRANSFORMATION: INEVITABLE TREND OF THE WORLD China will benefit from the experience as to how the leading industrial countries such as the United States and Europe realize their energy substitution. (Such experience has been explored in chapters 5, 6, and 7 , and a brief summarization will be made in this section, too.) Thanks to the concentrated spatial distribution of oil and natural gas in the world and wide gaps existing between developed and underdeveloped countries, polarization and contradiction between resource supply and demand countries grow acutely. By right of their powerful advantages in the economy, technology, and military, the leading industrialized countries get the upper hand in capturing or even usurping the oil resources worldwide. It is firstly marked by Britain acquiring petroleum-mining rights in Iran and the establishment of the Britain-Persia Oil Company in 1908. The landmark events for growing conflicts over the past century include: the confrontation between the OECD, which was founded in 1960, and the IEA; the U.S.-Iraq War and the U.S.-Iran War; and the current U.S.-Iran confrontation. “A good time cannot last long.” The two wars between the United States with Iran and with Iraq as well as the confrontation between Russia with Ukraine for natural gas made resource-purchasing countries deeply aware of the vexing problems stemming from reliance on foreign countries. The United States and Europe have suffered more and more economic, political, and military cost and pressure out of a reliance on foreign oil and gas, coupled with the threat of oil and gas extinction and global warming. So it is natural for leading industrial countries to turn to renewable energy to get out of such a dilemma. The world oil crisis in 1973 marked the turning point of developed countries’ search for energy substitution and transition (chapter 1). After kicking off its corn ethanol project in 1975, the United States installed the unprecedented huge wind energy generation facility in San Francisco in the 1980s and established nine solar power plants with an annual capability of 10 MW to 80 MW in Southern California in the early 1990s. The replacement of oil with biofuel was a key to their energy transformation. With concerted legislative supports from several presidential administrations, namely from the Presidential Executive

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Order Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy signed by Clinton in 1999, to the U.S. Energy Policy Act signed by Bush in 2005, which set the goal that “the fuel manufacturers have to put 22.5 million tons of bio-ethanol into oil,” to Bush’s State of the Union address in 2006 that pointed out “America is addicted to oil,” to the Energy Independence and Security Act adopted in 2007 that was centered on bioenergy as a key subject, the efforts to substitute oil with bioenergy have been substantially propelled in the United States (CRS, 2007). As a result, biomass has contributed 2.9 quads of energy (about 0.1 billion tons of standard coal) and has accounted for more than 3 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States, overrunning hydroelectric power as the biggest source of renewable energy now (USDE and USDA, 2005). Soon after taking office, Obama issued the Presidential Executive Order instructing that the Department of Agriculture should channel more investment to the biofuel industry and make it a driving force for rural development in America. Also, Obama also pointed out that clean energy focused the national strategy on a solution for the future of the United States, and he signed the American Clean Energy and Security Act into law, based on his belief that “we know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century.” During the early days of his tenure as U.S. Energy Secretary, Steven Chu cancelled the subsidization of hydrogen fuel research and proposed to promote the development of biofuel and low-carbon bioenergy. In 2009, the subsidy earmarked for biomass research and development as provided by the Ministry of Energy was 5.8 times higher than that for solar energy and wind energy. During his speech at Tsinghua University in July 2009, Steven Chu specially introduced the new energy crop Miscanthus to audiences and said, “Feedstock grasses such as Miscanthus can be energy crops. A non-fertilized, non-irrigated test field at University of Illinois yielded 15 times more ethanol per acre (one acre equals to 4,047 square meters) than corn. Fifty million acres of energy crops, plus agricultural and urban wastes can produce one-half of the current US consumption of gasoline” (Chu, 2009). In Energy Outlook 2010 released by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) at the end of 2009, the energy transition process the United States is expected to go through by 2035 is predicted as follows: the United States will see a consistent decrease in energy consumption of the GDP, carbon emission, and per capita energy consumption; and fossil energy will be gradually replaced by renewable energy in the moderate upward trend of energy consumption (USEIA, 2009). In a more specific manner, the report predicts that, as for transport fuel, “the bioenergy supply will keep pace with demand of the liquid fuel, the fuel ethanol will take the percent-

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age of 17 percent in the oil consumption, and bioenergy can decrease oil imports by 45 percent”; as for the automobile, “the FFVs powered by gasoline and bioenergy will take the proportion of 40.9 percent, the car powered by minor gasoline and electricity 26.37 percent, the car powered by 100 percent electricity 18.27 percent, the electric autos 5.35 percent”; as for power generation, 41 percent of newly generated electricity in the United States in 2035 will be converted from renewable energy sources, among which 49.3 percent is biomass, 37 percent is wind power, and 4.2 percent is photovoltaic power. While wind power will remain at a constant development level after a fast-growing period from 2005 to 2015, bioelectricity will enjoy a rapid growth until 2035. From the report, we can see how determined the United States, which alone consumes one-fifth of the world energy, is in pushing energy transition, and the path and trend it will follow in the first one-third of this century. When the United States started to head for a clean-energy-based economy under the advocacy of President Obama, such economic patterns had taken shape in the neighboring countries of Brazil and Sweden across the Atlantic. In November 2008, the Brazil Citizen Association president Dilma Rousseff said in the Opening Ceremony of the World Biofuels Symposium that Brazil economics was based on renewable energy, and so far Brazil has substituted 50 percent gasoline for bioethanol and 3 percent fossil diesel for biodiesel. The proportion is still growing. Seven million sets of FFVs, which currently account for 90 percent of the cars sold in Brazil, have been sold since 2003. In addition, there were 1.2 million ethanol-fueled small and cargo aircrafts serving in Brazil. Brazil has set up ten large-scale ethanol production bases now, with 19.8 million tons of ethanol produced in 2009 at a cost equivalent to US $50 per barrel of oil. Brazil has also put in place an efficient system covering all links from the sugarcane warehouse to ethanol fuel delivery and sales. A pipeline of 1.15 million meters in length was laid for the sake of ethanol export. Some two million tons of ethanol was exported by Brazil in 2009, accounting for 53 percent of global ethanol transactions. In addition, Brazil established close relationships with dozens of countries such as India and Venezuela as exporters of ethanol production equipment and contractors of ethanol manufacturing projects. The sugarcane ethanol industry, with a production value higher than the information industry in Brazil, has become the number-one pillar industry for Brazil’s national economy, which has tremendously driven the development of thirteen sectors as agriculture, sugar, ethanol, electricity, mechanical manufacturing, the chemical industry, automobiles, transportation, and civil construction (chapters 5 and 7 of this book).

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In Sweden, the share of oil in the energy mix has declined from 77 percent in 1970 to 32 percent in 2003; the power efficiency of industrialpurposed biomass energy is 51.2 billion kilowatts per hour, which is one to three times that of oil (22.4 billion kilowatts per hour) and coal (16.6 billion kilowatts per hour). Biomass power generation, with a power efficiency of 103 billion kilowatts per hour, meets 16.5 percent of the national energy consumption and accounts for 68.5 percent of the national heating energy. Some fifteen thousand biogas-powered cars were put into service in Sweden in 2007, with biogas stations available across the country. Natural gas is expected to be replaced by biogas around 2040 (chapters 5 and 7 of this book). At the World Biomass Energy Conference, the premier of Sweden, Göran Persson, declared that biomass energy has satisfied 25 percent of the energy demand of Sweden, and Sweden will be the first oil-independent country in the world. The European Union has set the objective through legislation that renewable energy must make up 20 percent of the total energy consumption by 2020, and biofuel must sustain 10 percent of the gasoline and diesel consumption demand in the transportation sector (CEC, 2007). Japan now is under the strategic transition from “Petroleum Japan” into “Biomass Japan,” with the goal that Japan will develop an oil-independent technique before 2050 when the world oil production reaches the peak, and the different industry will follow a specifically defined timetable to cut reliance on oil. Indian has laid down the law that 10 percent ethanol must be added into transportation fuel in the nation, and violators will be sued for punishment. The United States, Brazil, the EU, and Sweden have been on the journey of a promising energy transformation. If the replacement of fossil energy by clean energy is the trend of the world, then biomass energy will be the key in the energy transformation.

12.6. AN ABUNDANT CLEAN ENERGY RESOURCE IN CHINA Abundant clean energy is the prediction of a smooth energy transformation. The Chinese Renewable Energy Development Strategy Research Report released by the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2008 gave a deep insight into the availability of China’s clean energy. The economically viable hydropower resource in China is 402 million kW, among which small hydropower is 128 million kW, accounting for 33 percent of the installed capacity of hydropower and 31 percent of the total power generation in China (SRRCRE, 2008). China boasts fairly abundant hydropower resources and still vast, untapped potential despite that the exploitation degree has reached 32 percent now. The technically viable onshore wind power resource (ten meters above land surface) in China is

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297 million kW across 0.20 million square kilometers of exploitable area, while the corresponding figures for the technically viable offshore (within 20 kilometers offshore) wind power resource in China is 180 million kW and 37 thousand square kilometers (SRRCRE, 2008). In China, only 2 percent of its land is suitable for wind energy exploitation and with unimpressive exploitable potential. China’s available biomass in 2007 equaled to 932 million tons of standard coal, and it is expected to reach 1,171 million tons of standard coal in 2030 (SRRCRE, 2008). Though China is a country abounding in solar energy, there is no specific data available on solar energy reserves at present (SRRCRE, 2008). China’s installed capacity of nuclear power is nine million kW, and it only accounts for 5 percent of that in the world, therefore large room is left for further development. Yet the bright prospect might be crippled to a certain degree by the limited verified natural uranium resource in China, which only can sustain twenty-five standard nuclear power plants of 100 million kW. According to the United Nation’s definition, the large hydropower and nuclear power belong to the category of traditional energy; while renewable energy, also termed as nonhydro renewable energy, refers to hydropower, wind energy, solar energy, biomass, and so on. For convenience of comparison, standard coal is adopted as a uniform unit in table 12.1 for different types of clean energies. The economically viable clean energy (solar energy is not included) in China is equivalent to 2,148 million tons of standard coal, among which 398 million and 58 million tons are large hydropower and nuclear energy (based on the verified reserve), respectively. While large hydropower and nuclear energy account for 21.2 percent of the total clean energy, the remaining 78.8 percent is constituted by (nonhydro) renewable energy. China is endowed with 0.186 billion, 0.334 billion, and 1.171 billion tons of hydropower, wind energy, and biomass, respectively. Biomass resource is 6.3 times as much as hydropower and 3.5 times as much as wind energy in China (table 12.1 and figure 12.4). As for geographic distribution, China’s water resources are mainly concentrated in the western region, especially southwestern China, which is home to 70 percent of the water resource. China’s onshore wind resource is mainly found in “Three North Areas” and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (Inner Mongolia boasts half of the onshore wind resources of the nation). China’s solar energy is abundant in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the northwest regions, overlapped with the geographic distribution of wind energy (SRRCRE, 2008). China’s water energy, wind energy, and solar energy are concentrated in the western and northern regions, while biomass is concentrated in the economically advanced eastern and southern regions. Just like brothers with the same mother, renewable energy is highly complementary to each other and has a firm foothold in different parts of the nation (figure 12.5).

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Kinetic energy

Thermal energy Chemical energy Potential energy Potential energy Nuclear energy —

Wind

Solar energy

Biomass energy

Small-scale hydropower Large-scale hydropower Nuclear power Total

Energy and nonenergy products of various sorts Electricity Electricity Electricity —

Heat and electricity

Electricity

Product

West China West China Properly sited —

North China, Northeast, Northwest, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; Northwest East and South China

Major Region

12800 27380 2500 —

—

—

47700

Installed Capacity (104 kw)

5586 11948 1750 —

—

—

10017

Power Generation Capacity/ (108 kw×hr)

18620 39827 5833 214770

117100

—

33390

Standard Coal Equivalent/ (104 ton)

Economically Viable Resource

8.7 18.5 2.7 100.0

54.5

—

15.5

Share %

Note: The yearly electricity generation capacity can be converted by using the installed capacity of wind and nuclear energy times 2100 hours and 7000 hours, respectively. Hydropower generation is based on original literature. 3 kw×hr is equal to 1 kg standard coal.

State

Clean energy and resource in China (SRRCRE, 2008; He, 2006)

Clean Energy

Table 12.1.

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Figure 12.4. Constituents of China clean energies (excluding solar energy). Note: Numbers beside the text is the amount of the energy measured by standard coal (unit:108 ton). And the percentage below the text is its share in total clean energies.

Clean energy with an annual output of 2.05 billion tons of standard coal is equivalent to 82 percent of the total national energy consumption in 2007. Together with promising solar heating and photovoltaic energy, clean energy is powerful enough to play a leading role in China’s significant mission of energy transition. Maybe some people might feel doubtful; is not electricity a kind of clean energy? Yes, it is when put into service. But it belongs to secondary energy generated by primary energy. For example, when electricity is generated from fossil energy, two energy units of coal resources are consumed for the production of one per energy unit of electricity. So electricity ends up being nonclean energy with a substantial resource consumption and a high-emission of greenhouse gas. It can be reliably deemed as clean energy only when the primary energy adopted for electricity generation is a clean energy, too. The hydrogen energy is of secondary energy, since its cost and carbon emission are even higher than electricity due to the immature technology. “New energy” vehicles, either driven by electricity or hydrogen, have now come into the limelight in China. However, for a long time to come in China, a country mainly dependent on coal for power generation, such “new energy” will be characterized by high fossil energy consumption, high greenhouse gas emissions, and it will be clean in usage but highly unclean in production. The publicity coverage for such vehicles made by the media, decision makers, and technicians inside

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Figure 12.5.

Geographical distribution of major renewable energies in China.

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the circle need to be objective and should be forbidden from misleading the public; otherwise, it maybe be doubted as a publicity stunt in collusion with manufacturers of such vehicles.

12.7. CHINA’S WEAK AWARENESS IN ENERGY TRANSFORMATION Accelerating fossil energy substitution is a natural choice for China, a country troubled with scanty fossil energy reserves, a booming energy demand, an imbalanced energy mix, a high dependence on imported oil, and the largest greenhouse gas emission in the world. Unfortunately, China now is heading for a way just opposite to that direction. China is busy with purchasing and exploiting overseas fossil energy at the cost of substantial national finance and administrative resources. In contrast, China invests very limited resources to develop domestic clean energy as a result of a weak awareness of energy substitution. This is a fatal hidden trouble for China’s economic and social development. Is it fair to say China’s awareness of energy transition is quite weak? We will find the answer in the following paragraphs. First, the development goal is not as high as it appears. According to the China Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies released in August 2007, China’s renewable energy consumption would account for 10 percent of the total energy consumption by 2010, and 15 percent by 2015 (NDRC, 2007) (table 12.2 and table 12.3). At first sight, 15 percent is not a low value; however, some tricks are hidden in it. China consumes a huge amount of hydropower. If measured by the UN’s definition, large-scale hydropower belongs to nonrenewable energy. In 2006 large-scale hydropower accounted for 7 percent of the total energy consumption in China, which must be deducted from 15 percent. As a matter of fact, only 8 percent can be considered genuine renewable energy. After converting different energy units into standard coal, we find that China is expected to produce 0.6 billion tons of renewable energy in 2020. Yet the true target will be reduced to 0.3 billion tons in consideration of large hydropower to be excluded (table 12.2). That is to say, renewable energy just accounted for 7.5 percent of the total energy consumption in China as of 2020, while the proportion will be 20 percent for the EU, and even higher for the United States and Brazil. So China only aimed at a quite low target for renewable energy development. Second, rather than being further raised, the development goal did fall back. At the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, China made a promise to cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from the 2005 level, which was thought to be a leap forward in terms of renewable energy development. But at the National Energy

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Table 12.2. Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies (NDRC, 2007) (1 million ton * year–1) Share in 2020 (%)

2005

2010

2020

Large-scale Hydropower Included

88.40

160.00

300.00

50.11

43.33 0.88 9.65 2 10.74

93.33 3.50 18.20 4 27.21

100.00 21.00 37.20 12 128.45

16.70 3.51 6.21 2.00 21.46

66.60

146.24

298.65

155.00

306.24

598.65

Baseline Renewable Energy Large-scale hydropower Small-scale hydropower Wind energy Solar energy Geothermal Biomass energy Total without largescale hydropower Total with largescale hydropower

Plan Goal

—

Large-scale Hydropower Excluded — 33.48 7.03 12.46 4.02 43.01 100

100

—

Note: Conversion factors from installed capacity to electricity generation are as follows: hydropower 4,000 hrs year–1; windpower 2,100 hrs year–1; solar power 2,000 hrs year–1; biomass power 6,000 hrs year–1. Standard coal conversion: 3 kw×hr is equal to 1 kg. Solar heating for each square meter per year is converted to 120 kg standard coal. * standard coal equivalent.

Conference that was held in December 2009 with the objective of finding a pathway to achieve that goal, a new target was proposed that the nonfossil energy consumption should account for 15 percent of the primary energy consumption by 2020. With a further look at the interpretation of the target—“in order to achieve the target, the installed capacity of hydropower should exceed 0.3 billion kW, the operational and installed Table 12.3. Bioenergy section in the Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies (NDRC, 2007) (1 million tons* year–1) Baseline

Planned Goal

Bioenergy

2005

2010

2020

2020 %

Biomass electricity generation Biogas Solid fuel Fuel ethanol Biodiesel Bioenergy total

4.00 5.71 — 0.96 0.07 10.74

11.00 13.57 0.5 1.88 0.26 27.21

60.00 31.42 25 9.42 2.62 128.45

46.71 24.46 19.46 7.33 2.04 100

Note: 1 m3 biogas = 0.714 kg standard coal; 1 ton solid fuel = 0.5 ton standard coal; 1 ton ethanol = 0.942 ton standard coal (given that heat value of fuel ethanol is 64 percent of that of gasoline); 1 ton biodiesel = 1.311 ton standard coal (given that heat value of biodiesel is 90 percent of ordinary diesel). Other conversions can be referred to table 12.2; * standard coal equivalent.

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capacity of nuclear power should stay between 60 million to 70 million kW, the sum of wind energy, solar energy, and other renewable energy should exceed 150 million tons of standard coal by 2020”—we can find it to be a backslide rather than progress compared with what was set in the Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies. That is because with the introduction of the concept of nonfossil energy, nuclear energy also gets included into the energy mix, while the proportion of nonfossil energy to total energy consumption still remains unchanged at 15 percent. It is noteworthy that the term biomass energy was erased and included in the category of “rest of renewable energies.” We make a calculation as follows: since the energy contributed by nuclear power might be 0.19 billion tons of standard coal based on 70 million kW of installed capacity and 8,000 hours of annual power generation time (7,000 hours is more normal [He, 2006]), and the energy contributed by hydropower might be 0.35 billion tons of standard coal base on 0.3 billion kW of installed capacity and 3,500 hours of annual power generation time, the total energy contributed by nuclear power (0.19 billion tons), hydropower (0.35 billion tons), and renewable energy (0.15 billion tons) is about 0.7 billion tons of standard coal. On the surface, compared with the original goal of 0.6 billion tons of standard coal as set in the Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies, it seems that an additional 0.1 billion tons of standard coal is generated by the newly proposed target in the conference. But do not forget that 0.19 billion tons of nuclear power is added into the energy mix, so the bare truth is that renewable energy with large hydropower included is cut by 0.1 billion tons, and renewable energy without hydropower included is cut to 0.15 billion tons from 0.3 billion tons. The introduction of the concept of nonfossil energy does an unexpectedly tricky game of sharply compromising the development of renewable energy. The third is the mystic prediction of the total energy consumption. In the Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies, the target that the consumption of renewable energy in 2020 (with large hydropower contained) should account for 15 percent of the total energy consumption and equal to 0.6 billion of standard coal, is calculated based on the assumption that the total energy consumption is four billion tons of standard coal in 2020. In reality, the national energy consumption has reached 2.85 billion tons of standard coal in 2008. Is it possible that in the future twelve years, China’s energy consumption only increases by 1.15 billion tons of standard coal at a rate of 3.3 percent per year? While China registered a growth rate of national energy consumption at 13 percent between 2000 and 2008, can it magically bring the rate to an unbelievable 3.3 percent in the next twelve years? According to the new figure released by the National Energy Board in 2009, China’s energy consumption in 2020 is expected to be 4.4 billion

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tons. Then, the energy consumption elasticity coefficient will stand at 0.39 based on the annual GDP growth rate of 8 to 9 percent and the total energy consumption of 4.4 billion tons of standard coal. Academician He Zuoxiu, who calculated the above coefficient, said “we don’t know in history which country has so low energy consumption rate when it is in the process of industrialization, especially heavy industrialization (He, 2010).” He calculated this based on a different energy consumption elasticity coefficient, saying 0.5 and 1.0, the total energy consumption in 2020, stands at 4.66 to 4.94 billion tons and 7.33 to 8.18 billion tons, respectively. It is indicated with firm assurance that a country normally sees its energy consumption elasticity coefficient over 1.0 in the pre- and midindustrialization stages, and the coefficient cannot drop below 1.0 until the later stage. So the prediction that China’s energy consumption in 2020 will stay at 4.4 billion tons of standard coal at an annual growth rate of 3.3 percent will be reduced to something like a self-deception declaration. Now the mystery of the 15 percent comes to the surface. Right, China’s nonfossil energy consumption in 2020 (0.7 billion tons of standard coal) will account for 15 percent of the total energy consumption, but only if the prediction of 4.4 billion tons is not a self-deception. If the total energy consumption stands at six billion tons in 2020, then China’s nonfossil energy consumption in 2020 (0.7 billion tons of standard coal) will only account for 11.7 percent of the total national energy consumption, and its nonhydro renewable energy consumption (0.15 billion tons of standard coal) will only account for 2.5 percent of the total national energy consumption. Fourth is the strange phenomenon in the implementation. In the Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies, the development goal of biomass, wind, and solar energy is set at 129 million tons, 21 million tons, and 37 million tons of standard coal, accounting for 43 percent, 7 percent, and 13 percent of the energy mix, respectively. Obviously, biomass energy should be given top priority in the days to come. But things went sour from the very beginning. Soon after the plan was released, the head of the National Energy Board published a signed article titled “Building a New Three-Gorge in Wind Power” (Zhang, 2008). It is easy to imagine how huge the “energy” brought by this article would be. Quickly, the upsurge of wind energy swept through the country. As a result, the installed capacity of wind power sharply climbed up to 12.17 million kW in 2008 from 2.6 million kW in 2006. Consequently, the target for wind power development was adjusted, with great randomness, from five million to twenty million kW for the year 2010, and from thirty million kW to 0.1 billion kW for the year 2020 in the later version of the plan. It left me feeling baffled as to how the target of five million kW was stipulated one year ago.

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The wind power projects went crazy in the country when conditions were not mature yet. Unfortunately, in less than a year, about one-third of the installed wind power units with a total manufacturing capability of five million kW were left unused, and tens of billions of investment vapored. The bubble of wind power burst as it was included in the list of sectors with an overcapacity by the State Department. At the same time, the bubble of solar power generation burst, too. For example, a signed article published in Economic Information Daily was titled “China’s Photovoltaic Bubble Burst, with Half of 100 Billion Investment Evaporated” (August 24, 2009). When the mania of wind and solar power generation was raging across the nation, nongrain alcohol projects were almost totally forgotten. During the Twelfth Five-Year Plan Period (2011–2015), only 0.2 million tons of nongrain alcohol projects have been achieved, while the targeted goal is two million tons. A similar thing also happened to pellet fuel projects, too, with only 0.3 million tons of such projects being realized with 0.7 million of the targeted goal unfulfilled. Is it not a betrayal of the Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies just released in 2007? First, it inserts tricky elements into the concept of renewable energy, then introduces the concept of nonfossil energy to secretly bring the target of renewable energy down from 0.3 billion tons of standard coal to 0.15 billion tons under the attention-shifting mask of total energy consumption. China’s renewable energy sector has gone through so many vicissitudes within less than three years. When it comes to music composition, the composers can adopt various techniques to make music free in terms of speed, intensity, rhythm, and timber on the basis of a consistent thematic style, and this is called variation. China made a variation, too, in terms of renewable energy development. What a pity, the “music components” of renewable energy and biomass energy are gradually played down and faded out in the “variation.” A Chinese saying states, “Clever people may pay a high price for being too clever.” With a saddened heart, we see some officials treat the Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies, a guideline for such a significant sector, without due diligence and consciousness. Self-deception would not bring any good result but great losses to the country in the end.

12.8. CAN BUT QUIT While many countries march ahead along the energy transition from fossil energy to renewable energy, China beat a retreat in the opposite direction.

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Is it due to a lack of sufficient convincing material? No! Is it because of fund shortage? No (trillion of funds have been used to purchase foreign fossil energy)! Is it out of weak demand? No! Has it stemmed from unsatisfied market prospects? No! Is it intimidated by big risks? No! In the course of energy transition from fossil energy to renewable energy, biomass energy plays a leading role among countries worldwide, with China as an exception. Is it because biomass is scanty in China? No. It accounts for half of China’s clean energy (with large hydropower and nuclear power included). It is twice as much as water energy and 3.5 fold of wind energy. Is it because the energy products are not good enough? No. Energy products are multiform, covering solid, liquid, and gaseous ones. Is it because the relevant technology is immature? No. It is the most mature one among all renewable energies. Is it because its social benefits are not good? No. It is the only one among all renewable energies that can promote rural economic development and bring more income to farmers. Is it because its ecological effect is not prominent? No. It is the only one among all renewable energies that boasts the dual merits of carbon absorption and emission reduction. Besides, it plays a great role in helping to keep environmental pollution harmless and recycled. The only true reason is that accelerating the substitution of fossil energy by renewable energy is not what we cannot do, but what we do not want to do. According to the Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies and the resolutions adopted by the National Energy Conference held in 2009, China’s fossil energy consumption will still account for 90 percent of the total energy consumption in 2020, with a dependence ratio on foreign oil higher than 60 percent. Accompanied by the growing amount of imported natural gas and coal, China’s energy independence and national security will be more and more fragile and put at high risk. This is, however, the inevitable result of China’s flawed energy strategy that attaches overwhelming importance to fossil energy and foreign energy supply and greatly neglects the domestic development of renewable energy. Academician Cao Xianghong, the former vice president of Sinopec Group, has once indicated: “Once countries rich in oil resources or with high oil output run into production problems, serious crisis will happen to the global oil supply. Bio-energy industry is therefore expected to develop quickly as a way out of the global oil shortage. . . . The positive development of biofuel is strategically important for reducing excessive oil dependence and carbon dioxide emission” (Cao, 2010). The former president of SinoPetro, Guan Defan, also pointed out: “China’s energy development calls for a strategic transition and shunt to the track from

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fossil energy towards renewable energy. This is the only choice for us and no other way can work. The reason is quite simple, since the primary task during China’s economic transition duration is to change the rural economic structure and improve the living standard of farmers. . . . to bring benefits to 9 million farmers is what we should bear in mind when we seek out ways for renewable energy development and energy transition” (Guan, 2009). The lofty ideas of the two oil experts, who move away from sectarian bias and seek for the right direction for China’s energy strategy in the interest of the nation, win my heartfelt admiration and respect. How wonderful it would be if decision makers and their brainpowers who can influence the energy development of the nation also behave in this way. Lester R. Brown once wrote in his book Plan B: “The western economic model—the fossil-fuel-based, automobile-centered, throwaway economy—is not going to work for China. If it doesn’t work for China, it won’t work for India or the other three billion people in developing countries who are also dreaming the American dream. And in an increasingly integrated world economy, where we all depend on the same grain, oil, and steel, it will not work for industrial countries either. . . . Sustaining our early-21st-century global civilization now depends on shifting to a renewable energy-based, reuse/recycle economy with a diversified transport system” (Brown, 2003). Brown noticed China again, and with a sight cast on its Achilles’ heel this time. Unfortunately, China now is running mindlessly on the road he believed was “not feasible.” Sheikh Yamani, the minister for Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia, was remembered for his famous saying when the first oil crisis occurred in the 1970s: “The Stone Age came to an end, not because we had a lack of stones.” It is true. The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone but for the emergence of bronzeware and ironware; the agricultural society did not end for crop failure but for the appearance of the Industrial Revolution. They are all about progressive and spontaneous replacement. Similarly, the end of the Fossil Energy Age will come before the exhaustion of oil resources, when a viable substitution to fossil energy is found. Can China afford to neglect the development of renewable energy until foreign oil and natural gas run out? “People who do not think far enough ahead inevitably have worries near at hand.” “Where there is precaution, there is no danger.” There are a lot of such apothegms, and China always has such an excellent tradition of them. Why is China so thoughtless on the energy resources that are the lifeline of the country? China must reevaluate their current energy strategy and hang on to the flag of energy independence, safety, and transformation; otherwise, the country and the people will be inevitably ruined.

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REFERENCES Brown, L. R. Plan B. 2003. Translated by Lin Zixin. Beijing: Oriental Press, 2003. Cao, X. H. “Enhancing Biofuel Development and Reducing Dependence Rate on Imported Oil.” Unpublished Presentation, April 2010. CEC (Commission of the European Communities). Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: Renewable Energy Road Map—Renewable Energies in the 21st Century: Building a More Sustainable Future. Brussels, 2007. Accessed August 2010. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/ smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=en&type_ doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2006&nu_doc=848. Chinese Academy of Sciences. Strategic Report on Sustainable Energy Development of China, 2007. Chu, S. “Meeting the Energy and Climate Challenge: A Tale of Two Countries,” Presentation at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, July 15, 2009. CRS. Report for Congress. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007: A Summary of Major Provisions, December 21, 2007. Accessed August 2010. http:// www.seco.noaa.gov/Energy/2007_Dec_21_Summary_Security_Act_2007.pdf. Guan, D. F. “Reflecting on China Energy Development Strategy Using Scientific Development Viewpoint.” Energy Home and Abroad 14, no. 7 (2009). He, Z. X. “How Long Will the Coal-Dominant Energy Policy Adopted by China Last?” Proposals of Chinese Academicians of Sciences 14 (1998). He, Z. X. “Is Nuclear Energy or Renewable Energy Dominating in Solving China’s Future Energy Problems?” Proposal by Academician of China Academy of Sciences 15 (2006). He, Z. X. “Can China Step into Semi-Industrialization?” China Science Times, February 24, 2010. Jiang, Z. M. “Reflections on Chinese Energy Issues.” Journal of Shanghai Jiaotong University (natural science part) 42, no. 3 (2008). (In Chinese) Mao, Z. Q. “An Energy Strategy without Gaseous Energy Is an Incomplete Strategy.” China Science and Technology Daily, March 5, 2007. NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission). China Medium- and LongTerm Development Plan on Renewable Energies, 2007. Accessed July 2010. http:// www.sdpc.gov.cn/zcfb/zcfbtz/2007tongzhi/W020070904607346044110.pdf. (In Chinese) Ni, W. D. “Current Situations and Strategic Solutions for China’s Energy.” Science and Technology Daily, January 25, 2007. NSBC (National Statistics Bureau of China) and NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission). China Energy Statistics Yearbook 2008. Beijing: China Statistics Publishing House, 2009. SRRCRE (Strategic Research Group on China Renewable Energies). China Academy of Engineering Consultant Group for Key Projects. Series on Development Strategy of China Renewable Energy. Biomass Energy. Beijing: China Electric Power Press, 2008. (In Chinese) SRRCRE (Strategic Research Group on China Renewable Energies). China Academy of Engineering Consultant Group for Key Projects. Series on Development

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Strategy of China Renewable Energy. Hydropower Energy. Beijing: China Electric Power Press, 2008. (In Chinese) SRRCRE (Strategic Research Group on China Renewable Energies). China Academy of Engineering Consultant Group for Key Projects. Series on Development Strategy of China Renewable Energy. Solar Energy. Beijing: China Electric Power Press, 2008. (In Chinese) SRRCRE (Strategic Research Group on China Renewable Energies). China Academy of Engineering Consultant Group for Key Projects. Series on Development Strategy of China Renewable Energy. Wind Energy. Beijing: China Electric Power Press, 2008. (In Chinese) USDE and USDA. Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply, April 2005. Accessed in August 2010. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/bioenergy/pdfs/final_billionton_vision_report2.pdf. USEIA. (U. S. Energy Information Agency). International Energy Outlook 2005. Translated edition. Beijing: Science Press, 2006. (In Chinese) USEIA (U. S. Energy Information Agency). Energy Outlook 2010. Translated edition. Beijing: Science Press, 2009. Xie, Z. H. “China Challenges Limits of Emission Control.” People Daily—authoritative forum, January 6, 2010. Yao, Q. et al. Cleaning Coal Technology. Beijing: Chemical Industry Press, 2000. (In Chinese) Zhang, G. B. “Building a New Three-Gorge in Wind Power.” People Daily, February 24, 2008. Zhang, K. Development Strategy on China Oil and Natural Gas. Beijing: Geologic Science Press, 2002.

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Energy Agriculture: A Dose of Good Medicine for Ailments Troubling China’s Agriculture, Rural Areas, and Farmers As for war, one should to engage it by the regular way and win it by the nonregular way. —The Art of War, by Sun Tsi

T

he People’s Republic of China was founded under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party with the support of impoverished farmers, who in fact also laid down the foundation for the industrialization of the new China. However, agriculture, farmers, and rural areas have been marginalized since the very beginning of the industrialization progress, as the nation was run under the guidelines of so-called dualism, which advocated for the separation of urban areas from rural areas and urban workers from rural peasants. Unfortunately, such guidelines have been proved to go against the principles of economic development and have led to serious social injustice in the distribution of wealth, a widened discrepancy between urban and rural areas, and intensified conflicts between workers and peasants. It has grown to be hidden risks compromising the healthy economic development and social stability of China. In recent years, the Communist Party of China Central Committee has attached great importance to issues related to agriculture, farmers, and rural areas, and it has adopted various measures, with certain positive results achieved. However, the gaps between rural areas and urban areas as well as between urban workers and rural peasants have stubbornly remained widened. As long as the guidelines of dualism remain unshaken, all measures taken can only relieve symptoms rather than eradicate root 253

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causes, similar to the case in which a body is given a blood transfusion instead of being cured to regain its blood-producing function, or people are given fish rather than be taught fishing methods. With the upgrade of energy sources in the twenty-first century, biomass industry has been brought to the forefront of energy and agriculture sectors under a glaring limelight. The biomass industry, which is deeply rooted in agriculture, can drive agriculture to a new height as well. As fish can’t live without water and water can’t remain fresh without fish, the relationship between the biomass industry and agriculture is as inseparable as fish and water, while farmers and agriculture in the rural areas will nurture the babylike biomass industry, which in return will rescue the weary mother from predicament and stride into a bright future. This chapter started with describing the dilemmas facing agriculture, rural areas, and farmers in China, and it will analyze the underlying causes and remedies for such dilemmas and propose energy agriculture as a good medicine to enable agriculture, rural areas, and farmers to produce “blood” on their own. And last, the chapter illustrates the ideal scene for Chinese agriculture, rural areas, and farmers in the future.

13.1. AN INHERITED PROBLEM FOR A LONG TIME Without great investment of capital, industrialization and urbanization will remain an empty slogan for a country, as machines and buildings can’t be conjured up by falling from heaven. The former industrialized countries realized their primitive accumulation of capital with acts of piracy from their colonies. Back in the early days of its establishment, the People’s Republic of China, which then was under the stifling economic blockade imposed by Western countries, had no other choice but selfreliance for industrialization. At that time, China was as poor as a church mouse; the only possible land holding promise for the poverty-stricken country was rural areas with time-honored agriculture and industrious farmers. Agriculture, farmers, and rural areas have not only provided food and agricultural products to feed the fledging country but also made great sacrifices to underpin the country’s urbanization through the mechanism of price scissors between industrial and agricultural products and inequitable financial resource allocation. According to one source, rural areas transferred a fortune’s worth, 607.8 billion RMB yuan (among which, 510 billion RMB yuan were realized through the price scissors of mechanism and the remaining by tax levy), to town areas during the period of 1952 to 1978 (Zhang, 1990; He, 2004). Whereas another source (personal communication with an expert from the party school of the central committee of the CPC in 2008) indicated that the contribution

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should be around 3 trillion RMB yuan. In spite of the different calculation methods and deduced figures, one thing is certain that the first barrel of gold behind China’s industrialization did come from the agriculture sector in rural areas by hard-working farmers, and the contribution was quite enormous. Agriculture, farmers, and rural areas have become extremely exhausted after going through the hardship of “the Great Leap Forward,” “People’s Commune,” and the “Three Years of Natural Disasters” and making great sacrifice for industrialization and urbanization of the nation. We can gain a glimpse of the miserable situation of farmers struggling in the rural areas at the beginning of reform and the opening of China, thirty years after the founding of the new China, from the official documents titled Decisions of the CPC Central Committee on Accelerating the Development of Agriculture: “the food consumption per capital in 1978 was only at the level of 1957; the average annual income of rural residents was merely 70 RMB yuan and the annual income of about one quarter of rural population was less than 50 RMB yuan; the average collective capital of production brigades was less than 10 thousand RMB yuan; simple agricultural reproduction could not be sustained in certain areas in the nation” (CCP, 2008). The Chinese revolution won triumph with the smart maneuver of the strategy of “encircling the cities from the rural areas,” and the soldiers in the Eighth Route Army and the People’s Liberation Army, the armed forces commanded by the Communist Party of China, were farmers in uniform. At the dawn of liberation, Chairman Mao had warned the party with remarks that “we should not lock our eyes solely on the town and give up the countryside” (Mao, 1991). “China’s population is mainly consisted of farmers. Thanks to the great contribution of peasants, our revolution is coming to a successful end. The industrialization of the nation will also be indispensible from the contribution of peasants too’ (Mao, 1991). Unfortunately, it was Mao himself who set down the dualism-centered guidelines later. “Farmers were allowed neither to work nor settle in towns (as limited by China’s Hukou system), nor engage in the sector of industry, business, construction or service sector. Farmers seemed doomed with the fate of ‘toiling on land with monotonous routine for generations’” (He, 2004). Farmers received no basic citizenship treatment as their urban peers enjoyed; becoming an urban resident was something totally unreachable for the majority of rural residents then. The farmers, which represented 80 percent of the population in the nation, were thus marginalized. In the 1990s, in a letter to the then premier, a grassroots cadre in Hubei province moaned that being “born as a Chinese farmer is really very bitter, Chinese rural areas are really left in great poverty, engaging in the Chinese agriculture sector is really endangered.”

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The reform and opening up in China began with the agriculture sector in the countryside. With a view to put an end to the desperate situation, vigorous efforts were made at that time. Of the three most remarkable measures taken then, one was to replace the people’s commune with a household contract responsibility system, the second was to develop a diversified agricultural economy rather than only being engaged in grain plantation, and the third was to drive the development of township and village enterprises. In total, twenty-five decisive measures were adopted by the central committee of the CPC, which issued five documents with top priority in a row to make it clear that “within 2 to 3 years, a series of measures should be taken to accelerate agricultural development, to alleviate farmers’ burden, and to increase farmers’ income” (CCP, 1982–1986). The rural economy that was once on the verge of bankruptcy has been activated. Within the twelve years from 1978 to 1990, the average national grain production increased by 12.30 million tons on a yearly basis, 2 times and 1.6 times more than that of thirty years before (6.6 million tons), and eight years after (7.5 million tons) that period (figure 13.1), the average annual increase in total production of cotton, oil crop, sugarcane, fruits, and meat were respectively three, ten, five, six, and seven times of that in the thirty years before the period; the income per capita of rural households increased from 134 RMB yuan to 630 RMB yuan; the number of township and village enterprises increased from 1.52 million to 18.73 million, and the enlisted employees increased from 2.86 million to 92.65 million (He, 2004); the annual output value of agriculture increased from the 51.4 billion RMB yuan to 978 billion RMB yuan, a eighteenfold increase over twelve years. A miracle did happen to agriculture, farmers, and rural ar-

Figure 13.1.

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Changes in China total grain outputs in 50 years (MOA).

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eas in China! It was a true “Great Leap Forward” and a golden era in the agricultural history of China, during which the vigor of Chinese farmers was fully released once again after the land reform. If this trend had persisted, agriculture, farmers, and rural areas would have developed in pace with the overall progress of the national economy and gained the chance to share the prosperity brought by reform and opening up—a well-deserved reciprocation for their great contribution in terms of primitive accumulation for industrialization of the country. Unfortunately, with reform and opening up more and more weight shifted toward industry and the urban area, the development momentum previously enjoyed by the agriculture sector slowed down, and the enthusiasm of farmers had been dampened, with a slow agricultural growth rate resulting. It was no wonder that the conflicts between urban workers and rural farmers as well as the discrepancy between urban and rural areas became increasingly prominent, and the problems associated with agriculture-farmers–rural areas also loomed large.

13.2. THE LINGERING AILMENTS FACED BY CHINA’S AGRICULTURE, RURAL AREAS, AND FARMERS The most apparent symptoms of agriculture-farmers–rural area problems are the ever-increasing income gap between urban and rural residents and the weak growth of the agricultural sector. In the 1990s, while China’s GDP increased at an amazing double-digit rate, farmers’ income growth rate had dropped from more than 10 percent before 1978 to around 5 percent. With the annual income of rural and urban residents staying at 4,140 RMB yuan and 13,786 RMB yuan respectively, the income gap between urban and rural residents widened from 1:2 at the beginning of reform and opening up (1980s) to 1:3.3 in 2007 (figure 13.2). It is worthwhile to point out that the above-mentioned 13,786 RMB yuan of annual income enjoyed by urban residents is the net income at their disposal, which does not include a variety of subsidies, social welfare, and public services, such as public health and pension insurance provided to them. On the contrary, farmers were totally ignored and excluded from such benefits. With these factors taken into consideration, the real income gap between rural and urban residents stays at 1:6 to 1:8. How serious the imbalance and injustice is! Urban and rural residents in some Western countries enjoy basically the same salary in reality. Now, let’s turn our sights to the vigorless development of the agricultural sector. At the beginning of reform and opening up, the annual grain production increased by 12.3 million tons in the nation, and the number dropped to 3.30 million tons from 1990 to 1998. During the ten years from

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Figure 13.2. Growth in average annual income for urban and rural residents in recent 30 years (MOA).

1998 to 2008, there was only recovery growth or even zero growth in grain production at all. A young person must fall sick if he loses his vigor. Now, I would like to give a diagnosis on three factors key to China’s agricultural development. First, land factor. From 1996 to 2006, over 66.67 million ha of arable land were occupied for nonagricultural use per year on average, resulting in a decrease of arable land 130 million ha to 123 million ha. There is no sign that this trend will be checked in the near future. Besides, the water quota scheduled for agricultural purposes is maintained at 400 billion m3 as of 2020—no increase at all. The situation is very severe in the realm of land resources. Second, look at the capital factor. In 2007, only 1,433 RMB yuan was invested in the agricultural sector in rural areas per capita, which is hardly sufficient to maintain simple agricultural reproduction here, not to mention an expanded production scale. While agriculture is not attractive in the eyes of venture capital, government investment in agriculture is a mere drop in the bucket, and modern agriculture is only reduced to castles in the air due to a lack of valid financial support. What happened to the labor factor is even more terrible. During the twenty-eight years from 1978 to 2006, though a total of 180 million rural residents had left their rural hometown to lead a life in urban cities, the rural population still rose from 800 million to 950 million as a result of high birth rates in such areas, with 300 million of them left behind in rural areas. Despaired by the meager income they garnered on the rural land, youth laborers headed for urban cities to try their luck there, leaving mainly women and the elderly behind in rural hometowns as the

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major agricultural labor force, namely the so-called “3860 units” (“38” represents women as International Women’s Day falls on March 8, “60” represents the sixty years old people). Obviously, the overall quality of the existing agricultural labor force was weakened. There is no sign of improvement visible in the near future for the surplus in number and the decline in quality of the existing agricultural labor. Though the long-standing agriculture-farmers–rural area problems weigh heavily in China, the three key driving elements of land, capital, and labor force still remain rather inert at present. Plus, there are nearly two hundred million migrant workers struggling with their life between urban and rural areas. Agriculture will, in the absence of major initiatives and strong stimulus, remain resistant to substantial improvement. As the Chinese saying states, “desperate diseases call for desperate remedies”; what vexes China a lot is that there is nowhere to find such “desperate remedies.”

13.3. THE UNWORKABLE REMEDY: MIGRATING FARMERS TO TOWNS (SHI, 2006; SHI, 2007) In the 1990s, some leading Chinese economists made a prescription for China’s long-standing agriculture-farmers–rural area problems— “migrating farmers to towns.” The cure was believed to be a good solution, with such logic that while farmers who migrate to urban cities could make more money, those who remain in rural hometowns also might get more revenue because there is less rivalry left in rural areas. Besides, such economists believed that the idea of “migrating farmers to towns” also could accelerate the urbanization process in the meantime. Now, ten years have elapsed; it is time for us to examine the effects of such a prescription. The transfer of the labor force from rural areas to urban cities is an inevitable scene during the industrialization progress. As stated by economist William Arthur Lewis in his famous theory on dual-economic structure, the transfer process can be divided into an unlimited supply stage and a finite supply stage according to the degree of agricultural labor surplus and related marginal output value. Later, the transfer process was classified into three stages as proposed by the Fei-Ranis model. All of these theories, which were based on the observation of Western industrialized countries of small populations and even less farmers, worked quite well in such industrialized countries back then. During the middle of the industrialization process in 1900, the total population of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Japan was 76.30 million, 42.19 million, 38.96 million, 56.37 million, and 44.81 million,

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respectively, and the agricultural population in such countries was about twenty or thirty million. Even if half of such farmers moved into the city for a living, the number of migrated farmers could not exceed twenty million at most. In the early and midterm of the industrialization process, most of the traditional industries were labor-intensive ones, thus posing great demand for a labor force and helping strike a balance between urban and rural citizens in both urban cities and rural areas. Both the Lewis Theory and Fei-Ranis model are based on the preconditions that a balance can be achieved between the transferred rural labor force and urban demand. What’s more, at the later stage of the industrialization process in such Western countries, labor demand in urban cities exceeded labor supply transferred from rural areas, thus the transfer of rural labor to urban cities was driven by a greater marginal value attached to industrial positions in urban cities. We have learned that rural labor in such Western countries had an upper hand back then. However, the situation is fundamentally different in China! When China entered into a rapid industrialization progress in the 1980s, its rural population accounted for 80 percent of the total population. Urban cities with limited industrial positions were under great pressure in the face of a great influx of rural surplus labor, which was driven to new highs by the high birthrate. The past three decades after reform and opening up demonstrated that industry and cities could not absorb the huge supply of labor from rural areas, and there was a serious oversupply indeed. The urban population will double if only one-third of the farmers move into the cities. If so, how many extra jobs and urban public services should be provided? Many urban residents and college graduates remaining unemployed has become a common social problem in China now. Even if one-third of farmers have themselves settled in town, there would be five hundred to six hundred million farmers left in the countryside still. Is it a feasible way to eliminate hunger and poverty by allowing two people rather than three people to share a piece of bread? Is it possible that those left behind in rural hometowns enjoy a comparable productivity and income increase rate with those settling in the urban areas? Moreover, as a result of the gradual social and economic development, industrialization and urbanization is not magic designed to fix all rural surplus labor. Moreover, China has entered into the midstage of industrialization development in the twenty-first century, in which technology- and capital-intensive industries enjoy tremendous momentums, while labor-intensive industries are on the decline. The role played by the latter industries in absorbing the rural surplus labor force is also weakened. China and the leading industrialized countries in the Western world have a totally different history and highly disparate issues in transferring agricultural labor to urban industries.

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Sure, it is a positive step to transfer rural labor to urban cities during the process of industrialization. But the idea of resorting to migrating farmers to towns as the solution to agriculture-farmer–rural area problems is nothing but an illusion. Far from alleviating the long-standing problem, this prescription did bring side effects indeed. Chinese Academician of Sciences, Professor Lu Dadao, released some shocking facts in a report in 2007 as follows. Due to a violation of the principle of gradual and orderly progress, China’s urbanization has deviated from the normal track of development during the past decade. Phenomena like the destruction and occupation of arable land for nonagricultural purpose in large scale are especially startling and shocking! The area occupied by the urban resident has reached to 110–130 m2 per capita, a high level similar to that in the western countries. In 2000 alone, 50 million Chinese farmers lost their land. And 26.94 million mu (1 mu = 1/15 hectare) of arable land has disappeared between 2001–2004. This was equivalent to create 6.7 million of rural surplus labors since every rural resident was formerly designated with 4 mu of arable land. At such pace, 60 million of farmers will lose the land they once have been attached for life as of 2020. The interests of farmers have been seriously compromised due to low land price and insufficient compensation. What lies ahead for them is the new title of “farmer without land, employment and allowances.” (Lu, 2007)

In recent years, farmers lost about 6.7 million ha (100 million mu) of land. For every mu of land lost, farmers get 20,000 or 30,000 RMB yuan as compensation, while the local governments and enterprises absorb a profit as high as several hundred thousand or several million RMB yuan. Through this channel, more than tens of billions of capital flowed in hidden form into cities and industry. What a subtle and cruel system it was! Rather than being beneficiaries of the urbanization process, farmers have suffered a lot as victims. To address such severe social problems, the “land transfer system” was adopted in the Third Plenary Session of the Seventeenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

13.4. MAKESHIFT: FAR FROM ENOUGH FOR SEVERE ILLNESS Traditional agriculture, which makes plant and animal production possible based on photosynthesis mechanisms among such natural resources as land, sunshine, heat, water, and wind, is subject to great natural risks and low economic benefits. However, since agriculture is overwhelmingly significant to social stability (CCP, 2008), many countries, especially the developed ones, extend high subsidies to the strategic sector. In recent years, the Chinese government has intensified its assistance to the sector

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by launching a series of well-targeted preferential policies. However, such initiatives are still far from enough. Such insufficiency is echoed by Bo Xilai, the minister of Commerce of China, in his reflections upon returning from the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiation in Doha on December 2005: I am deeply enlightened by my peers in western countries present in this round of negotiation. They extended astonishingly high subsidies to the agricultural sector in their homeland. The EU has earmarked more than 4 billion Euros for exported agricultural products. A total subsidy worthy of 40 billion Euros goes to the agriculture sector in the world; among which, more than US$8 billion from USA, US$6 billion from Japan, and 0 from China. . . . China has about 50 million cotton farmers, who are extended with a subsidy totaled 0.55 billion RMB yuan, namely 10 RMB yuan per cotton farmer, while 25,000 cotton farmers in US are provided with subsidies up to $3 billion per year, with each enjoying an annual subsidy of US$120,000. The subsidies for rice in Japan, Europe and the USA total US$1.3 billion. The USA, though not a big rice producer itself, also delivers US$1.3 billion subsidies to rice production, representing more than 70% of production cost. The total subsidy given by the developed countries to the agricultural sector is US$3,000 per year per capita, while the annual income of the 740 million Chinese farmers is less than US$400 per capita.

The exemption of the agricultural tax is quite significant in China, but it has more symbolic meanings. The vice chief of the State Administration of Taxation once wrote in an article: It is quite a biased perception that farmers will not pay tax at all after the policy of agriculture tax exemption is put into effect. Farmers are still subject to non-deductible taxes for their agricultural production activities such as VAT, income tax, vehicle purchase tax, together with the tax burden they bear in their daily consumption like VAT, sales tax and deposit interest tax. Such taxes paid by farmers amounted to 478.8 billion RMB yuan in 2003, accounting for 14.3% of farmers’ total revenue. (The subsidy channeled to the agriculture sector in 2003 was 112.5 billion RMB yuan, accounting for 23.5 percent of taxes collected from farmers and 4.6 percent of national financial expenditure only—author’s note)

The article continued: Compared to urban residents, farmers shoulder much heavier tax burdens in comparison of the benefits they gain from public goods and services. The exemption of agricultural tax (40 billion RMB yuan per year in total—author’s note) only cannot bring a fundamental change to the long-standing situation, in which the industrialization development has been materialized at the expense of the interests of farmers. We are still very far away from entering

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the stage in which agriculture is nourished by industry and rural areas are fueled by urban cities. (Xu, 2007)

We can gain a glimpse into the problems facing “grain growing subsidies” by exploring the case provided by Shi Shan, a scholar who has immersed himself for half a century with issues confronting Chinese agriculture, farmers, and rural areas. It is about a family of a farmer, Zeng Qifan, living in the Huangshan village, Huarong County of Hunan Province. Grandpa Zeng has a family of 6 members. While the old couple toil at a rice field of 10 mu in size; his son, daughter-in-law and grandson left the hometown and made a living in Guangzhou. Grandpa Zeng harvested 9 thousand kg of rice in 2007. By adding sales income of rice harvested per mu (748 RMB yuan) plus an annual rice subsidy per mu (54 RMB yuan) minus annual cost per mu (668 RMB yuan), we can know the net revenue of the rice field was 134 RMB yuan per mu. Furthermore, we can find that the annual income of the industrious couple was unbelievable low, only at 1,340 RMB yuan per year, namely 447 RMB yuan per capital. The old couple cannot even survive without the financial aid of his son working in town. Sure, the sale price of early- and later-season rice rose by 5.9% and 2.4% respectively in 2007 than one year before. However, it was greatly counteracted by the astonishing price jump in chemical fertilizer (28.6%), pesticide (27.30%), plastic sheet (60%), machine-aid plough (33%), and machine-aid harvest (50%). Hence, the net profit of the rice field reduced by 12.50% per mu in 2007. If labor force cost is taken into account, the household revenue of Grandpa Zeng should be negative. (Shi, 2008)

While industrial products served as agricultural production material and farmers’ livelihood material saw their price fluctuated based on market mechanisms, agricultural products such as food and meat are under price controls as part of the planned economy. For the purpose of safeguarding the interests of urban residents and the temporary social stability, a slight rise in agricultural product prices will be effectively “stabilized” by the government at the expense of the interests of farmers. According to data released by the Pricing Department of the National Development and Reform Commission in 2006, the average price of rice, wheat, and corn per 50 kg, after being adjusted up to 75.11 RMB yuan in 1994 and 1995, went downward in the following decade. It once fell to about 50 RMB yuan before it reversed to 67.35 RMB yuan in 2005. Under the dual pressure of the price rise of industrial products used as agricultural production materials and the depressed price of agricultural products, farmers only can earn 100 to 200 RMB yuan per mu of rice irrespective of the cost of their labor contribution. Such meager returns for their year-long toil on the land can be more easily obtained if they choose to work as a migrant worker in urban cities for only a few days. So how

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can they get enthusiastic about growing grain crops? In 1982, there were 10.51 million ha of double-cropping rice fields in the nation, with the multiple cropping index of crop (MCI, mainly grain crops) as high as 147 percent. Such figures drop to 5.99 million ha and 121 percent in 2006. And phenomena such as leaving fields to be deserted or poorly cared for is not uncommon in recent years. Nevertheless, in order to ensure that the industry sector and urban citizens have a sufficient supply of grain and other agricultural products, farmers have to, under the organization of the government, cultivate crops that can only bring them with slender revenue and scant subsidy. In 2007, grain crops accounted for 69 percent of the 153 million ha of crops. The income from nonfood crops is not much better than grain crops. The cruel reality is that rural farmers that represent 80 percent of the national population share less than 20 percent of the “cake.” How can this unjust policy and nonequitable distribution bring a stable and harmonious society? The international agricultural community criticizes some developing counties for their pro-urban policies. China is also found among the blacklist. In recent years, the central committee of the CPC has reiterated the significance of policies that are dedicated to balancing urban and rural development, to earmarking more resources to rural areas and easing the tax burden, to fueling agricultural and rural development as reciprocated by industry and urban cities, and to developing modern agriculture and building a new socialist countryside. In 2008, the Third Plenary Session of the Seventeenth Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) further stressed the need to address the deep-seated conflicts caused by the urban-rural dualism development mode and build a new worker-farmer, urban-rural relationship as a major strategy to accelerate modernization (Shi, 2008). Just like the saying “Rome was not built in one day,” the issues facing China in terms of agriculture, farmer, and rural areas are also long-standing problems, but it is “better later than never” to address them. The key lies in finding the root causes of such problems by theoretical analysis so as to figure out effective measures.

13.5. AGRICULTURE HAS ITS OWN WAY FOR DEVELOPMENT The leading industrialized nations enjoyed a quite balanced development in all sectors during the process of industrialization. They are free from such vexing agriculture-farmer—rural area problems as China now is confronted with. The long-adopted guidelines of building China

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into a country with an urban-rural dualism development mode is the root cause of such problems since it indeed leads to the isolation of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers from the overall economic and social development of China, and it deprives the nation of the normal and harmonious development of agriculture. Just as the proverb says, “thieves have their code of honor,” agriculture has its own way for development, too. So what is the law governing the development of agriculture? It is normal that during the early stages of the industrialization progress, the differences between agriculture and industry will become striking obvious. This stems from the tremendous disparities of the two sectors in productivity level and way of production. Marx once pointed out at the end the nineteenth century: “Manual labor is still relatively dominant in it and it is characteristic of the bourgeois mode of production to develop manufacturing more rapidly than agriculture. This is, however, a historical difference which can disappear” (Marx, 1973). Marx also noted the “combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country” (Marx, 2009). He also noted that “as this one relation of town and country was modified, the whole of society was modified” (Marx, 2009). Engels also said that “the dispersal of the agricultural population on the land, alongside the crowding of the industrial population into the great cities, is a condition which corresponds to an undeveloped state of both agriculture and industry. . . . the difference between city and country is destined to disappear” (Marx and Engels, 1958). Marx and Engels repeatedly emphasized that the disparities between urban cities and rural areas as well as workers and farmers are only temporary social phenomenon due to historical reasons; such disparities can be eradicated in a gradual way through the combined development of industry with agriculture and enhanced productivity. China, however, has seriously violated the theory as proposed by Marx and Engels by adherence to the guidelines of the urban-rural dualism development mode. Western economists have long engaged in the study on the laws governing the development of agriculture in the process of industrialization. At the end of nineteenth century, German economist Franz Liszt proposed a “three-stage theory” that forecasted that agriculture would evolve from small-scaled and traditional production to industrialized and commercialized development; in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union economist Mikhail Kasyanov proposed the “vertical integration” theory, which argued that agriculture should extend its industry chain to activities taken place before and after agriculture production. In 1955, American

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economist John Davis proposed the theory of the “agribusiness,” which advocated that the supply, production, processing, storage, operation, and management of agricultural products should be integrated into one complex. These theories have exerted a far-reaching effect on the agricultural development of industrialized countries over the past century. Technological and industrial revolutions have taken place in modern society for two hundred years. Under such contexts, agriculture itself has also undergone profound technological and industrial revolutions, with the productivity level tremendously enhanced. The emergence of improved varieties, fertilizers, pesticides, and power together with tractors and other facilities for the convenience of planting and breeding activities, which were brought by technological and industrial renovations in the agricultural domain in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, enabled agricultural development to keep up with traditional industrial development. What’s more, agriculture has grown to be much more advanced in comparison with some traditional industries since the late twentieth century, thanks to the newest rounds of the agricultural technology revolution as facilitated by biotechnology, information technology, 3S technology (remote Sensing, geographic information Systems, global positioning Systems), computer numerical simulation, intelligent technology, network technology, and equipment. Besides, super U.S. household farms and farmer-based agricultural operation organizations in Europe have come into being to meet large-scale production and market operations, which have made agricultural activities well organized and market oriented. As a result, in the Western world, the early boundaries between industry and agriculture in terms of technology and productivity and production management become more and more blurred; the urban-rural disparities in the aspects of income level, material and cultural life, and social security also gradually disappear. The differences between workers and farmers lie in that they engage in different fields with different ways of production, and the differences between urban and rural is only embodied in the distinctive production and living environment. This is not wild imagination; it is what has been taking place in developed countries today. Today, what is absent in China is not advanced technologies, but efforts to free the nation from the old shackles of the urban-rural dualism development mode. Momentum should be brought to the agriculture sector and rural areas in China so as to help the deflected history return back to sound trajectory. We can see from the three cases introduced in the following section that the way out from such long-standing problems lies in agricultureindustry-trade integrated operation.

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13.6. THE FUNDAMENTAL WAY OUT: AGRICULTUREINDUSTRY-BUSINESS INTEGRATED OPERATION MODE There are many developed countries that have blazed a successful path toward agricultural modernization. Take three cases from the United States, The Netherlands, and Israel as examples. The turn of twentieth century marked the transition from traditional agriculture to modern agriculture in the United States. Agricultural productivity and output in the United States were tremendously improved thanks to the wide application of improved varieties and machinery as well as highly specialized and commercialized agricultural production, along with the century-long westward movement. Such unprecedented agricultural prosperity even gave rise to the problem of agricultural surplus for quite a long time. At that time, agricultural products accounted for about 70 percent of the total export of the United States, and it laid down a solid foundation for American’s industrialization. Let’s have a brief look at American agriculture modernization. The United States has a population of 286 million, of which 5.2 million are farmers. It is home to 173 million ha of arable lands and 0.17 billion household farms, too. Its arable land per capita and per farm is 0.6 ha and 185 ha respectively, and total grain output is 350 million tons. One farmer in the United States can produce sixty-seven tons of grain annually, sufficient to feed 150 people (Wang, 2005). During the economic downturn owing to the economic depression, agricultural products were seriously overstocked in the 1930s. To solve the problem, Congress introduced legislation to promote the sale of agricultural products. Four research centers for agricultural applications were built in the principal agricultural areas dedicated to postharvest study and multipurpose agricultural development. As convincing evidence showed, more than one thousand kinds of corn products were developed by such research centers. Enlightened by the idea of agribusiness proposed by Davis, the U.S. government in the 1960s enacted the Area Redevelopment Act, Poverty Elimination Act, and the American Jobs Creation Act, with the purpose of transferring certain manufacturing sectors to rural areas. The agroindustrial enterprises, which were dedicated to integrate all business “from field to fork,” were actively involved in all preharvest and postharvest agricultural services ranging from storage and transportation and processing to marketing in rural areas. Consequently, 2.5 million new jobs were created, with farmers’ income greatly increased; the rural residents were also given access to the same material and cultural lives as their urban peers. Though rural residents only account for 2 percent of the American population in total, 17 percent of the employed population in the nation

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serves in agribusiness. Household farms engage in agricultural-industrial combined activities, with an annual income up to US $60,000 on average, of which about half come from nonagricultural activities. In 1994, the U.S. Congress passed the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act to ensure that American rural residents were extended with more economic opportunities for rural and community development and to facilitate the establishment of the Rural Business and Cooperative Development Service, the Rural Housing and Community Development Service, and the Rural Utilities Service under the leadership of the Department of Agriculture. In recent years, the United States has attached great importance to the development of biological fuel ethanol, with American farmers and the rural economy as the biggest beneficiaries, since the majority of the two hundred fuel ethanol plants were located in villages and jointly run by household farms backed with preferential policies. The boundaries between industry and agriculture, city and countryside in the United States have become quite ambiguous, far from the scene observed in China. Some might argue that what happened in the United States cannot be universally applicable since it is a superpower with rich resources. OK, let’s look at what happened in The Netherlands, a country with a denser population, less land, and limited resources. The Netherlands, located in northern Europe, has a land area of only 41,500 km2. With one-fourth of its territory below sea level, the country has 907,000 ha of arable land (namely 0.056 hectare per capita). The Netherlands is home to 16.3 million people, and five hundred thousand people are engaged in agricultural production (Wang, 2005). However, the country is a globally renowned record setter in the agriculture sector. For example, in 1991, The Netherlands’ land productivity reached US $2,468 per ha, taking the lead in the world; its labor productivity reached US $4,339 per capita, slightly inferior to the United States. During 1994 to 1999, The Netherlands’ export volume reached US $1.5 per square meter of farming land; its net export volume of agricultural product reached US $18 billion, $15.1 billion higher than that of the United States. In 2005, The Netherlands’ agricultural product and food export reached $78.9 billion, with net exports ranking the first in the world. In addition, The Netherlands is also a world leader in terms of sea reclamation, glass greenhouse areas, and more. The Netherlands’ annual output contributed by the agricultural processing industry reaches about 17 billion Dutch gulden, accounting for 30 percent of the gross value of the national industrial output and being 1.2 times the total value of agricultural output, and it is only slightly inferior to the chemical industry, the number-one contributor to The Netherlands’ GDP. The secrets behind the wonders The Netherlands has created in the agriculture sector during the twentieth century are its highly effective agriculture-industry-trade integrated endeavors. The

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Netherlands agronomist Jaap Post stated: “Only by taking into account all kinds of activities conducted by the agro-industrial enterprises can we form a complete picture of agriculture.” Let’s look at another case—Israel, a country with dense population, few land areas, and worse conditions for agricultural production. Israel is a small country with only 21,000 km2 of land area, among which 438,000 ha are arable land. Of its 7.15 million population, 147,000 engage in agriculture. Israel’s arable land per capita is only 0.061 ha. Since the annual precipitation in more than half of the country’s territory is less than 180 mm, Israel has 60 percent of its regions falling into arid zones, and 50 percent of its croplands need irrigation. In spite of all these disadvantages, Israel is powerful in agricultural production, with each farmer creating US $41,000 of agricultural output and feeding ninety people. In 1999, Israel registered US $3.28 billion of agricultural output and US $1.228 billion of total agricultural export (namely $15,000 of agricultural export per farmer). Israel’s agricultural activities are mainly carried out in collective farms and agricultural cooperatives, and they are operated in a highly integrated manner from production, processing, and packaging to sales directly connected with domestic and international markets. Israel’s corn yield is three times that of China’s; the highest annual output of tomato fields can reach to 500 tons per ha. Israel boasts three leading technologies in the world—drip irrigation, greenhouses, and thoroughbred seeds. Based on thorough comparison, we can find that in the United States, the average arable land per capita of agriculture population is 33 ha, whereas the figure for The Netherlands, Israel, and China is 3.6 ha, 5.2 ha, and 0.25 ha, respectively. To put it another way, the United States’ average arable land per capita of agriculture population is nine times, six times, and 132 times more than that of The Netherlands, Israel, and China, respectively. While the United States has typical resource-rich and operation-integrated agriculture, The Netherlands and Israel have resource-scanty and operation-integrated agriculture. China’s agriculture is both resource scanty and operation dispersed. In addition, the labor productivity and labor income of the three latter countries are quite high. China’s labor income per capita of agriculture population is only US $827 in 2007, namely one-fourtieth and one-twenty-fifth of that of The Netherlands and Israel. If the argument that American farmers own more lands than their Chinese counterparts is justifiable, then how can it be explained that The Netherlands and Israel, also resource scanty, have their labor productivity and labor income a dozen times higher than China’s? Such shocking disparity is the result of highly different agricultural operation and management modes. The United States, The Netherlands, and Israel, though quite different from each other in many aspects, share a basically similar path toward

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agricultural modernization—namely the “agribusiness” model put forward by John Davies. As advocated by the model, the agricultural production chain should be extended to links such as processing, final product, service, trade, and even export, so as to form a complete production and service system. Generally speaking, if the link engaged by an operator among the agricultural production chain is closer to the links of the final product and service, the more added value and economic benefit the operator will achieve. If farmers (agricultural producers) are given the opportunities to participate in such links, their labor productivity and income will definitely go up. Farmers and agriculture in China, a country dominated by the urban-rural dualism development model, are only allowed to participate in the link for primary agricultural production, which is left with the lowest added value and economic benefit. Links endowed with high value added and economic benefits are operated by food and light industries in China. Farmers have nothing to do with such profitable links! Is it possible that 0.8 billion Chinese farmers can get rich under this kind of system and model? Is it possible that Chinese agriculture can be modernized? Maybe it is true that the United States and Canada can depend on their rich resources and powerful machinery to realize agricultural modernization, but the way for resource-scanty countries like China to realize agricultural modernization is only through agribusiness, just as The Netherlands and Israel does. “Agribusiness,” according to its creator Davies and by its practice prevalent in the world, should be literally translated as “agricultural complex” in Chinese. However, it is such a scholarly coined term. So I prefer to term it the agriculture-industry-trade integrated operation in consideration of a more clear and straightforward understanding for Chinese readers.

13.7. RURAL INDUSTRIALIZATION IN JAPAN It is widely recognized that the agriculture-industry-trade integrated operation is the right choice for the development of agriculture in the world. In this section, we will have a look at what happened during the rural industrialization in Japan, China’s neighbor (Zhou, 1992). As a country aspiring to “breaking away from Asia and merging into Europe,” Japan has always attached great importance to learning from Western Europe, emphasizing bringing rural areas into the industrialization process along with urban cities from the very start. In the 1930s, the government launched the so-called Economic Rehabilitation Movement across the rural areas, with a program aimed at “thoroughly popularizing a scheme suitable for rural economic organizations in mountain and fishing villages” being put into place to promote the development of rural industry. In 1961, when the industrialization takeoff took place in Japan,

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an Agricultural Basic Law” was adopted in Japan with the intention of reducing the differences between industry and agriculture and urban and rural areas. Through a series of measures, such as lawmaking, programming, layout, investment, and so on, the Japanese government successfully relocated some factories to rural areas and innovated the traditional rural enterprises. In 1971, the government issued the Act on Promoting Industry Merged into Rural Areas, imposing limits on the concentration of industry along the Pacific coast and metropolis. As part of its efforts to promote the sound integration of industry and agriculture and to drive agriculture-industry–trade integrated operations, the Japanese government issued the Industrial Relocation Promotion Act in 1972. The Act resulted in half of the enterprises crowded along the Pacific coast, which account for 73 percent of the national industrial output, being relocated to 2,371 rural cities, towns, and villages (accounting for 90 percent of the total). The government provided relocation and resettlement subsidies as well as a preferential transfer loan. In the meantime, special attention has been paid by the government to promote rural industrialization in remote and backward areas, such as Hokkaido, the northeast, and Shikoku. With a series of measures adopted to promote rural industry, small and medium enterprises as well as towns mushroomed, where rural surplus labors, with part-time farmers accounting for the majority, were employed. Even in the period of rapid development of industrialization, migrant labor, which led a life in urban cities with rural hometowns left behind, only accounted for about 7 percent of the total rural population. With farmers gaining handsome income from their part-time employment in such enterprises, the aim set by the government at the beginning of industrialization—to “insure the balance of life level between agriculture practitioners and other industry practitioners”—was achieved ahead of schedule. Since workers and peasants, urban and rural areas have developed in a balanced and coordinated manner, there were no obvious differences left between the backward rural areas and the metropolis. Japan showed great courage and wisdom during the process of rural industrialization, same as China did during the period implementing land reform and the household contract responsibility system. However, it is a great pity that the Chinese government neglected the coordinated development of rural areas in the later period when the nation went full steam ahead for industrialization.

13.8. AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT: A MODERN VERSION OF LORD YE’S LOVE OF DRAGON Has China ever given a thought to such a development path as the agriculture-industry-trade integrated operation and rural industrialization

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to invigorate its agriculture sector? No, not at all. What has happened to China’s contemporary agriculture development is a modern-version of Lord Ye’s Love of Dragon, a household fable in China, which taunts someone about his “inconsistency between action and discourse.” I was surprised to find that, though China was isolated from the outside world due to its closed-door policy during the Cultural Revolution, the path for China’s agricultural development as proposed by the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC in 1978 coincided with the then prevalent agriculture-industry-trade integrated operation pattern in the leading industrialized countries. With the same adherence to the truth, it is no wonder that “great minds think alike.” The first batch of documents issued by the Chinese government in five successive years after the Plenary Session were all centered on agriculture development. The following are excerpts from the so-called No. 1 Document issued in 1983, 1984, and 1986. In order to protect the virtuous circle of agro-ecology and enhance economic efficiency, we must follow the path of comprehensive development of agriculture, forestry, fishery, animal husbandry, and integrated operation of agriculture, industry and commerce in rural areas. It is also essential for promoting the industrial development, meeting the needs of urban and rural people, providing the rural surplus labor with non-agricultural employment in their hometown. This will lead to the establishment of a multispectral economic structure, bring wealth to the farmers, bring about a new look to rural areas, build extensive small economic and cultural centers, and gradually shrink the differences between workers and peasants, urban cities and rural areas. With the deepening division of labor in rural areas, there will be more and more people transferred from traditional plantation and into forestry and animal husbandry production. Besides, a greater proportion of rural dwellers will be transferred to small industry and small town service sectors, which is an inevitable historical progress. Since grain is a low-profit product, farmers must diversify their engagement to gain more income. Grain production must be supplemented with closely combined and mutually promoted diversified business. We learn a lesson in the past that the sole dedication to grain production did not result in greater food production, rather, it led to stagnation in the rural economy. In recent years, the rural economy was highly diversified with a cash crop, animal husbandry, fishing, rural industry, construction, transportation, services, etc., included. As a result, grain production has been greatly accelerated and rural economy has fully boomed. In China, agriculture and rural industry must develop in a coordinated way. Otherwise, there is no way out for rural surplus labor, nor can industry push the development of agriculture.

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The five “No. 1 Documents” and other documents issued thirty years ago by the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee convincingly proposed a path for rural population featuring “all-round development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, and other sideline occupations, as well as combined agriculture-industry-commerce operation.” They also clearly pointed out that “under current conditions, agriculture and rural industry must develop in a coordinated way, with rural surplus labor transferred into the work force serving in the vicinity,” and “the rural areas should be densely dotted with small economic and cultural centers in a effort to gradually narrow the differences between workers and farmers, urban city and rural areas.” How inspiring and bright these conceived paths are! In particular, it cautioned: “The sole dedication to grain production did not result in greater food production, rather, it led to stagnation in the rural economy.” Even by today’s standards, these ideas of thirty years ago were not outdated at all but had very practical significance. Documents issued by the central government in 1996 have also put forth: “The introduction of the agriculture-industry-trade integrated operation can connect farmers with domestic and foreign markets, and enable agricultural production, processing, and sales closely integrated. Such an operation mode is an important way for China’s agriculture to get enlarged, commercialized, specialized and modernized on the basis of the household contract responsibility system.” Unfortunately, China failed to stick to such an operation mode seriously in later days, making the agriculture-farmer–rural area problems more obvious and acute. Although the central government has attached great importance to such problems and has taken a series of measures to support and drive agriculture development, most of them were merely makeshifts with short-term effects. How does the same agriculture-industry-commerce integrated operation model work soundly in resource-scanty Netherlands and Israel, but poorly in China? Why did China, which was successful in figuring out the agriculture-industry-commerce integrated operation model as a remedy for its future agricultural development based on past experiences and lessons turn out to be a dwarf in actions and a giant in words? It was the same fate that Han Xin, the master of war art in ancient China, had experienced. While only appointed as Flag Officer by Lord Xiang Yu, Han Xin was entrusted by Lord Liu Bang as the army chief and finally made the deadly besieged Lord Xiang Yu kill himself in great dismay along the Wu Jiang River. Why does China behave like Lord Ye, and dare not to use the selfproduced agriculture-industry-commerce integrated operation model?

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That is because we are trapped into the “dualism of urban workers and rural farms” and the “urban-rural dualism development model” deeply. We stubbornly confine our thoughts to a rigid pattern—make agriculture, rural areas, and farmers be doomed to grow food as loyal as a machine for the 1.3 billion people (or for the city people) and provide raw materials for industrial development. It is something as foolish as to drain a pond to get all the fish for instant gain rather than make the pond ideal for fish proliferation. Obviously, the results will run counter to our desires. Social injustice must be the bane of potential social instability. It is true that “agriculture also has its own road.” We have explored how agriculture was modernized in the United States, The Netherlands, and Israel, and how agriculture was industrialized in Japan. We also noted the “Lord Ye’s love” people had toward the agricultural sector in China. Why are problems concerning agriculture, rural areas, and farmers always so difficult to solve in China? Why does the agriculture modernization progress go so slowly in China? What are the problems? Why haven’t Chinese agricultural economists come up with more advice? Is it true that China only has a rural Policy Research Office left as the brainpower for agricultural development?

13.9. ENERGY AGRICULTURE: A DOSE OF GOOD MEDICINE With the clear recognition that the agriculture-industry-commerce= integrated operation model is the way out for China’s agriculture development, it does not necessarily guarantee the accomplishment of the goal. Mao Zedong once said, “We should not only put forward the task, but also find solutions to solve the task. We cannot cross a river without a bridge or a boat. In the absence of a bridge and boat, crossing the river will be nothing but an empty talk. Similarly, in the absence of solution, high talk about ambitious tasks will become meaningless nonsense” (Mao, 1991). What are the “bridge” and the “boat” to achieve the goal of the integrated operation of agriculture, industry, and commerce? Here are answers: the processing of agricultural products and energy agriculture. If the processing of agriculture products is compared to the traditional “old bridge” in need of reinforcement and repair, then the energy agriculture should be likened to a new aircraft carrier emerging in the twenty-first century. Guaranteed with nontraditional and renewable raw material as well as modern technology, energy agriculture is low carbon and green in nature and enjoys boundless market potentials. Now, I would like to quote once again the enlightening remarks from the Executive Order 13134: Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy endorsed by then U.S. president Bill Clinton:

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Current biobased product and bioenergy technology has the potential to make renewable farm and forest resources major sources of affordable electricity, fuel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other materials. Technical advances in these areas can create an expanding array of exciting new business and employment opportunities for farmers, foresters, ranchers and other business in rural America. These technologies can create new markets for farm and forest waste products, new economic opportunities for underused land, and new value-added business opportunities. They also have the potential to reduce our Nation’s dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, water quality, and flood control, decrease erosion, and help minimize the net production of greenhouse gases. (White House, 1999)

I once mentioned in a speech addressed in Zhengzhou in 2005 on the topic of “three agricultural battlefields”: The twenty-first century is the century for energy transition and upgrade. Biomass industry is a new force to rise, bringing a good opportunity to agricultural development. An “energy agriculture revolution” has been taking place in the agricultural sector by manufacturing biological energy and biobased products with agricultural and forestry waste as well as high-resistance energy plants cultivated on marginal land as raw material. New and nontraditional raw material and products well up in the so-called third battlefield of agriculture, helping reshuffle the inner structure of agriculture and promote agricultural productivity and the farmer income level. (Shi, 2006)

When the global financial crisis started to find its way to compromise the Chinese entity economy, I had written an emergent proposal on “providing jobs for farmers and finding new ways for them to increase income” (Shi, 2009), which further elaborated: Once organic waste and marginal land are invigorated for a new life, it can generate great economic and ecological value. This is a brand new undertaking, enjoying brand new resource and products as well as boundless market prospects. As a green and sustainable undertaking, it is a true growth point for a new economy. While capital out of circulation is called “dead money,” “resource” out of use will be reduced into “waste.” Farmers, rural areas and agriculture in China all long for that the new economic growth point can be initiated in an all-round way soon.

The following statistics will show us how powerful the economic engine and new economic growth point are in driving economic development (please refer to chapters 15 and 16 of the book for detailed information). • China has about four hundred million tons of crop straw and 108 million tons of forestry residues available (in 2007) for direct-fired power generation, pellet fuel heating, combined heat and power

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generation, and other forms of energy generation. Every year, such crop straw and forestry residues can bring out 280 million tons of standard coal (equivalent to the Shendong Coal Field) and reduce 670 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Farmers can gain 300 RMB yuan in cash in return for per ton of sold straw or forestry residue. About 140 billion RMB yuan of annual revenue and 2.5 to 3.0 million jobs for collection and transportation can be created if such crop straw and forestry residues are put into good use. • China has forty million ha of marginal land available for growing nongrain ethanol feedstock crops such as sweet sorghum, potato, Jerusalem artichoke, and more. Every year, such land has the potentiality to produce more than 0.1 billion tons of fuel ethanol, which can substitute for six thousands tons of oil. What’s more, it can bring 150 billion RMB yuan of revenue and 1 to 1.5 million jobs to farmers. • China has the potential to produce 83 billion m3 of biogas or 700 million m3 of natural gas with existing livestock and poultry manure, industrial organic wastewater, urban sewage organic garbage, and biogas raw materials. To put it more specifically, twenty million tons (wet weight) of livestock and poultry manure are produced in China every year, which would bring a revenue of 20 to 40 billion RMB yuan (at the rate of 10 to 20 RMB yuan per ton) to farmers, if used as biogas raw materials, and an even higher revenue of 120 billion RMB yuan to farmers, if turned into biogas. In addition, such applications are conducive to improving the rural environment and enhancing energy consumption efficiency, accelerating the crystallization of a new socialist countryside. The solid, liquid, and gaseous biofuel, which is changed from part of the agricultural and forestry waste available in the nation and cultivated in part of its marginal land, can substitute for 430 million tons of standard coal for fossil fuel as well as bring 400 billion RMB yuan cash revenue and five million jobs to farmers. Energy agriculture, as a powerful “economic engine,” offers a “gold mine” for both the nation and its farmers in a green and sustainable way. The social benefits brought by energy agriculture are even more laudable. Since biomass feedstock is widely dispersed and its processing factories are normally small to medium sized, such as 20 MW of power plants, fifty thousand tons of pellet fuel plants, 0.1 million tons of ethanol plants, a biogas plant with a daily output of 20,000 m3, and others, the nation can have tens of thousands of such plants in total, with eight or ten of them being operated in each county of the nation. Such deployment can drive China’s rural area into industrialized small towns. Hundreds of thousands of jobs in the service sector will be followed to

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narrow the gap between workers and farmers as well as urban and rural areas. As a result, society will become more harmonious and stable. By establishing cooperation with biomass-resource-abundant Southeast Asia and Africa to help them develop local energy agriculture, the Chinese energy agriculture enterprises will receive a warmer welcome than their oil and gas sector counterparts that are also engaged in the codevelopment of local resources. Modern agriculture should consist of three branches, namely “foundation agriculture,” which is engaged in the production of primary agricultural products (namely traditional agriculture in a narrow sense); “processing agriculture,” which is based on primary agricultural products as raw materials; and “energy agriculture,” which adopt nontraditional raw materials to produce nontraditional agricultural products. In modern agriculture, “foundation agriculture” is the base and the three branches must be developed in a coordinative way. Sun Zi, the great master of martial arts, once said that the way a wise general can defeat his enemy is through unexpected moves. With a surprise attack launched by a raiding company, the party that was once trapped in a negative situation on the battlefield will gain an upper hand instead. If we want to solve the problems faced by agriculture, farmers, and rural areas in China, we should not only pay attention to the eight hundred million farmers who are engaged in primary agricultural production but also pay attention to energy agriculture as a raiding company.

13.10. “I HAVE A DREAM” What will be the scene for Chinese agriculture, rural areas, and farmers in the future? Let’s see what Fei Xiaotong said twenty years ago. In a country with so much population, enterprises should not be only concentrated in cities, but rather spread around the vast countryside as much as possible. That is what I term as “industry shifted to the countryside.” Briefly speaking, the key for the Chinese rural economy lies in the mutual complement of industry and agriculture. We cannot only depend on agriculture. If so, we cannot live. Mutual complement of industry and agriculture is the basis on which industry shifted to the countryside can be made possible. Therefore, I had put forth the idea of a “small population pool,” namely a small town. We should put more importance to small towns as population pools. People settled in small towns also should be provided with jobs, otherwise the “pool” will be a leaked one with population drained out. Therefore, we must develop various industries. Only in this way can we fulfill the combination of industry and agriculture and eliminate the gap of industry and agriculture. (Fei, 2007)

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Later, some useful data were released by Zhang Zhongfa in his papers published in 1990. According to the article, the agricultural labor force transferred to nonagriculture areas increased at the rate of 2.26 percent every year, 1.41 times higher than the level twenty-six years ago. Of the labor force transferred to the nonagriculture area, more than 80 percent of them are transferred to urban enterprises, and 16 percent come to cities to live. It is stated in the article that: The basic way for employment transfer is to maintain agriculture and industry income level balanced, by connecting rural industry and urban large industry in a reasonable way. Only by equilibrating income in agriculture and industry, rural industry and urban large industry, can the prevailing dualistic structure get eliminated and agriculture be included into the current economic structure. (Zhang, 1990)

In 2006, citing the operation model of the Taiwan Sugar Corporation as strong evidence, Xu Zhuoyun advocated the idea that China should extend industry to rural areas rather than bringing farmers to the city (Xu, 2006). Besides, Japan also followed the same pattern for its rural industrialization by spreading industry down to the countryside and combining agriculture and industry together. In a big agricultural country such as China, with a 1.3 billion population and 0.8 billion farmers, it is impossible to transfer the majority of farmers to big cities in the process of industrialization. Only by sticking to the path of industry spread down into the countryside and agriculture combined with industry can the ever-growing surplus labor force in rural areas caused due to improved rural productivity be well channeled in a rational way. In other words, we should, on the basis of primary agricultural production, forcefully develop “energy agriculture” and “processing agriculture” as well as small towns and the tertiary industry that have gained momentum for growth during the process. This may be the model to achieve the strategy of “disrupting urban and rural dualistic structures, constructing the new relationship between urban and rural areas” as proposed by the Third Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. My dreamy scene for China’s agriculture, rural areas, and farmers in the future are: in the vast rural areas of China dotted with modern rural residential areas and multiple small- and medium-sized towns that enjoy the combined civilization and prosperity of agriculture, industry, business, and culture. Plenty of agriculture-industry-commerce-integrated enterprises based on the production of animals and plants will thrive here. Residents will be extended with sound services in fields such as science and technology, finance and

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production, life and culture, and more. Novel things of modern civilization, such as biotechnology, machinery, computers, networks, satellite remote sensing, and global positioning will enjoy the same popularity like a spade and moldboard once gained in these areas. Farmers do not have to leave their native places and lead a vagrant life between hometowns and big cities. Instead, they can steer the biofuel powered vehicles traveling to and from their modern settlement compounds and clean medium and small towns. They will use in their daily life heat and electricity generated from biomass, solar, and aeolian energy. What they enjoy are natural gifts bestowed by the god like fertile land, clean water, fresh air, as well as twitter birds and fragrant flowers. They could not only enjoy rich material and cultural life as urban citizens but also can be away from the noise and stress in bustling cities. This will be closely dotted paradises in the vast land of China in the twenty-first century.

When Martin Luther King announced his famous saying: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” Obama was just two years old. Now he is the president of the United States. I also have a dream: in China, a country with a great history of glorious civilization, agriculture, rural areas and farmers no longer live in the shadow of “dualism,” no longer will be marginalized, and no longer will be seen as the incarnation of poverty and backwardness. Instead, they have their vitalities fully displayed, make growing contributions to the state, and are admired by urban people as an ideal balanced way of life in the hectic twenty-first century. Now, I would like to wind up this chapter with a poem by the famous poet Bai Juyi living in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907), who was already a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations at the age of twenty-eight and rose to be a member of the Imperial Academy at the age of thirty-five. He also was entrusted to write script on behalf of the emperor and was a teacher of the prince with the first grade official rank. He wrote down this touching poem when he caught the scene of wheat-cutting toil in the rural area outside Chang’an City, the capital of the Empire. Why am I given the privilege of being free of farming labor, and awarded with 150 kilograms of rice as annual salary even with a surplus left at the end of year? I feel extremely shameful whenever I call to mind the privilege I was given, and cannot let go of such conscience-stricken mood for the whole day long.

This poem crystallizes the lofty ideal enshrined by intellectuals and scholar-officials in ancient China. Nobody can deny the fact that Chinese farmers deserve to go down history, and they have our heartfelt

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appreciation for the great contribution and sacrifice they have made for today’s modern China and its quickened industrialization and urbanization. Do not we feel conscience stricken if the 0.8 billion farmers are marginalized into a huge, socially vulnerable group when China is quickly rising as an economic power in the world? Should we not endeavor to solve the problems regarding agriculture, rural areas, and farms with a great sense of responsibility and urgency? Is it not right for us to feel indebted to what agriculture, rural areas, and farms have done for us? Can we keep aloof to energy agriculture, a dose of good medicine to solve the deep-seated ailments regarding agriculture, rural areas, and farms? Do Chinese civil servants fall into self-reflection and resort to proactive action to bring change upon viewing the poem written by their ancient counterpart?

REFERENCES CCP (China Communist Party). Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the China Communist Party. Decisions on Key Issues in Promoting Rural Reform and Development, 1978. CCP (China Communist Party). Five No. 1 Documents after Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the China Communist Party, 1982–1986. CCP (China Communist Party). The Third Plenary Session of Seventeenth Central Committee of the China Communist Party. Decision on Key Issues in Promoting Rural Reform and Development. 2008. Fei, X. T. “My Understanding of Peasant Life of China: A Speech Delivered at Peking University.” Social Science Journal of China Agricultural University 24, no. 66: 2007. He, K. Township and Village Enterprises in China. Beijing: China Agriculture Press, 2004. Lu, D. D. Suggestion on Containing Great Leap in Urbanization. Suggestions by Chinese Academician of Sciences 30 (2007). Marx, K., and F. Engels. Complete Works of Marx and Engels. Vol. 4. Beijing: People’s Press, 1958. Marx, K., and F. Engels. On Surplus Value: Complete works of Marx and Engels. Vol. 26. Beijing: People’s Press, 1973. (In Chinese) Marx, K., and F. Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party: Complete Works of Marx and Engels. Vol. 26. Beijing: People’s Press, 2009. MOA (Ministry of Agriculture, People’s Republic of China). Report on China Agricultural Development, 1978–1990. MOA (Ministry of Agriculture, People’s Republic of China). China Agricultural Statistical Yearbook. Shi, S. Explorations on Addressing Rural, Agricultural and Farmer’s Issues. (unpublished), 2008. Shi, Y. C. “Three Battlefields for Agricultural Development.” Qiushi 10 (2006).

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Shi, Y. C. “Finding ways Out of Difficulties Facing Rural and Agricultural Development.” China Science and Technology Express 10 (2007). Shi, Y. C. “Granting a New Point of Growth for Rural and Agricultural Development.” China Science Times, January 19, 2009. Wang, X. F. Overview on World Agricultural Science and Technology. Beijing: China Agricultural Science and Technology Press, 2005. White House. Office of the Press Secretary. Executive Order 13134: Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy, 1999. Accessed August 2010. http:// ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/eos/eo13134.html. Xu, S. D. “Farmers’ Burden Should be Further Lessened after Exempting Agricultural Taxation.” Farmer’s Daily, January 8, 2007. Xu, Z. Y. “Reflections on Rural and Agricultural Issues of China.” China South Weekly, April 6, 2006. Zhang, Z. F. “On Theory and Practice of Labor Shift.” Research Journal on Agricultural Development and Labor Policy. Beijing: Editorship of Agricultural Economics and Technology, 1990. Zhou, W. H. Study on History of Industrialization in Rural Japan. Beijing: People’s Education Press, 1992.

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controversial title is adopted for this chapter due to the fact that fossil energy is always weighted heavier than clean energy by some officers-in-charge and brain trusters, who are responsible for China’s energy decision making; besides, wind energy sources and solar energy also gain more attention from such influential people than biomass energy, which is at risk of being ignored and bypassed by such decision makers in their decisions. Therefore, this chapter is intended to inform such highbrows: China cannot afford to ignore bioenergy. It is no doubt that time is needed for people to know newly emerged things. This is no exception for bioenergy. In academic circles, specialists are only versed in their own fields; therefore, they have disparities in cognition even to the same thing; while in business circles, business people go after various interests. However, decision makers in government must put national interest at top priority and make the best, wisest decision for the purpose. Although bioenergy was at strife in American academic circles, the U.S. government decision makers take a clear-cut stand to promote bioenergy vigorously. While in government-oriented China, two extremely different attitudes are shown alternatively toward biomass energy, which received high attention in the Tenth Five-Year Plan Period (2001–2005), while it was neglected coldly in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2006–2010). What’s wrong with bioenergy in China? However, it is not totally a bad thing for biomass energy. In the Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907), Shu Yuanyu, a wise man, said that adversity could be our teacher, inspiring us to be mature and strong as time passes 283

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by. To start with, this chapter will introduce the unique nature of bioenergy and its vicissitude in China, and the reasons why it is too important to be ignored. Finally, the chapter will conclude with a sigh of regret for the highly insufficient attention given to biomass by the authorities.

14.1. THE UNIQUENESS OF BIOENERGY Difference is common in nature. For example, there are different stars and planets in the solar system; there are cold, temperate, and tropical zones on the earth; there are gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin as mineral reserves; there are high-grade and low-grade plants in the forms of arbors, shrubs, and grasses. Just as the proverb states: “All the fingers are not alike.” Solar radiation, which will be absorbed by different parts of the earth’s surface at different latitudes and has different thermal reactions with different materials on earth’s surface after entering the earth, will cause air flow constantly with kinetic energy resulting as wind and will cause water to evaporate and transpire and precipitate between the air and ground, therefore resulting in potential energy in rivers. In addition, solar radiations can be transformed into chemical energy reserved in biomass by means of photosynthesis and be transformed into electric energy by means of man-made facilities (figure 14.1). Wind energy, hydroenergy, bioenergy, and solar energy are different energy forms originating from solar energy by different carriers. Hydropower, wind energy, solar energy, tidal energy, geothermal energy, nuclear power, hydrogen energy, and energy to be occur in the

Figure 14.1. Illustrated principles and products of generated renewable energies and nuclear/geothermal energies.

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future such as nuclear fusion and helium-3 are all physical-state energies, which can be converted to electric energy and heat products. Furthermore, wind energy and solar energy suffer poor stability and low energy accumulation. However, bioenergy is a totally peculiar chemical energy, which is transformed from solar radiation by photosynthesis with plants as carriers. This tiny difference gives bioenergy both energy and carrier, stable for energy storage. It thus gives rise to not only energy products of solid, liquid, and gas states but also nonenergy biobased products. Bioenergy is the only replacement of the varied energy products such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas roundly, and nonenergy chemical derivative products, which can’t be achieved by any other clean energy. If various energies are compared to boxers, then wind energy, solar energy, hydroenergy, geothermal, nuclear power, and hydrogen energy are boxers only good at straight punches, while bioenergy is a boxer with a good command of various punching skills, such as the straight punch, hook punch, sweeping punch, and flap punch. As far as natural quality is concerned, bioenergy is still different from other types of clean energy. Though it is a simple truth, there are still many misunderstandings. Most people overlook its difference from and superiority over other clean energy. It is really unfair for bioenergy, especially when the nation now enters into a critical duration for energy consumption.

14.2. UNPARALLELED AGRICULTURE-FRIENDLY NATURE Except for its unique natural qualities introduced above, bioenergy also distinguishes itself from other clean energies by its unparalleled agriculture-friendly nature. The biotic nature of bioenergy determines its close relation with agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, and it enables it to be both a clean energy and a solution to the issues concerning agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. With raw materials from agriculture and forestry, the processing of energy products can be anticipated by and be beneficial to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. It is exactly the same as what was stated in the U.S. executive order Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy, “Technical advances in these areas can create an expanding array of exciting new business and employment opportunities for farmers, foresters, ranchers, and other businesses in rural America. These technologies can create new markets for farm and forest waste products, new economic opportunities for underused land, and new value-added business opportunities” (White House, 1999).

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The biggest beneficiary of America’s biofuel development are farmers, who are the owners of the majority of the over two hundred liquid biofuel processing factories scattered in rural areas of the nation. The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, once indicated that Brazil put high attention on biofuel development with a view to accelerate the growth of agriculture and to increase the income of farmers, and to solve the issues of food insecurity and poverty. Renate Kuenast, the former secretary of agriculture in Germany, also believed that developing biofuel is the quickest and cheapest way to substitute fossil fuel and is also a good way to enhance the income of farmers and rural areas. The UN Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2008 also indicated that the march toward biofuels apparently is unstoppable and that biofuels can increase the number of jobs and markets for small farmers and provide cheap, renewable energy for local use. The key to addressing issues concerning China’s agriculture, rural areas, and farmers is to find a good way to improve farmers’ income. However, simply relying on food and primary agricultural products that have low added value cannot close the income gap between urban and rural residents. It is crucial to find a sustainable way of wider coverage to bring more fortune to farmers. The biomass industry is one of the ideal choices. As mentioned before, farmers can earn 140 billion RMB yuan annually through the sale of straw and forestry waste; 120 billion RMB yuan through the manufacture of industrial methane with organic waste such as poultry excrement as raw material; and 150 billion RMB yuan through the cultivation of yam and sweet sorghum for the production of nonfood ethanol. In addition, millions of employment opportunities will be made available for farmers during the process. It has been proven that a biomass-processing factory is the immediate source of a large amount of cash income to farmers. Is this not a good way to help farmers increase their income in a wide scope and a forceful manner? It is natural for farmers to feel a lack of enthusiasm for food cultivation, since net revenue generated per ha of grain is only 3000 to 5000 RMB yuan. If the income brought by straw itself is at the same level, farmers’ enthusiasm for grain cultivation might be highly stimulated. What I talk about above is only the apparent merits brought by bioenergy. In a wider sense, bioenergy opens up a brand new realm of “energy agriculture” for traditional agriculture, extending the agricultural production chain to a burgeoning industry with high added value and promising market potentials—namely clean energy and bio-based products. Bioenergy, in the true sense, inspires a significant revolution in the domain of the agriculture industrial structure; accelerates the industrialization and urbanization process of rural areas; transfers surplus rural labor to nearby areas; and narrows the disparities between industry and

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agriculture, as well as towns and rural areas. Furthermore, bioenergy also paves the way for insignificant substances, which are formerly ignored and abandoned as environmental pollutions such as crop straw, poultry excrement, forestry residua, the organic waste of the processing industry and the urban city, and the margin land of inferiority quality, to go into a benign cyclic system of substance, energy, and economy as badly needed, harmless, and recyclable clean energy and one major force for GHG emission mitigation. This is really a great feat in conserving resources and protecting the environment. In recent years, the central government has launched numerous favorable policies to help farmers increase their income. However, such policies are more focused on subsidy giving rather than fortune generating—more focused on strategic guidance such as supporting agricultural development with industrial strength and driving the coordinated development of rural areas and cities rather than on specific and feasible solutions. Now, energy agriculture rises as the very solution, which is incomparable with other renewable energy sources. Due to its excellence in both natural quality and social contribution, bioenergy becomes the popular choice adopted by most countries in the world to substitute for fossil energy. Though it is given great importance in countries such as the United States, Europe, Brazil, and others, bioenergy faces a different scene in China. First, it was deemed as an eyesore by coal bosses due to interest conflicts, then it was unfairly denounced by the public as a threat to food security; still, it was neglected by energy authorities who are engaged themselves in creating a prosperous bubble of wind energy and solar power under the global context of the climate change war and clean energy development. Bioenergy, the leader of renewable energy sources in the world, is now experiencing a strange phenomenon in China.

14.3. CONTROVERSY BETWEEN COAL-BASED AND BIOMASS-BASED PRODUCTS Back in 2005 when petroleum imports showed a growing momentum in the nation, several experts called on the central government to work out a national strategy for the substitution of petroleum, which was really a proposal with great foresight. However, it also caused a persistent controversy on coal-based and biomass-based products. Now, I would like to cite a report with my personal involvement. The National Development and Reform Commission organized a research team to study petroleum substitution. After more than one year of study, the research team came up with a conclusion that coal-based carbinol and

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dimethyl ether should be adopted as a substitute to petroleum. During the conference for opinion solicitation, I stood out with a firm objection to the idea by pointing out six mortal setbacks of coal-based carbinol: first, it is lower energy efficient: 1.3 to 1.5 tons of coking coal and two tons of bunker coal will be consumed for the production of one ton of carbinol, while the calorific value is only about 46 percent of gasoline, which means four to six shares of coal energy is needed to exchange one share of carbinol energy; second, it is not clean: 8.25 tons of carbon dioxide will be emitted when one ton of coal-based carbinol is produced; namely, the emission level is several times that of refined gasoline; third, it will corrode machines: the engine might break down after running millions of kilometers; fourth, it is toxic; and fifth, it requires incredibly high investment in equipment. Besides, the most serious problem lies in the fact that coal is a kind of nonrenewable fossil energy itself. It was that producing 1 ton of coal-derived carbinol requires 1.6 tons of standard coal as raw materials, while the energy consumption contained in production process equals an energy consumption of 1.67 to 2 tons of standard coal. In addition, one ton of coal-derived carbinol requires 22 to 33 tons of consumptive water. This is a typical losing business. Carbinol-fueled vehicles have been proved a fiasco as early as in the 1980s. It is reported that the United States made a test to use carbinol as fuel for thirteen thousand cars and five hundred buses in California and built eighty gas stations. These carbinol gas stations were all shut off due to problems of corrosion, storage, and toxicity. This project in Los Angeles and Seattle was revoked after failure was caused by mechanical damage and frequent maintenance, among other reasons (http://www.lsccs. com/projects/bigsky/Final/Ch8.pdf). After conducting a ten-year test on fossil substitute fuel over nine fuel tankers in Stockholm in the 1980s, Sweden finally chose two biofuels, namely methane and ethanol, for further development. Nowadays, no country uses carbinol as transportation fuel due to technical hurdles. Then, is it reasonable for China to follow the old disastrous road at great environmental and economic cost? There must be some hidden facts behind such a strange choice. More irrational are the attempts of the “coal-to-liquids” project. At the end of 2007, a direct coal liquefaction project invested in by the Shenhua Group went into operation in Inner Mongol with an annual yield of 3.2 million tons, which is typically of lower efficiency (three to five tons of coal for production per one ton of oil), higher water consumption (ten tons of water consumed to produce one ton of oil), higher emission (carbon emission to be seven to ten times higher than that of refined crude oil), and higher input project. Problems that are more vexing are that since primary coal-producing areas concentrate on water-short north China, this one project alone will consume ten million tons of water an-

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nually, amounting to water enough to irrigate 5,333 ha (80,000 mu) of farmland. Other projects in Ningxia, Northern Shannxi, and Xinjiang are all battling for water with agriculture, which will cause a terrible ecological disaster in West China. By coincidence, in May 2007, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, in consideration of the global warming effect, vetoed by 20:3 the bill of producing twenty-two billion gallons of diesel with coal by 2022 and passed the Energy Independence and Security Act at the end of the same year with the target to develop thirty-six billion gallons of biofuel as of 2022. It is not difficult to find that two governments show totally different attitudes toward the development of coal-based liquefaction fuel. Tong Zhenhe, a Chinese Academician of Science, proposed his idea that “for the sake of energy security, it is advisable to substitute dimethyl ether/carbinol with import oil as our vehicle fuel” in a article titled “Reflections on Developing Non-Renewable Energy System in China” (Tong, 2008) in the eighteenth issue of the Suggestions of Chinese Academician of Sciences in 2008. Then my article (Shi, 2008) was published in the twentieth issue of the same magazine, airing my demurral to such an idea. It marked that the disputes on coal-based and bio-based products extended to academic circles in China. On the surface, it seems to be a dispute about which product is better to be adopted as an oil substitute. In essence, it is an ideological war over whether we should consume valuable coal resources at the expense of the environment, or to develop clean and renewable bio-based fuel; it is also a conflict of interest between coal bosses and farmers, since coal mining is too profitable to forfeit on the part of coal bosses.

14.4. GROUNDLESS CHARGE OF THREAT TO FOOD SECURITY In the autumn of 2006, the quantity of corn originated from the Jilin Province and made available on the market was decreased due to rising corn prices and the booming corn-processing industry in the province. However, one report was submitted to the State Council rebuking fuel ethanol as a “threat to national food security.” What an unguaranteed charge it was! Then, what is the truth? Jilin produced and processed 18 million and 6.5 million tons of corn in 2006, respectively, among which nine hundred thousand tons were used for fuel ethanol production, accounting for 14 percent and 5 percent of the total corn processing and output volume. Please refer to table 14.1 for detailed information about the main corn-processing enterprises in Jilin Province, as well as their products and processing capabilities. In 2005, total corn output in the nation

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Table 14.1. Major maize processing enterprises in Jilin Province (China’s numberone maize producer) and their products and processing capacity (104 ton)

Enterprises

Products

Changchun Dacheng Gongzhuling Songyuan Salishida Jilin fuel ethanol Jilin Dehui Zhengda feeds Siping Xintianlong liquor JianBiochemical Qianan ethanol Jilin Meihe Fukang ethanol Jilin Tianhe Industrial

Maize starches, lysine, starch paste HuanglongTM maize, starch syrup Maize starch, maize sugar Fuel ethanol Feedstuffs Edible alcohol Edible alcohol Edible alcohol Edible alcohol

Yearly Maize Processing Capacity 120 65 30 90 40 30 60 30 10

Note: Data from Bohai Futures Business Web, March 2006.

was 140 million tons, among which, 2.1 million tons were used for fuel ethanol, only accounting for 1.5 percent of the total output. There is no evidence showing that fuel ethanol compromised national food security. In contrast, in 2005 China exported four million tons of corn, twice that used for fuel ethanol production. Why didn’t anybody indict exported corn with the charge of threatening China’s food security? In the spring of 2007, the National Development and Reform Commission issued a document to ban approval of any corn ethanol project application. Sure, it is irreproachable for the precautions taken against possible problems, and the promulgation of the document was also a timely and wise move. But what has gone wrong is that bioenergy has been shadowed with the lingering charge of being a “threat to food security” onward. During the world food crisis during the first half of 2008, the United States was universally condemned for its corn-turned-ethanol production, while the scenery in China was quite upward. That was because that except for the sufficient stock brought by a good harvest, people in China also came to realize that endeavors to develop bioenergy did not pose a threat to food security. Though the food security crisis finally came to an end months later, a serious after effect was prevailing in the nation. For example, the output goal of fuel ethanol was cut down to two million tons from four million tons during the Eleventh Five-year Plan Period (2006–2010), and the true figure of output was even more dismal, at only two hundred thousand tons. In the very same five years, fuel ethanol production has been doubled in the United States, Brazil, and Europe, while it has remained unchanged in China. Among many factors affecting Chinese food security, the primary ones are the low income farmers gain from grain production and the conse-

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quential damped enthusiasm, shrunken farmland area, and compromised farmland quality. But, unfortunately, fuel ethanol has been mistakenly made a “scapegoat.”

14.5. TOTALLY DIFFERENT FATES In response to the sweeping world financial crisis, the Chinese government unveiled a four-trillion-RMB yuan package in 2008 to stimulate the economy. At first, ten industries were included into a specially tailored revitalization plan, and then they were followed by two new ones, including new energy. In face of the four trillion RMB yuan worth of supercake, no industry can stay calmed down. A battle for supercake can hardly be avoided. The New Energy Industry Revitalization Plan was brewing at the beginning of 2009. However, this good-intention initiative also gave rise to many unexpected phenomena. As the utmost authority for energy development in the nation, the National Energy Administration is expected to put national interests first and objectively put forward a well-conclusive guidance plan. Yet the gist of the newly released national Renewable Energy Medium-Term and Long-Term Development Plan was bypassed by the Draft for Comments of New Energy Industry Revitalization Plan, which was focused on wind energy and solar energy regardless of whether conditions are available. To this effect, major leaders talked about things such as “wind energy powered three gorges” and “new energy vehicle” at length with great enthusiasm. Similar publicity fever was also seen in the media from spring to summer with overwhelming reports about wind energy, solar energy, and the electric car. So it was no strange thing that entrepreneurs, who were driven by such publicity stunts, desperately ran after such “bright” directions with persistent “high fever.” In the meantime, bioenergy was put aside with little attention gained. So when the reporter from Xinhua News Agency confronted me with a forthright question in an interview, “Wind energy and solar energy are so hot now, whereas bioenergy is given little attention. What do you think about this?” My answer is: “It is extremely abnormal.” In October of 2009, the U.S.-China Strategic Forum on Clean Energy Cooperation, which was jointly held by the China Strategy and Management Institute and the U.S. Brookings Institution, was held in Beijing. At the beginning of the preparations, the Chinese energy authority only gave attention to wind energy, solar energy, new energy vehicles, and the cleaning application of coal, with bioenergy, the one the United States was most good at, excluded. Even the Chinese organizer felt that some-

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thing went wrong with the conference. After some surveys, bioenergy was extended with due attention at the event. Things changed abruptly in less than one year. Solar energy and wind energy bubbles began to burst. In fact, as early as January 2009, a monograph published in the British Nature magazine made it quite clear: “In May 2007, the Global Wind Energy Council, the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, and the China Wind Energy Association released a joint memorandum proposing improvements in the industry. More than a year and a half later, the concerns expressed in the memorandum have been borne out and the recommendations remain just as pertinent” (Nature 457, no. 7228 [January 22, 2009]: 357). The article also indicated that “the country also needs to significantly improve its grid, and to coordinate it with renewable-energy developments.” Unfortunately, Chinese energy officials turned deaf ears to these suggestions, acting recklessly for the unrealistically ambitious Wind Energy Powered Three Gorges Project. As a result of such haste, more than half of the newly built power grid net could not work soundly, and the grid system also suffered a lot. What’s more funny, in order to enhance the stability of the newly established power grid, it was strongly recommended to build a thermal power plant near the power station. If so, what does it mean to take so much trouble to produce a so-called clean substitution energy? Now, let’s turn to solar energy. By the time of the bubble burst, multicrystalline silicon production lines had been built in more than twenty provinces across the nation, with the provision capability twice as large as the global demand. In October 2009, Economic Reference Daily published an article titled “China’s PV Bubbles Burst: Hundred-Billion Worth of Investment Vaporized.” In addition, China Science and Technology Daily also published a signed article titled “Vexing Overcapacity of New Energy,” which warned that “China still relies on import for technologies like silicon purification, and key parts of fan equipment from monopolizing enterprises in the United States, Germany, Japan and other countries.” In September 2009, wind power and multicrystalline silicon were announced by the State Council as projects with an overcapacity and repeated construction. In less than one year, the bubbles of wind and solar energy burst. The errors did not lie with wind and solar energy themselves, but with the reckless and hasty way the less-prepared wind and solar energy projects were pushed. It did prove the saying of “more haste, less speed.” There is another interesting thing. Barack Obama announced in his inauguration speech that “we will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.” Here, “soil” apparently refers to land for biofuel production. But it was mistranslated as “geothermal”

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in some cases, and it was wrongly spread to the masses through media publicity. For example, in January 2009 China Science and Technology Daily published a long article titled “Green Economy Reshapes US: A Deep Insight Into Obama’s Energy Strategy” (Wu, 2009), in which sentences such as “US now engages itself in the development of solar, wind and geothermal energy” appeared frequently, with the connotations that the United States did not engage in biofuel yet. If you take a close look at the chapter 6 of this book, you will find that funny mistranslation and misinformation are also responsible for the wrong perception that biofuel only has a market in China. As the Chinese saying goes, “when you have bad luck, even water gets stuck in your teeth.” The year 2009 was really an “unlucky” year for bioenergy in China. The New Energy Industry Revitalization Plan, which was intended to be unveiled in 2009, failed to be made open to the public because of various reasons and differences in opinions. That year, the energy landscape changed a lot across the world. A good sign surfaced at the end of 2009. Premier Wen Jiabao made it clear in the Copenhagen Global Climate Change Conference: “China will encourage and support rural, remote and areas with suitable conditions to forcefully develop bioenergy, solar energy, geothermal energy, wind energy, and other kinds of new and renewable energy sources.” Such a declaration with biomass put in first place had been long gone. It indicated that the attitude toward biomass had become warmer. But it was sad to find that in information released later about the new energy industry, the cold attitude toward bioenergy still basically remained the same.

14.6. A THRESHOLD CANNOT BE BYPASSED On its journey exploring substitution energies for fossil energy, China turned to coal, methanol/dimethyl ether, wind energy/solar energy, and new energy vehicles successively on a whim, with bioenergy being bypassed on purpose. Here these gentlemen will be told in a clear-cut manner: bioenergy is a significant threshold China cannot afford to bypass. First, it is a “resource threshold.” There are 2.15 billion tons of standard coal equivalent of clean energy (with solar excluded) available in China each year. Among them, water power accounts for 27.2 percent, wind power for 15.5 percent, and biomass for 54.5 percent. Is it possible for China to ignore such a big quantity of biomass while developing clean energy? Second, it is the “best threshold.” Vehicle fuel registers the quickest growth in the world. Europe, the United States, and Brazil all have proven an irreversible trend that biological fuel is the best and even the

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only substitute for fossil fuel. Can China, a nation that is extremely deficient in oil resources and needs to rely on oil imports to satisfy its huge fuel consumption, abandon biofuel and turn to other infeasible ways? Is it feasible for China to turn to coal-based methanol and coal-powered electric cars, to substitute old fossil energy with new fossil energy? Third, it is an “agriculture, rural area and farmer problem threshold.” Bioenergy is a good way to increase farmers’ income, promote rural industrialization and urbanization, and stimulate the surplus labor force flow in nearby regions, since both the cultivation of raw material for biomass energy as well as the manufacturing of bioenergy are basically conducted by the rural labor force in rural areas. As for solving the problems facing China’s agriculture, if rural areas and farmers are the most important task of the CCP, and implementing “coordinated development of urban and rural areas and promoting agricultural development based on industrial strength” are the guidelines we should stick to, is it possible for Chinese energy officials and think tanks to continuously ignore the existence of eight hundred million farmers and these pressing issues any more, to bypass bioenergy any more? Fourth, it is an “environmental threshold.” According to a national pollution census report released in 2009, agricultural pollution, including livestock and poultry excrement, burned crop straw, excessive use of fertilizer, and others, had become the main pollution source in China, and it took up 57 percent, 60 percent, and 48 percent of the total COD, phosphorus, and nitrogen discharge in the nation. Is it possible for us to leave these environmental problems unsolved for long? Is there anything better for us to do with such agricultural pollution if we forsake the manufacture of bioenergy? Fifth, it is a “rural energy threshold.” Along with the modernization of China’s agriculture sector and the improvement of farmers’ living standards, rural areas will become the largest market for energy consumption in the nation, with the fastest growing pace. Can coal, oil, and natural gas be sufficient enough to make up such a huge energy demand gap in China’s rural areas? If bioenergy is neglected, is there any other better way out of the plight? Sixth, it is a “biobased product threshold.” One advantage of the coal chemical industry and petrochemical industry is that it can produce thousands of energy and nonenergy material products, while water energy, wind energy, solar energy, nuclear energy, and hydrogen energy cannot produce these plastic and chemical raw materials as well as other material products. So, the biomass industry is the only option to compete with the chemical industry and petrochemical industry in this sense. As to the six thresholds mentioned above, which one can China afford to bypass?

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14.7. WHY IS BIOENERGY DISFAVORED IN CHINA? I once wrote in an article in 2008, “biofuel is like a talented child, treated with great favors in other countries, but little love in China” (Shi, 2008). Why does China remain quite aloof toward bioenergy? I have been left quite confused about such a scene. Is it out of fear of food security? No! It is proved a groundless old story. Is it because the subsidy given to the biofuel sector by the nation stays too high? No! It is a natural thing for emerging industry to gain necessary policy support during its initial development stage. Besides, the subsidy given to biofuel is far lower than those extended to solar energy and wind energy. Is it because the domestic technology and equipment are not mature enough? No. China has mature technologies for bioenergy production with all equipment well made domestically, while key technologies and raw materials for wind and solar energy production would heavily rely on foreign countries. Is the raw material for bioenergy development not enough in China? No. China’s raw material resource for bioenergy development is many times more than that for wind energy and solar energy development. It is really hard for me to find valid technical factors to explain away such disfavor. So I only can turn to social and economic realms to find out the underlying reasons. While China is advancing along the path of industrialization and market economy, two kinds of people play key roles in policy making. One is senior officials of government authorities; another is executives of central government-run enterprises and state-owned enterprises. These people share complicated yet close bonds on rights and interests. Some of them are vested-interest gainers with proindustry and procity ideology. It is a common scene in China that central government-run and state-owned enterprises are often in the control of cheap natural resources such as coal, oil, and natural gas in the nation, and meanwhile they are given the privilege of participating in policymaking, and they monopolize the market. So they are in such a great position to make handsome profits in an easy way. Lured by easy and huge money, they do not care about such things as producing one portion of oil with the dear investment of six portions of coal; the horrible emission of large amounts of greenhouse gas; the severe water shortage in desert regions that contend for water with agriculture and ecology; and the threatened national energy independence and security. If the essence of the rivalry between coal-based and biological-based products is the interest conflicts between coal bosses and farmers, then the essence of seriously unbalanced policies toward wind energy (solar energy) and bioenergy indicate the government authorities’ preference to the interests of industry bosses in manufacturing sectors over farmers.

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Some local high-ranking officials are not interested in the idea of cultivating inexhaustible, independent, and safe “biomass oil fields” across the vast land of China. Rather, they prefer the fast and convenient way to climb to the higher ladder of official position by engaging in the shortcut of industrial manufacturing. In their minds, bioenergy is the business of central government; they have nothing to do with it in spite of its merits in alleviating the predicaments China encounters in terms of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers and in improving the living conditions of eight hundred million farmers. Maybe, they might show certain interests to bioenergy, but such interests only last a short period of time, far less than their persistent interests to coal mine exploitation regardless of the successive mortal accidents resulted from such risky activities. What is more fulsome is that they will resort to a variety of groundless pretexts—such as resources scarcity, inconvenience for collection due to dispersed raw material, threat to food security, poor economic efficiency, immature technique, low gain compared with high investment, different opinions and so on—to justify their ignorance of bioenergy. They use these could-be-solved or have-been-solved technical problems (please refer to chapters 17 to 21 of this book) to confuse the public and to deny the validity of bioenergy so as to safeguard their own interests and be free from problem solving. When it comes to the groundless “food security,” they show great “concerns” toward the country and countrymen. When it comes to the low energy density of biomass, they speak at length and eloquently. When it comes to the merits brought by bioenergy, such as enhanced income to farmers, they say the government can extend farmers with subsidies through other means. In sum, they have been accustomed to usurp as much advantage for their personal interests as possible while leaving all problems and troubles to the state and common people to solve. As the saying goes, “an error needs three errors to patch up.” One error made concerning wind and solar energy development in the Eleventh Five-Year Period needs to be patched up by three errors made in the Twelfth Five-Year Period so as to prove that “I am right in neglecting biomass development.” Why do science and truth become so pale and helpless when confronted with power and interest?

14.8. HORSE TALENT SCOUT AND SWIFT HORSE Han Yu, the famous literary man in ancient China, once wrote an article “About Horse,” in his book The Miscellaneous. The general idea of the story is as follows:

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A thoroughbred horse with great stamina had a huge appetite. However, the horse feeder, who had a lack of right knowledge about this fact, often made the unusual horse half filled. So the horse could not well develop due to malnutrition. The horse trainer did not master the right training method either. He failed to catch the messages conveyed by the whinny of the unusual horse. Standing in front of the unusual horse, the smug horse trainer signed: “There is no Swift Horse at all!”

After telling the story, Han Yu sighed with a conclusion that the “swift horse will not be distinguished from ordinary horses without the good judgment of the horse talent scout. The Swift Horse is common compared with the hard-to-find horse talent scout.” Then, when does bioenergy meet its hard-to-find talent scout in China? I cannot help feeling sad about the fact!

REFERENCES Shi, Y. C. “Debate over Coal- and Bio-Based Energy with Academician Tong Zhenhe.” Suggestions of Chinese Academician of Sciences 20 (2008). Shi, Y. C. “Food! Oil! Biofuel?” China Science and Technology Daily, June 8, 2008. Tong, Z. H. “Reflections on Developing Non-Renewable Energy System in China.” Suggestions of Chinese Academician of Sciences 18 (2008). White House. Office of the Press Secretary. Executive Order 13134: Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy, 1999. Accessed August 2010. http:// ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/eos/eo13134.html. Wu, J. D. “Green Economy Reshapes US: a Deep Insight Into Obama’s Energy Strategy.” China Science Times, January 20, 2009. Xia, Zhiquan. Essential Ancient Chinese Prose. Jilin Photograph Press, 2003. (In Chinese)

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15

Biomass Resources in China (I)

All things under the sun are born from being, and being is born of nothing. —Laotze Land is the source of all production and existence. —Karl Marx

R

aw material is the basis of industry development, and biomass industry is even more dependent on raw material. Since land is the source of raw material and different land will give rise to different raw material, it is necessary for us to have a clear knowledge about the amount and distribution of biomass resource available on different lands before engaging ourselves in biomass development. Biomass industry is a newborn industry; only very few researches have been made for such critical information. In order to give the reader a more comprehensive idea, I have introduced the prediction made about global biomass resource by Edward Smeets from Holland in chapter 4 of this book (Smeets et al., 2004), and the research done by the USDE and USDA on the technical feasibility of one billion tons of annual supply of biomass resource by U.S. native land in chapter 6. The data on China’s biomass resources come from parts of research results I gained in 2006 from the key advisory project held by the China Academy of Engineering (CAE) on China’s renewable energy and its subproject on bioenergy, for which I was responsible 299

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(SRRCRE, 2008). Biomass resources, classified into agricultural and forestry organic waste, marginal land, and energy plants, are described in chapters 15 and 16, respectively. In spite of my best efforts in collecting data available on China’s biomass resource, such data only can produce a primary picture about China’s biomass resource landscape, since these data are different in original source, collection time, statistical method, and completeness.

SECTION I. AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY ORGANIC WASTE RESOURCE Cycling is the basic movement form of material in nature. China’s traditional agriculture is a kind of biological cycling system that has lasted for thousands of years and has been participated in by human beings. On the one hand, people plant crops, feed animals, and serve food for themselves; on the other hand, people return almost all residues (biological materials) such as crop straw, human and animal excrement, burned ash, and kitchen waste to the soil directly or indirectly. In this cycling, even the human body itself is returned to the soil after its demise, as Chinese culture values the idea that the deceased rest in peace under the soil. Traditional agriculture is a kind of closed system, in which material and energy are cycled in a permanent way. Except for solar energy, no external energy and material are introduced into the closed system. In modern agriculture, crop yield increases greatly as the result of external materials and energies input into the once-closed system, such as chemical fertilizer, pesticides, tractors, electricity, plastic film, and more. At the same time, more “waste material” and “pollutant” such as crop straws, animal manure, organic wastewater, and solids also come into being. The mission of biomass industry is to bring such “waste material” and “pollutants” into a new round of cycling aided by modern technologies. This is a feat of turning mortal into miracle. Then how many “mortal” are left untapped in China? And how many “miracles” can be created by biomass industry?

15.1. CROP STRAW Here are two problems to be solved: first, how many crop straws will be produced annually in China; and second, what are these straws used for? In fact, crop straw resources can be estimated in a quite accurate way, because there is a certain proportional relationship between the economic yield of grain, cotton, root stock, and the straws, which is called

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the “ratio of grain to straw” in agronomy. As there are national statistics released on various crop yields annually, it is easy for us to calculate the amount and type of all kinds of crop straws. This book discusses two datasets on crop straw yield. One is the data worked out by the CAE’s key advisory project on renewable energy, which I participated in in 2008 (SRRCRE, 2008), and the other is the newest data released by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2010. The first dataset is listed in table 15.1 and figure 15.1. The total yield of nine main crop straws in China in 2007 is 704 million tons. The top four crops are corn, wheat, rice, and oil crop, with an annual yield standing at 305, 149, 116, and 51 million tons, respectively. The calorific value of straws of the top four crops and other crops are 161, 75, 50, 27, and 42 million tons of standard coal equivalent, respectively. The total energy yield of various crop straws is 355 million tons of standard coal equivalent, of which corn straw contributes 45.5 percent of the total energy yield. The major crop straw regions are identical with the major grain regions, with Henan, Shandong, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Jilin, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, and Inner Mongolia ranked as the top ten provinces, mostly concentrated in the eastern part of China. Crop straws are mainly used for five purposes in China; namely, returning to the field, feedstuff, industrial raw material, firewood, and burning in the field. According to some special-purpose researches, crop straw returned to the field as manure accounts for 15 percent of the total crop straw (Li Jingjing, 1998); crop straw burning in the field amounts Table 15.1.

Crop Rice Wheat Maize Minor grains Peas and beans Tubers Oil crops Cotton Sugarcane Total

Straw outputs and heat generation for nine major crops in 2007 Standard Coal Equivalent

Crop Output (104 ton)

GraintoStraw Ratio

104 Ton

18,603 10,930 15,230 869

1:0.623 1:1.366 1:2.0 1:1

11,590 14,930 30,460 869

16.5 21.2 43.3 1.2

0.429 0.5 0.529 0.50

4,972 7,465 16,113 435

14.0 21.0 45.5 1.2

Straw Output %

Conversion Factor to Standard Coal

104 Ton

%

1,720

1:1.5

2,580

3.7

0.543

1,401

3.9

2,808 2,569 762 11,295 —

1:0.5 1:2.0 1:3.0 1:0.1 —

1,404 5,137 2,287 1,130 70,387

2.0 7.3 3.2 1.6 100.0

0.486 0.529 0.543 0.441 —

682 2,718 1,242 498 35,529

1.9 7.6 3.5 1.4 100.0

Note: Crop output is from China Agriculture Statistical Yearbook 2008. Straw of sugarcane is the leaf part. The conversion factor to standard coal is from SRRCRE, 2008.

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Figure 15.1. Share of nine major crops in energy generation capacity by crop straws and stalks in China in 2007. (SRRCRE, 2008)

to 110 million tons (Wang, 2006); 48.33 percent of domestic energy consumption in Chinese rural households is powered by crop straw (Kou et al., 2008); and 117 million tons of straw are consumed as cow feedstuff annually (SRRCRE, 2008). As to paper making in 2007, the yield of paper and paper pulp was 73.5 and 59.35 million tons, respectively; nonwood (rice and wheat straws, and sugarcane dregs) paper pulp was 13.02 million tons, about 2 percent of the total straw yield (SRRCRE, 2008). The data shown above is only the results of some single-item researches. In the 1990s, project specialists from the Ministry of Agriculture of China and the Department of Energy of the United States coconducted a comprehensive survey on the availability of biomass resources in China, with the prediction that by 2010, Chinese grain and straw yields would reach 0.56 and 0.72 billion tons, respectively, of which 28 million tons of straw will be used for paper making, 113 million tons for feedstuff, 108.9 million tons for returning to the field, and 470.1 million tons for the energy supply, accounting for 3.9 percent, 15.7 percent, 15.1 percent, and 65.3 percent of total straw yield, respectively. With the above data taken into consideration, I would like to propose the percentages of the five usages of crop straw as follows: 15 percent for straw returned to the field, 20 percent for feedstuff, 4 percent for industrial raw material, 45 percent for firewood, and 16 percent for burning in the field. Based on this suggested proportion, 61 percent of 704 million tons of straw generated from nine main crops could be used for energy resource in 2007; namely, 430 million tons of straw are available as biomass resource without changing the current straw usage pattern. The second dataset originated from the special survey report made by the Ministry of Agriculture on China’s crop straws in 2010. According to the report, China harvested 820 million tons of crop straw in 2009, of

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which 75 percent was from corn, rice, and wheat. The collectable straw resource totalled 687 million tons, of which 50 percent, about 344 million tons, could be used for energy resource. Straw used for feedstuff, returned to the field, firewood, burning in the field, paper making, and food-fungi cultivation was 30.7 percent, 14.8 percent, 18.7 percent, 31.3 percent, 2 percent, and 2 percent, respectively. The main difference between the two datasets was that the percentage of straw used for feedstuff as defined by the second set of data is 10 percent higher than that defined in the first set of data, while the percentage of straw used for firewood and burning in the field as defined by the second set of data is 10 percent less than that defined in the first set of data.

15.2. ANIMAL MANURE The quantity of animal manure was calculated by multiplying collectable manure produced per animal each year with the number of animals raised per year. The main collectable manure resource was produced by cows, pigs, and chickens. The data shown in table 15.2 are calculated by the method mentioned above. In 2007, the total amount of animal manure was 1.247 billion tons, and the collectable amount was 0.884 billion tons. To put it more specifically, the manure quantity produced by cows, pigs, and chickens Table 15.2.

Feces of cattle, pigs, and chickens, and recoverable resources in 2007

Item Weight (kg) livestock offtake cycle (day) Feces per day (kg cap–1) Feces per year (ton cap–1) Feeding capacity (104) Feces resources (104 year–1) Feces collection coefficient Collectable feces (104 ton) a. dry matter content (%) b. standard coal conversion factor** c. postconversion standard coal (104 ton) Total postconversion standard coal (104 ton)

Cattle

Pig

Meat Chicken

Egg Chicken

500 365 20 7.3 10,595* 77,343 0.60 46,406 18 0.471

50 150 4 0.6 56,508 33,905 1.00 33,905 20 0.429

1.5 60 0.1 0.006 72,6438 4,359 0.60 2,615 80 0.643

1.5 365 0.1 0.0365 24,8046* 9,054 0.60 5,432 80 0.643

3,934.2

2,909.0

1,345.3

2,794.2

10,982.7

Note: * is livestock storage ; ** conversion factor is summed by conversion factors of various types in the China Energy Statistical Yearbook.

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was 0.464, 0.339, and 0.08 billion tons, respectively. The annual energy value of manure produced by cows, pigs, and chickens was 13,799, 12,545, and 18,817 kJ/kg, equivalent to 39.34, 29.09, and 41.39 million tons of standard coal equivalent, respectively. The top eight provinces with the richest animal manure resources are Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Sichuan, Hunan, Yunnan, Jilin, and Hubei. The total manure resources available in the top eight provinces are 58.15 million tons standard coal equivalent, accounting for 52.9 percent of the energy yield of animal manure in the nation. Please refer to table 15.3 for detailed information. How animal manure is collected and used has a great thing to do with the collectable amount of animal manure. For example, pigs are usually raised in enclosures by rural households. Thanks to billions of subsidies given to rural households for biogas application systems by the government each year, the scattered pig manure can be collected in a thorough way, with no resource wasted in reality. There are several forms of biogas application systems prevailing in rural areas, namely, “One newly-built biogas tank and innovated pig pen, lavatory, and kitchen,” “Four in One” (an integrated system of lavatory, pig pen, biogas tank, and greenhouse), and “Pig-Biogas-Fruit System,” and more. By the end of 2008, there were 28.57 million family biogas tanks available in China, and 2,761 large-scale biogas tanks (digestion tank volume > 1,000 m3) built in livestock farms (according to data released by the Technology Centre of Energy and Environment Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture in 2009). At present, large-scale livestock farms only constitute a small proportion in China. But in the long run, there will be a large amount of manure resources available from the middle- and large-scale livestock farms in Guangdong, Shandong, Henan, and Hebei provinces, with manure resources expected to reach 1,158,500, 1,133,800, 1,037,300, and 700,600 tons Table 15.3. Nationwide and top-eight provinces in animal feces resource in 2007 (standard coal 104 ton) Region National total Henan Shandong Hebei Sichuan Hunan Yunnan Jilin Hubei

Cattle Feces*

Pig Feces

Commercial Chicken Feces

Egg Chicken Feces

Total

3,934.2 382.8 211.9 176.4 365.8 151.4 269.5 200.3 116.5

2,909.0 231.1 188.1 152.6 309.4 248.0 130.6 60.3 161.2

1,363.6 85.6 298.5 57.3 59.9 52.3 12.9 66.7 22.8

2,794.2 422.5 363.2 606.1 108.7 49.8 29.4 100.3 122.7

10,982.7 1,121.9 1,061.8 992.4 843.8 501.5 442.4 427.6 423.3

Note: Data is derived from the China Animal Husbandry Statistical Yearbook 2008; * is derived from the China Statistical Yearbook 2008.

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of standard coal equivalent, respectively. The manure resource produced by these four provinces will be about 40 percent of the total national yield. The middle- and large-scale livestock farms are mostly located in the rural-urban fringe areas. While nearly 70 percent of them are located in eastern coast regions and areas adjacent to big cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, about 23 percent and 7 percent of them are located in the middle and western parts of China. Large-scale livestock farms are the most important bases for biogas industry development.

15.3. FORESTRY RESIDUE Forestry residues that can be used as biomass resources include logging residues, wood processing wastes, and pruning residues; namely, the socalled forestry “three residues.” Comparing Notice of the State Council on the Approval and Transmission of Logging Quotas during the 10th Five-Year Plan Period and 11th Five-Year Plan Period (hereinafter referred as Notice for short) by the State Bureau of Forestry, and the results of the fifth and the sixth national forestry resources statistic investigation, we can find that the national annual logging quota of man-made forest increased by 70.872 million m3, while the national annual logging quota of natural forest decreased by 45.819 million m3, the national annual logging quota of commercial timber increased by 41.795 million m3, and the national annual logging quota of noncommercial timber increased by 16.742 million m3. According to the Notice, the logging residue and wood processing waste should be around 74.64 to 80.56 million tons, equal to 42.55 to 45.92 million tons of standard coal (table 15.4). Another source of forestry residues is the pruning residues from the fuel forest, timber forest, shrub forest, open forest, and firewood. By reference to the ratio of collectable firewood to firewood yielding in different regions and forests (table 15.5) (Yuan et al., 2005), the national firewood resource could be calculated based on the type and area of forests in all provinces. According to the method, the annual national firewood yielding is 52.393 million tons, or 48.126 million tons if the collectable firewood was deduced from the total amount. The top ten provinces with rich firewood yielding are Yunnan, Sichuan, Xizang, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Inner Mongolia, Fujian, and Heilongjiang, and the firewood yielding of the top four provinces account for 39 percent of the total firewood yielding in the nation (CSFA, 2005). In summary, among forestry residue, the sum of logging residue and wood processing waste was 77.60 million tons, which could be converted to 44.23 million tons of standard coal (according to the average value during the Tenth (2001–2005) and Eleventh (2006–2010) Five-Year Plan periods);

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12304 9983 4523 14506

22310 15770 9046 24816

—

63.3 50.0

—

59.9 50.0

—

40 40

—

40 40

Processing Outturn Percentage (%)

10310

5787 4523

10007

4647 5360

Logging Leftover (104 m3)

5802

3993 1809

4921

2777 2144

Processing Leftover (104 m3)

16112

9780 6332

14928

7424 7504

104 m3

8056

4890 3166

7464

3712 3752

104 ton

Total Leftover

4592

2787 1805

4255

2116 2139

Standard Coal (104 ton)

[AQ: Need number for Chinese character in the heading timber output.]

Note: 1. Average volume density of timber is set as 0.5 g cm-3. 2. The method to estimate the forestry residues was: logging residues was the part other than the timber; the commercial timber ratio was determined with the method of the regional annual logging limit set by the National Forestry Bureau and approved by the State Council; and the noncommercial timber included mainly the peasant self-used timber and firewoods, here set as 50 percent, and maybe making the residue ratio a little small. 3. Here the ratio of timber product to raw timber was set to 40 percent. But both in the producing systems of within-plan and out-of-plan, a large part of the matching residues was reused to produce non-single-plate man-made board, which was raw material of cellulose board and flake board, and others. Here this situation was not considered, and all matching residue was treated as biomass resource, making the estimation a little bigger. 4. Timber’s low-heat value was set to 16748 kJ/kg (4000 kCal/kg). The converting ratio of timber to standard coal was set to 0.57.

6944 5360

Timber Output/ (104 m3)

11590 10720

Logging Volume (104 m3)

Logging Outturn Percentage (%)

Timber logging quota and estimates on logging and processing leftovers in the period 2001–2005 and 2006–2010

2001–2005 Commercial timber Noncommercial timber Total 2006–2010 Commercial timber Noncommercial timber Total

Item

Table 15.4.

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Table 15.5. Ratio of collectable firewood and firewood yielding in different regions and forests (Yuan et al., 2005) (kg km–2) China South Type Firewood Timber Shelter Shrubs Thin forest Four-side trees*

Plain Region

China North

Firewood Factor

Firewood Ratio

Firewood Factor

Firewood Ratio

Firewood Factor

Firewood Ratio

1.0 0.5 0.2 0.5 0.5 1.0

7500 750 375 750 1200 2 kg plant–1

1.0 0.7 0.5 0.7 0.7 1.0

7500 750 375 750 1200 2 kg plant–1

1.0 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 1.0

3750 600 375 750 1200 2 kg plant–1

Note: * refers to trees planted at village sides, house sides, roadsides, and watersides.

the amount of firewood was 48.13 million tons, equal to 27.43 million tons of standard coal; the total amount of these two parts was 125.73 million tons, equal to 71.66 million tons of standard coal. This figure was lower than both the data provided by Yuan Zhenhong and the data released by the article “China’s Fledging Energy Industry” in New Energy magazine (namely, the annual firewood logging quota should be set at 158 million tons, equal to 90.06 million tons of standard coal). However, the latest data as released by the China State Forestry Administration (CSFA, 2008) was much higher than the above level; namely, the annual sum of “three residues” is up to two hundred million tons, with logging residues, timber processing residues, and waste and old timber standing at 110, 30, and 60 million tons, respectively. According to the opinion of Professor Yan Ma from the Northeast Forestry University in 2009, the woodland residues would be as high as 489 million tons, while the wood processing waste and urban reclaimed timber waste would be fifteen and thirty million tons, respectively (Ma, 2009). Taking all of the above-mentioned data into consideration, I would like to propose the lowest set of data for the “three residues” at 125.14 million tons, equaling to 71.66 million tons of standard coal.

15.4. INDUSTRIAL AND URBAN ORGANIC WASTE Except for the industry-sourced heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, and chromium, and the agriculture-sourced eutrophic materials, the most common and harmful pollutant sources to water were organic waste water and solid dregs from the food and agricultural processing industry as well as the organic pollutants from urban waste water. The decomposition of these organic wastes by microorganisms under anaerobic condition needs to consume large amounts of oxygen in the air, thus the

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chemical oxygen demand (COD) was used as an indicator of pollution. However, these organic pollutants have great potential to turn into highquality energy material resource and a nutrient resource for plants after going through hazard-free and recycling treatments. Light industries such as grain milling, plant oil refining, sugar making, animal slaughtering, aquatic products processing, vegetable and fruit processing, food processing, starch making, alcohol making, wine brewing, and paper making all should be held responsible for the emission of large amounts of organic waste water and solid dregs. The production value of the above-mentioned eleven industries was 2,970 billion RMB yuan in 2007, accounting for 39 percent of the total light industry production value that year. Since the organic waste type and collection of discharged materials vary greatly with different industries, it is hard to estimate the organic waste emitted by different industries. Therefore, this book chose to adopt the estimation proposed by Ying Liu that the organic waste emitted by the Chinese agricultural product processing industry is sufficient to produce 50 billion m3 of biogas, equaling to thirty-five million tons of standard coal (Liu, 2005). The industrial organic wastes have such strengths as being easy for collection due to high concentration, compatible with environment protection initiatives, and equipped with matured treatment techniques. If backed by sound technique, advanced equipment, sufficient funds, and favorable policy, the industrial organic wastes can turn out to be an important material resource of bioenergy. The second source is urban organic wastes. According to the China Statistical Yearbook 2008, China removed and treated 152 million tons of urban trash in 2007, with the hazard-free trash treatment rate up to 62 percent. Specifically speaking, 82 percent, 15 percent, and 3 percent of urban trash in China is buried, burned, and made into fertilizer for treatment. Besides, twenty-five million tons of excrement (equalling to 2.67 million tons of standard coal) was removed and treated in 2007, with the treatment ratio up to 36 percent. Organic waste accounts for 25 to 30 percent of urban trash, mainly constituted by kitchen residues, including about 2.5 million tons of waste oil. At present, the energy use rate of urban trash in China was very low. Urban trash and its treatment are complicated. Electricity generated from trash is under progress, and techniques to collect kitchen waste oil and transform it into biofuel were quite mature overseas, especially in Japan. It is relatively simple to clean and transport excrement, so its treatment ratio is high. The treated excrement can be used as raw material for biogas production, and the production residue can be used to produce organic fertilizer, too. According to the China Statistical Yearbook 2008, 152

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Biomass Resources in China (I) Table 15.6.

Provinces Country total Guangdong Heilongjiang Shandong Jiangsu Zhejiang Liaoning Henan Shanghai Hebei Hubei

309

Top ten provinces in municipal solid waste Transportation Amount of Municipal Solid Waste

Standard Coal Equivalent if Calorie Value Is 5,000 Kilo Joule kg–1

Standard Coal Equivalent if Calorie Value Is 6,300 Kilo Joule kg–1

15,214.5 1838.8 963.2 945.0 898.4 772.0 771.4 737.5 690.7 686.5 673.2

2,599.0 313.3 164.5 161.4 153.5 131.9 131.8 126.0 118.0 117.3 115.0

3,274.7 394.7 207.3 203.4 193.4 166.2 166.0 158.7 148.7 147.8 144.9

Note: Transportation amount of municipal solid waste is from China Statistical Yearbook 2008.

million tons of urban trash was removed and disposed of in 2007 in the nation, equaling to 25.99 million tons of standard coal. The top ten provinces were Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Henan, Shanghai, Hebei, and Hubei, with the treatment amount accounting for 59 percent of the national total (table 15.6). According to data provided by Professor Xu Cheng (please refer to chapter 21 of this book), the wastewater emitted from industrial presence and urban cities was 55.7 billion tons in 2007, with COD amount up to twenty million tons. Theoretically speaking, 11 billion m3 of biogas could be produced from such waste water each year. Besides, around nine billion of landfill gas (containing 55 percent of methane) can be produced from 120 million tons (data for the year 2000, dry mass weight) of urban trash buried in landfills each year. It equals to 5 billion m3 of natural gas containing 97 percent of methane. It was predicted that by 2020, the urban trash landfill capacity would rise to four hundred million tons. If fully explored, it can produce 16 billion m3 of landfill gas (as an alternative to natural gas).

15.5. SUMMARY OF ORGANIC WASTE RESOURCES We have introduced the calculation methods and results of crop straw, animal manure, forestry residue, and industrial and urban organics in the above sections. Now, I would like to condense these calculation results into table 15.7 for this section.

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Table 15.7. Available and generated organic wastes and their standard coal equivalent in China (based on data of 2007) Annual Generation Amount (108 ton)

Types of Waste Crop straws and stalks Animal feces Logging and processing leftovers Silviculture residues Industrial organic wastes Municipal organic wastes Total

Annual Recoverable Amount Standard Coal (108 ton)

Share in Total (%)

Actual

Standard Coal Conversion

Recoverable Rate %

7.04

3.55

60

4.22

2.13

55.6

8.84* 0.78

1.10 0.44

70 90

6.19 0.70

0.77 0.40

20.1 10.4

0.48

0.27

80

0.38

0.22

5.7

—

0.35

80

—

0.28

7.3

1.52

0.26

10

0.16

0.03

0.9

18.66

5.97

—

11.65

3.83

100.0

Actual (108 ton)

Note : * is the collectible amount.

The basic situation of organic wastes resources in China (with data in 2007) can be summed up as follows: First, the actual yield of organic waste in China is 1.866 billion tons, equaling to 597 million tons of standard coal; the usable amount of organic waste is 1.165 billion tons, equaling to 0.383 billion tons of standard coal and one-seventh of the national primary energy consumption in 2007. Of the organic wastes, 75.7 percent is generated from agriculture, 16.1 percent from forestry, and 8.2 percent from industrial activities and urban cities, respectively. The annual energy yielding of various organic wastes is ranked as follows: crop straw, animal manure, forest logging and processing residue, industry organic waste, forest pruning residue, and urban organic waste. The six types of organic wastes, though varied in quantity and traits, can be developed separately without any contradiction occurred to each other. Second, these organic wastes seem to be sporadically distributed, but they are concentrated to a certain degree. For example, crop straws are mainly seen in grain-producing regions, animal manures in livestock farms, forest residues in woodlands, industrial organic wastes in agricultural and forestry products processing factories, and organic trash in ur-

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ban areas. Even the excrement of pigs and the kitchen residues in a farmer’s family can be used as raw material for household biogas production. Such loosely concentrated organic wastes are ideal for small- and middlescale development activities and are conducive to the industrialization of the countryside and urbanization of small- and middle-sized towns in China. Far from being disadvantageous, it is an advantage indeed.

SECTION II. MARGINAL LANDS RESOURCES The sceptics about bioenergy development in China have two “hard knots” to unknot. One is the concern for the “threat to food security,” which has been unknotted gradually; the other is the concern for the “shortage in land resources,” which is still unloosened yet. In China, the impression of arable land scarcity and back-up land shortage is so deeply rooted among public. Therefore, it is natural for public to doubt whether there is enough land to support biomass industry. Of course, this is a justifiable question. The people who hold stubborn objections against or look down on biomass industry pay excessive attention to the “hard knot.” Then, what is the crux of the problem? If we are only focused on how much “arable land” we have, then land shortage will become a bleak reality we cannot ignore. But if we uphold a new “land viewpoint” and cast our sight to “marginal land,” we will have a totally different scene. Originally as a concept of economics, “marginal land” refers to the land of which the production outcome can only offset the production cost, with land rent left unaffordable. In this case, “marginal land” refers to infertile land with low productivity or an untapped land of good quality. Far from those common crops that cannot survive in infertile lands, biomass plants have strong resistance against adversity and can grow well in those barren lands, including wild grassland, saline and alkaline land, tidal-flat land, sandy land, arid land, dry land, waterlogged land, and cold lowland. The great adaptability of biomass plants makes high yield and high income from low-quality land a thing of reality, ending the spell of “unaffordable rent.” If reinspecting land resources in China from this new marginal land viewpoint, we will be passionate to seek out such marginal lands in the way of Columbus’s discovery of the New Continent. Then, where are these marginal lands? First, it can be found among unused lands and biomass-crop suitable lands; second, it can be discovered among arable lands for nongrain production with low quality and low productivity. Fortunately, the Ministry of Land Resources and the National Forestry Administration can provide us with detailed data in this regard. In short, we will follow two paths for this purpose—one is to figure out how many

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lands are suitable for agriculture and forest cultivation among usable but unused lands, namely the so-called to-be-exploited lands; the second is to figure out how many lands can be used for energy plant cultivation among the existing forest and arable lands, namely the so-called underexploitation land. I would like to explore the two paths more thoroughly in the following sections.

15.6. HOW MANY USABLE BUT UNUSED LANDS ARE SUITABLE FOR AGRICULTURE CULTIVATION? According to the report of the Ministry of Land Resources, “by the end of October 31, 1996, un-used lands in China was 245.09 million ha, in which 24.6 percent was suitable-to-use lands, and other was difficult-to-use lands” (Li, 2000). This statement gave us a clue, that we can separate the “usable but unused” lands from the “difficult-to-use and unused” lands in the first place. In 2002, the Ministry of Land Resources again gave out more detailed information that there are 88.74 million ha of “usable but unused” lands in China. In its survey report on the alteration of the landuse purpose released in 2003, the Ministry of Land Resources further put forward that, among the 88.74 million ha of “usable but unused” lands, 7.344 million ha are agriculturally cultivatable land with good natural condition (Wen, 2005). By then, China’s “usable but unused” lands are grouped into 156.35 million ha of “difficult-to-use” land, 88.74 million ha of “usable” land, and 7.344 million ha of agriculturally cultivatable land. The 88.74 million ha of “usable” lands mainly included wild grassland, saline and alkaline land, tidal-flat land, swampland, barren land, and another six types of unused lands. The report in 2003 defined such lands as follows: Wild grassland: canopy density < 10 percent, soil material at top layer with weeds grown at surface; Saline and alkaline land: salts and alkalis accumulated on the surface, only suitable for naturally salt-resistant plants; Tidal-flat land: tidal-invaded coast terrain between high and low tidal zones, or the bottomland between the ordinary and floodwater level zones; Swampland: with three-fourths land surface covered or soiled with water, suitable for the cultivation of hygrophytes; Barren land: soillike material at the top layer, basically no vegetation covered at the surface Other unused land: alpine cold wild land, tundra, and others.

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Among the six types of usable but unused lands, the main types are wild grassland and saline and alkaline land, 52 percent and 11 percent of the total, respectively. As for the geographic distribution, 54 percent was in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, 12 percent in the loess plateau. Provinces with one to three million ha of usable but unused lands were Hubei, Henan, Gansu, and Sichuan (Wen, 2005). China, a country with long coastline, has 1.07 million ha of exploitable tidal-flat land, mainly located in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea, where the natural water and thermal conditions are good. The definition of arable backup land resources brought forward by the Ministry of Land Resources was “the un-used lands and destroyed-andabandoned lands which were able to be changed into the cultivatable land through exploitation and reclamation under today’s technology condition.” Its specific indicators were: Natural slope: < 25°; Soil layer: > 50 cm; Soil texture: gravel content < 15 percent; Groundwater level: > 1 m; Sand dune fluctuation: sand dune height < 2 m, density > 40 percent; Temperature: temperature and accumulated temperature can satisfy the crop growth; Moisture: dry farming: annual precipitation > 400 mm; Irrigation farming: water resources well guaranteed. Among the 7,344,000 ha of the cultivatable but not-yet-used lands, there are 7,017,000 ha of cultivatable lands and 327,000 ha of reclaimable lands. The cultivatable lands are mainly sourced from wild grassland, other unused land, and saline and alkaline land (figure 15.2) and are mainly located in the northwest part of China, namely Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai. There are 20,400 ha of gentle-slope-hill wild grasslands in Jiangxi, 16,000 ha of dark-soil lands in Heilongjiang, and 11,200 ha and 85,000 ha of wild grasslands in Yunnan and Sichuan, both with good water and heat conditions and biological resources. All of these lands are quite promising for exploitation. Cultivatable saline and alkaline land resources are mainly located in the dry areas of the northwest part of China, namely Xinjiang, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, and Ningxia, with total area up to 48,300 ha. Moreover, the coastal saline and alkaline lands in the west part of the Song-Nen Plain, Bohai Bay, Liao-Dong Bay, and Hangzhou Bay, as well as the coastal tidal-flat land, all can grow salt-and-alkali resistant energy plants such as sweet sorghum and common cordgrass.

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Figure 15.2. Type and area of potential cultivated land (upper right pie) and their regional distribution (lower left bars) (Li, 2000).

Reclaimable lands are mainly comprised by waste-occupied land, cave-in land, and natural-disaster-destroyed land. The biggest part of the reclaimable lands are the lands occupied by waste solids from mining, smelting, and electricity generating, in total 16,600 million ha and up to 50.7 percent of the total amount. Shandong and Gansu occupy the biggest shares of reclaimable lands at 61,000 ha and 59,000 ha, respectively. Although reclaimable land only accounts for 4.5 percent of the total cultivated arable land, its engineering cost was relatively low, and thus it has high value for exploitation. In 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture carried out a county-based special survey on lands suitable for the cultivation of bioliquid fuel plants and classified such lands into three grades: grade I—direct usable land, grade II—usable after modification, grade III—usability only guaranteed with engineering measures. The total area of such land was 26.8 million ha, of which the net usable area was 16.08 million ha (calculated according to 60 percent of the reclamation ratio). There were eight regions rich with such lands in the nation, among which are the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, the western part of the three eastern provinces, the middle region of Inner Mongolia, Dabie Mountain and its surrounding areas, Karst regions in southwest China, and Wu Ling Mountain, regions accommodating more than 500,000 ha of such lands (Kou, Bi, and Zhao, 2008). As the latest county-based special survey for such purposes, it is expected to cover the “arable backup land resources” as defined by the Ministry of Land Resources. I feel assured by the data released by the survey; that is, wild lands suitable for energy plant cultivation is 26.8 million ha in the nation.

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In spite of its early publication date, the data released by the Ministry of Land Resources are systematic with high reference value, so I also make special introductions to such data above.

15.7. HOW MANY USABLE BUT UNUSED LANDS ARE SUITABLE FOR FOREST CULTIVATION? Among the 88.74 million ha of “usable but unused land,” those suitable for forest cultivation were larger than those for agriculture cultivation. According to the report of the National Forestry Administration, the lands suitable for forest cultivation are the sandy barren lands at a slope of less than 25 degrees. There are 57.04 million ha (CSFA, 2006) of such lands in the nation, including 2.51 million ha of cutover lands and 0.6 million ha of burned lands. As to geographic distribution, such lands are mainly located in the southwest of China (24 percent of the total, the same below), Inner Mongolia-Xinjiang Region (23 percent), and the loess plateau (18 percent) with an added proportion of 65 percent. In the land resources survey report issued by the Ministry of Land Resources, the lands suitable for forest cultivation under the category of wild grassland was described as follows in terms of spatial distribution: “the lands suitable for forest cultivation are mainly located in two regions, i.e., Southwest China and North China, occupying 57 percent share in total. Provinces in the two regions like Yunnan, Sichuan, Xizang, Guizhou, Inner Mongolia, and Hebei are abundant with such lands. Besides, mountainous areas in Xinjiang and Gansu of Northwest China, Fujian of East China, Hunan and Henan of Central South China, and Heilongjiang of Northeast China also accommodate vast areas of such land” (Li, 2000). Vast areas of reserve lands suitable for forest cultivation are mostly located in soil-covered hills and low-medium mountains across Southwest China, North China, and the loess plateau regions, which are areas boasting good water and temperature conditions (figure 15.3). Among reserve lands suitable for forest cultivation, “sandy land suitable for forest cultivation” was categorized separately because it is not only good for the cultivation of dry shrubs but also can be combined into an ecological improvement system to defend against wind and storms. Wang Tao, in his book Desert and Desertification in China, defined such kinds of sandy land as “land surface covered by sand or sand dune, commonly in the form of fixed or semi-fixed dune, and mostly located in windy regions with semi-arid or semi-humid climate, less water and rare vegetations” (Wang, 2003). According to his book, Khorchin, Maowusu, Hunshan Dake, and Hulunbuir—the major four sand lands in China—was 4.23, 3.21, 2.14, and 0.72 million ha in area, respectively, and 10.30 million ha in total.

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Figure 15.3. Area of shrubland and forestry-suitable land and hill in some provinces. Note: The data is based the Sixth Forest Resource Survey.

As released by the National Forestry Administration in its National Forest Resource Survey Reports for 1994 to 1998, sandy land suitable for forest cultivation in the nation is 7,003,000 ha in area, a figure close to 10.30 million ha as proposed by Tao Wang. As for the geographic distribution of such lands, Inner Mongolia is home to 3,774,000 ha of such sandy land, Gansu 1,196,000 ha, Shaanxi 752,000 ha, and Ningxia 449,000 ha. The total area in these four provinces sum up to 6.17 million ha, accounting for 88 percent of such lands in the nation. The four biggest sand lands are located in the most ecologically vulnerable and worst destroyed areas in the nation. Such typical steppe and desert areas having a semiarid and semihumid climate and an annual precipitation only between 200 to 400 mm are severely hit by impoverishment, and they are also important source areas of sandstorms in East China. While it is very hard for trees to live in areas with little rainfall and no irrigation conditions, shrubs, the so-called guardian of the ecologic system, can grow well in arid and semiarid regions thanks to its great resistance to wind, storm, dryness, cold, saline, and alkali; great conservation of soil and water; and great ability to rejuvenate and naturally rehabilitate.

15.8. HOW MANY EXISTING FOREST LANDS ARE ENERGY WOODLANDS? Energy woodlands observed in the existing woodland refers mainly to land cultivated with firewood, woody oil plants, and shrubs. However,

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far different from common firewood in the traditional sense, firewood here are modern energy products cultivated with modern technology and endowed with great energy efficiency. According to the China Forest Resources Report 2005 (hereinafter referred to as Report 2005) (CSFA, 2006), China harvested 56.27 million m3 of firewood from 3.03 million ha of its firewood lands, among which 2.55 million ha were natural firewood lands, contributing 52.27 million m3 of firewood, and 0.48 ha were man-made firewood land, contributing 4 million m3 of firewood. It was disclosed by the Seventh National Forest Resources Survey Report in 2009 (hereinafter referred to as Report 2009), that China had 1.4533 million ha of natural firewood lands and 0.2940 million ha of man-made firewood land (i.e., 1.75 million ha in total) (CSFA, 2009); 3.43 million ha of oil-plant land, of which 1.35 million ha were cultivated with coptis, chinensis, xanthoceras sorbifolia, Jatropha curcas, tung oil tree, and cornus wilsoniana, and others. It was also revealed by Report 2009 that there were 0.6 million ha of land that could be changed into oil-plant lands in China then. Shrub land has long remained the biggest oil-plant land in China. According to Report 2005, China had 45.30 million ha of shrub land then, of which, 31.32 million ha or 69 percent of the total share were located in Xizang, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Gansu, while the latest data shown by Report 2009 indicates that China now has 53.65 million ha of shrub land (CSFA, 2009), which was cited by me as the latest data for China’s shrub land in this book. Mostly concentrated in the west part of China, shrub land is one of the important potential resources to drive the local economic development in China. According to the data released by the National Forestry Administration in 2009, China would have its energy woodland increased to 13 million ha by the end of 2020. To put it more specifically, the area of woody fuel forest would rise to 8.9 million ha, of which a newly cultivated one was 4.5 million ha and an improved old one was 4.4 million ha; the area of woody oil-plant forest would climb to 4.1 million ha, of which a newly cultivated one was 3.5 million ha and an improved old one was 0.6 million ha. The total energy tree forest could provide fifty-four million tons of dry matter for biomass industry, equaling to thirty million tons of standard coal and 6.7 million tons of biofuel. Lieke Zhu, vice president of the National Forestry Bureau, once delivered an inspiring address about the energy forest resources in the nation at the Forestry Biomass Energy Forum in November 2006: Based on the survey results, we can predict that more than 200 million tons of forestry residues could be collected annually in China during the Eleventh Five-year Plan period. Except that some of such residues would go to the forestry industry, most of them could be used to produce forestry biomass

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energy. Each year, about 200 million tons of woody fuel resources could be sourced from more than 3 million ha of firewood forest and more than 45 million ha of shrub land that are available in China now. Based on the survey result of the expert panel organized by the National Forestry Bureau, it can be reliably predicted that 300 million tons of woody energy resources could be collected each year in China, equaling to more than 200 million tons of standard coal. There were more than 6 million ha of woody oil-plant land planted across the nation, with more than 4 million tons of forest fruit yield each year. However, only a small amount of them was used to produce food and industry materials, most was not left untapped. If fully used, such forest fruit could be converted to a substantial amount of biofuel.

This is especially true since we have more than fifty-four million ha of wild mountain and land left unattended in the nation, with which, we can cultivate energy plants in highly efficient ways. Besides, if the one hundred million ha of the marginal lands, such as saline and alkaline land, sand land, and reclaimed land from deserted mining and oil fields are used to develop a suitable energy forest, the prospect of forest biomass energy in China would be boundless.

15.9. HOW MANY EXISTING ARABLE LANDS CAN BE USED FOR ENERGY CROP LANDS? Except grain, farmland also can produce cotton and hemp for textile manufacture, as well as starch and alcohol as industrial raw material. However, energy product cultivation still remains a new domain for farmland. Then, how many inferior farmlands free from grain plantation can be used to cultivate an energy crop? The reason for us to choose such farmland is to increase crop yield and farmer income just through changing the use purpose and plantation structure of crops. The Ministry of Land Resources released this information early in the year 2000: “Among the 130.04 million ha of farmland available in China at the end of October 1996, 50.24 million ha are low yield farmland, accounting for 41 percent of the total farmland” (Li, 2000); the data released in 2009 had all farmlands in the nation classified into fifteen grades based on their crop yield, and the area of the last three grades of farmland was 20.91 million ha. Two reasons responsible for the low crop yield are poor natural conditions, such as sandy texture, clayey texture, saline and alkaline, infertility, drought, and water logging, and farmers’ passive attitude in labor devotion and fertilizer application coupled with careless management. The ways to solve the problem were, first, to improve the soil quality, such as controlling desertification and reducing alkaline content; second, to

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change the planting structure so as to adapt to soil conditions; and most importantly, to improve the economic yield and the farmers’ enthusiasm for agricultural plantation and innovation. At present, potato, sorghum, and helianthus tuberous are planted in low-quality farmland and under casual management, and in return, farmers suffer a low yield of fruit with poor economic value and a dampened enthusiasm for further dedication. If these crops are used as raw material for energy products, their price will be driven by the soared requirement. As a result, farmers will be inspired to devote their labor and fertilizer input and will be happy to see the increased yield and income as well as improved soil fertility. In such a way, a positive cycle will be formed, bringing an end to the deep-seated deadlock of “low yield.” Crops such as potato and sweet sorghum are mainly used for wine making, starch extracting, and feedstuff manufacturing at present. Their new application as raw materials of energy products would lead to fewer crops being available for wine making and starch extracting. This, however, will greatly stimulate the price rise of corn and therefore improve farmers’ enthusiasm for plantation. Then, will the feedstuff manufacturer suffer a lot due to decreased raw material supply? The answer is no. That’s because only the starch and carbohydrate contained in potatoes and sweet sorghum will be extracted for alcohol manufacture, while the residues, including protein and fat after saccharification, the large amount of cellulose and semicellulose, and mineral materials, will still be left as raw material for high-quality feedstuff. What’s more, the total yield of potato, sweet sorghum, and helianthus tuberous will be driven to a new high, thanks to the growth momentum brought about by energy products. This in return will definitely lead to more, rather than less, raw material supply of feedstuff. Therefore, we can feel assured in concluding that planting energy crops in inferior farmlands free from grain plantation will be anything but harmful. So, how many inferior farmlands can be used for energy crop plantation? This will be subject to the best ratio between energy crops and common crops as well as national policy direction. In this book, twenty million ha will be given as an answer to the question, as farmland of grade thirteenth to fifteenth is used as a parameter reference.

15.10. SUMMARY OF MARGINAL LAND RESOURCE Thanks to the investigation efforts mentioned above, it is clearly known that, among the 88.74 million ha of “usable but usused land” available in the nation, 57.04 million ha of land are suitable for forest cultivation and 27.87 million ha for agriculture cultivation; among the existing forestland,

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58.83 million ha of land are dedicated for energy tree cultivation. Besides, there are twenty million ha of inferior farmland free from grain plantation in the nation. The total area of these four types of lands is 163.74 million ha, forty-two million ha more than the existing arable land (130.04 million ha at the end of 2007) (figure 15.4 and table 15.8). How great a land wealth it is! The land that can be used for biomass production can be grossly divided into to-be-exploited and existing marginal lands in equal proportion, namely 51.9 percent versus 48.1 percent. On the other hand, the ratio between marginal land suitable for agriculture cultivation and forest cultivation is about 3:7; that is, accurately at 29.2 percent to 70.8 percent. As far as spatial distribution is concerned, such marginal lands suitable for biomass production are more concentrated in the northern and western regions than in the eastern and southern regions. Such spatial distribution will have great influence on the strategic and regional planning of the biomass industry development in China. Chinese people, who had been preoccupied for a long time by the scarcity of both existing and reserve arable lands and especially those for grain production, have gradually come to realize a bright scene for energy plants with great resistance against adversity. The concept of “marginal

Figure 15.4. marginal bare land, wood land and cropland that are potential for biomass raw materials. (unit: 104 ha).

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321

Marginal land resource for biomass raw material production in China

Type A. potential marginal land (8,491/51.9%) Agricultural suitable reserve Forestry suitable reserve

B. Existing marginal land (7,883/48.1%) Marginal agricultural land Marginal forest land

Area (104 ha)

Share in Total (%)

2787

17.0

5704

34.9

2000 5883

12.2 35.9

Area (104 ha)

Share in Total (%)

Reclaimable land Tidal flat Deserted hills and slopes Deserted sand land

2680 107 5004

16.4 0.6 30.6

700

4.3

— Firewood land Oil wood land Shrub land

2000 175 343 5365

12.2 1.0 2.1 32.8

Subtype

land” raised as the best solution to energy plant cultivation helps us find a “rich mine” of about 160 million ha. It also proves that as people are enlightened by new concept, they will embrace new ways to think about and view the world. Now, we are encouraged by the new fact that China has wealthy marginal land resources available for energy production!

REFERENCES CSFA (China State Forestry Administration). China Forest Resource Statistics (1999–2003), 2005. CSFA (China State Forestry Administration). Investigation Report on China Forestry Resource 2005, 2006. CSFA (China State Forestry Administration). Strategic Report on China Forest-Based Bioenergy Development, May 2008. CSFA (China State Forestry Administration). Report on China Forestry Resource: The Seventh Inventory on China Forestry Resource, December 2009. Kou, J. P., Y. Y. Bi, and L. X. Zhao. “Survey and Assessment on Energy-Suited Deserted Land in China.” China Journal of Renewable Resource 26, no. 6 (2008). Kou, J. P., L. X. Zhao, and X. R. Hao. “Current Situation and Developing Trend of Renewable Resources in Rural China in 2007.” Journal of Renewable Energy 26, no. 3 (2008). (In Chinese) Li, Y. Land Resources in China. Beijing: China Great Land Press, 2000. Liu, Y. “Current Situations, Potential and Suggestions on Biogas Development of China.” Proceedings of Fragrance Hill Science Workshop, 2005.

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Ma, Y. “Estimating Bioenergy Resource of China,” PowerPoint presentation, 2009. Smeets, Edward, Andre Faaij, and Iris Lewandowski. A Quickscan of Global Bioenergy Potentials to 2050, Report NWS-E-2004-109, 2004. ISBN 90-393-3909-0. SRRCRE (Strategic Research Group on China Renewable Energies). China Academy of Engineering Consultant Group for Key Projects. Series on Development Strategy of China Renewable Energy. Biomass Energy. Beijing: China Electric Power Press, 2008. (In Chinese) Wang, H. B. “Spatial Zoning and Development Strategy for Crop Straw and Stalks in China,” 2006. (unpublished) Wang, T. Desert and Desertification in China. Shijiazhuang: Hebei Science and Technology Press, 2003. Wen, M. J., and C. J. Tang. Reserve Land Resource of China. Beijing: China Great Land Press, 2005. Yuan, Z. H. et al. Principle and Technology of Bio-energy Utilization. Beijing: Chemical Industry Press, 2005.

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SECTION III BIOMASS RAW MATERIAL PLANTS IN CHINA

B

iomass raw material plants are often termed as energy plants by most people. However, the latter appellation is not an accurate expression in the strict sense since both bioenergy and bio-based products are under such a category. By contrast, biomass raw material plants (or biomass plants for short) is a more scientific and comprehensive term for us to adopt. Biomass raw material plants share following features: 1. Strong resistance against adversity and great adaptability to infertile marginal lands 2. High output and good quality for processing procedures 3. Wide regional adaptability 4. High availability and sustainable supply 5. Good economic feasibility 6. Remarkable complement to traditional agricultural product markets, for example, noncompetitive against grains, oil, or sugar Biomass plants show great diversity in different territories as different biomass plants are observed in different ecological regions. Ethanol converted from corn in the United States or from sugarcane in Brazil, and biodiesel converted from rapeseeds in Europe were major food-based biomass plants that occurred at the first stage of biomass industry, while the second generation of biomass plants were nonfood-based fiber plants 323

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as represented by switchgrass and Miscanthus in the United States, Saposhnikovia div in Europe, and many perennial grass, shrub, or oil plants. The third generation of biomass plants are targeted at microalgae plants. Now, I would like to give a brief introduction to the four major biomass products—sugar, starch, oil, and fiber biomass plants.

16.1. THREE MAJOR SUGAR BIOMASS PLANTS (SUGARCANE, SWEET SORGHUM, JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE) Sugar biomass plants, which can be directly decomposed into monosaccharide and disaccharide, do not require starch hydrolysis in processing, boasting a merit unparalleled by starch polysaccharide material. While the majority of such plants as represented by sugarcane and sweet sorghum have their sugar elements stored in stems, namely the so-called sweet stem, a small portion of such plants as sugar beet and Jerusalem artichoke have their sugar elements stored in underground roots. Sugarcane As a kind of energy plant with a high photosynthetic conversion efficiency, sugarcane is mainly consists of sucrose, glucose, and fructose and is ideal for alcohol production. China harvested 112.95 million tons of sugarcane from 1.586 million ha of sugarcane fields in 2007, with the average productivity up to 71 tons per ha. According to experiment results brought by the Key Sugarcane Laboratory under the Ministry of Agriculture and Guangdong Zhongneng Alcohol, Ltd., it is known that one ton of alcohol can be produced by thirteen tons of fresh sugarcane (namely five tons of alcohol can be produced per hectare of a sugarcane field). As part of the China Basic Science Research Program, some new sugarcane varieties have passed through national or provincial examination, with productivity up to 105 to 120 tons per ha and ready for sugar and alcohol production. IA3132, another new sugarcane variety introduced by the United States recently, boasted productivity up to 271 tons per ha for alcohol production. Sugarcane is mainly distributed in nine provinces of China, among which are Guangxi, Yunnan, Guangdong, Hainan, and Fujian. The top three regions for sugarcane production in the nation are Guangxi, Yunnan, and Leizhou Peninsula, contributing 85 percent of the gross domestic sugarcane production. Sugarcane is still mainly used for sugar production, and it is hard to use for energy production on a large scale. However, sugarcane still can play an active role in adjusting the fluctuating sugar price in both domestic and international markets. For example,

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the sugar price in Guangxi, a province with sugarcane production taking up more than 60 percent of the gross production in China, has fluctuated from 1,652 RMB yuan per ton to 4,314 RMB yuan per ton during the most recent seventeen years. Due to the sugarcane yield increase from 43.53 million tons in 2005 to 2006 to 76.88 million tons in 2007 to 2008, the sugarcane price was thus sharply slumped to 3,000 RMB yuan per ton in 2007 to 2008, severely depressing the manufacturing enthusiasm of farmers and sugar factories alike. Sugar-ethanol coproduction is a good way to adjust the fluctuating sugar price. There are 0.7 to 0.8 million ha of land dedicated for sugarcane production in China, with an annual sugarcane output up to fifty million tons at present, which is promising to produce four million tons of ethanol each year coupled with sugar production at an existing scale. In addition, waste molasses released from sugar factories also can be used as materials for ethanol production. Sweet Sorghum As a kind of sugar biomass material and a variety derived from grain sorghum, sweet sorghum is a C4 plant with high light use efficiency and is endowed with such merits as rapid growth speed, high yield, and strong resistance to adversity. It is nicknamed the “camel crop” due to its drought tolerance, waterlogging endurance, barren condition and salt adaption, and the wide distribution across the whole of China. It can grow healthily in saline-alkali and sandy soils. Each year, about forty-five to seventy tons of fresh sweet sorghum stems, which stand four to five meters high, can be generated from each hectare of farm field. With sugar content staying at 17 to 21 percent, a similar level to sugarcane, sweet sorghum can thrive from little seeds to produce high yield, requiring only simple management. Its cultivation input is apparently lower than corn in North China and sugarcane in South China. It only requires onethird of the irrigation as that required by sugarcane in South China. With a growth period lasting four to six months, it can be harvested twice or even three times in Hainan, the second largest island province in China. Sweet sorghum has been planted in China for more than twenty years. Varieties such as M-31E, Taisi, and Tianchun Series 1–5 were bred by China with independent intellectual property. According to the research data given by Wang Mengjie as shown in table 16.1, Tianchun Series 1–5 can produce sixty to eighty tons of fresh stem and 3.5 to 5.5 tons of grain per ha of farm field, with brix staying at eighteen. Generally speaking, four to six tons of ethanol can be produced per hectare of sweet sorghum field. A good harvest can also be achieved in soils with 0.10 to 0.60 percent salt content. It was reported that a sweet sorghum field is so productive in

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Table 16.1. Plantation experiment of sweet sorghum (Wang, 2006)

Experiment Sites Huhhot Heilongjiang Xinjiang Northern Jiangsu Province Huanghua, Hebei Province Three sites at Northern Shandong Province

Soil Salt Content (%)

Fresh Weight of Shoot (ton ha–1)

Brix

Dry Weight of Grains (kg ha–1)

— — — 0.35 0.32 0.57 0.47 0.30

75 90 105 75 87 81 92 116

— — — 18 17 18 18 18

6.0 6.0 3.8 4.5~5.3 3.2 4.5 4.5 4.5

India with 5,700 to 6,500 liters of ethanol converted from sweet sorghum generated per ha, 30 percent higher than the ethanol conversion level of local sugarcane fields (Wang, 2006). Jerusalem Artichoke Except for its botanic glossary of Helianthus tuberosus, Jerusalem artichoke is also named linn in Latin, and as yacon, foreign ginger, and devil ginger, among other names. Falling into the category of perennial ratoon herbs of the helianthus-composite family, Jerusalem artichoke has plenty of polyfructose (inulin) and 30 percent more sugar content than sugarcane, and therefore it is twice as sweet as sugarcane. It has strong resistance against adversity and great tolerance to drought, wind, disease, and insects. It can be grown in saline-alkali and sandy soils and survive the harsh winter temperatures between –40 to –30°C. It grows well with simple management and low input. It reproduces quickly from underground stems after the harvest season, without the necessity of reinsemination. In addition, it does a great job for ecosystem protection, since it is capable of decreasing 88.4 percent of runoff and 97.4 percent of soil erosion for a slope of twenty degrees. The validity of such conclusions has been proven by field experiments conducted at 160 ha of sandy land in Inner Mongolia in 1999, 20 ha of sandy land in Ke’erqin in 2001, and in Jerusalem artichoke fields along the coastal shoal. Jerusalem artichoke produces thirty to forty-five tons of tuber per ha in western Heilongjiang, 75 to 150 tons of tuber per ha in the coastal shoal of Bohai Bay (forty to sixty tons above ground and forty-five to ninety tons below ground), and nine to eighteen tons per ha of inulin sugar. With the irrigation of seawater, a thirty-three-hectare demonstration plot in Laizhou Bay of Shandong province generates sixty tons of fresh tuber per ha or fifteen tons of dry tuber per ha.

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The ten million ha of sandy soil and two million ha of coastal shoal available in China are good for Jerusalem artichoke cultivation. Artichoke can, with the catalysis of inulinase, be transformed to fructooligosaccharide and fructose before it is further transformed into mannitol and succinic acid of high added value. Yunnan Tianyuan and other companies in Zhuhai, Nanning, Jiangmen, and Zhangjiagang are pioneers in this field, with a production capacity up to more than twenty thousand tons per year. At present, the research and development of Jerusalem artichoke– based energy is still at the initial stage, but it will definitely enjoy a bright future. As a convincing example for the optimistic forecast, 66.7 ha of Jerusalem artichoke seed base has been established on saline-alkali and sandy soils in Heilongjiang in 2005 as part of fruitful joint efforts for land treatment and biomass energy development.

16.2. TWO MAJOR STARCH BIOMASS PLANTS (POTATO, CASSAVA) The angiosperm’s seed consists of embryo, endosperm, and seed shell. Among them, the endosperm accounts for the largest weight shares and is stored with nutrients such as starch and fat used for the germination of the embryo. The starch is one kind of polysaccharide that is formed by several hundred or several thousand dehydrated monosaccharides. The rice and wheat flour we eat in daily life are starch polysaccharides in essence. Different from cereal crops, tuber crops store starch in its underground root for future consumption when it bears fruit. However, people dig up and enjoy the big and fleshy tubers before such crops bear fruit. The tuberous root is the organ of nutrient storage. It needs much longer growth time than seeds and accumulates much more starch as well. So tuber crops win the name “king of starch.” Wine making with fermented starch as raw material has a long history in China. Emperor Yan, one of the legendary founders of the nation, recorded it. Legend has it that Emperor Yan taught his people to plant corn and chose tuber crops and sorghum as raw materials for wine making. Sweet Potato Also known as Spanish potato, potato, and red dasheen, sweet potato originated from Central and South America and was introduced to China around the sixteenth century. Ranked as the seventh largest crop in the world, sweet potato is a root crop with a high-yield, stable output, barren resistance, and wide adaptability. China, as the largest sweet potato

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production country in the world, cultivates nearly ten million ha of sweet potato each year (accounting for more than half of the sweet potato fields in the world) and generates 150 million tons of fresh sweet potato annually (contributing more than three-quarters of the global sweet potato output). China’s average yield of fresh potatoes is twenty to twenty-five tons per ha, while starch content in a fresh sweet potato is about 20 percent and that in dried sweet potato is up to 64 to 68 percent. Sweet potatoes can be grown on drought-affected and barren land, with the starch yield being 50 percent higher than that of corn. As one of the tuber crops, sweet potatoes can swell consistently over a long nutrition storage phase. The economic output coefficient based on starch can be as high as 70 to 85 percent, far beyond that of corn and other cereal crops. Sweet potato earns the nickname “iron crop” in virtue of its root system that extends deeply into the soil with rich moisture and water withheld, which therefore makes it good for drought resistance. Tuber crop starch is primarily used for animal feed, starch processing, or wine making. The special sweet potato species cultivated in Anyue of Sichuan Province as raw material for ethanol production can yield 556 tons of fresh potato per hectare, with the starch content staying at 24.4 percent; namely, 1.35 tons of starch can be produced per hectare. Such species have been promoted widely inside and outside the province, with a total cultivation area up to more than ten thousand ha back in 2004. In addition, Chengdu Akeer Biology Energy Company built a sweet-potatobased ethanol production line in Suining, with ethanol output reaching thirty thousand to fifty thousand tons yearly. Cassava As one of the three major tuber crops in the world, cassava falls into the category of Manihot esculenta Crantz. With its photosynthesis capacity ranked between C3 and C4 types of plants, cassava mainly grows in the south Asian tropical and tropical zone where temperatures are above 20°C on average. Cassava is featured by high photosynthetic efficiency, strong resistance against adversity, and great adaptability to barren land. It’s one kind of energy plant with great potential, and it is commonly observed in southern hill and low mountain zones where the irrigation conditions are quite poor. China is home to five hundred thousand ha of cassava fields, which is mainly distributed in the middle and south areas of South China. There are about 220,000 km2 of land suitable for cassava plantation in the nation. It is expected that, through breeding efforts, the current northern boundary of cassava plantations can be pushed to the subtropical region of Central Asia, where the average temperature stays

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at 16 to 18°C. As a result, the cassava plantation area can be expanded to three million ha in total. China has the great potential to drive up its cassava productivity in the days to come. It produces approximately fifteen tons of fresh cassava per hectare. The productivity level may rise up to forty-five to seventy-five tons and even to more than ninety tons per hectare along with the promotion of newly introduced varieties and advanced cultivation techniques. At present, the majority of fresh cassava cultivated in the nation contains about 28 percent starch. But the proportion can be increased to 30 percent and even 32 percent in improved varieties. Each one-percentage increase in starch content indicates a 6 to 7 percent increase in the synthetic efficiency of solar energy per unit area. Under normal circumstances, about seven tons of fresh cassava can produce one ton of ethanol, and one hectare of a cassava field can produce four to six tons or even ten-plus tons of ethanol. Assuming that thirty tons of cassava are produced by each hectare of cassava field and is sold at 400 RMB yuan per ton, then farmers can earn a gross income of 12,000 RMB yuan per hectare, and a net income about 8,500 RMB yuan after about 3,500 RMB yuan of cost deduction. By contrast, the net income of a sugarcane field is about 3,000 RMB yuan per hectare due to a higher field-management cost. In addition, the southern regions are known for the time-honored tradition of using cassava to produce starch and edible alcohol (for wine making). In addition, cassava straws are used by local people to process granule fuels.

16.3. OIL BIOMASS PLANTS While starch is the essential component in the endosperm of cereal crops, nearly 40 percent of the endosperm in cruciferous, rapeseed, soybean, and peanuts is fat, which can store much more energy than sugar. Oil Crops Rapeseed oil contains a high proportion of short chain fatty acids, whose chemical composition is very close to diesel. In the late nineteenth century, rapeseed oil was used as a fuel for the internal combustion engine and car. Germany’s biodiesel standard was targeted for biodiesel produced from low erucic acid rapeseed. In recent years, biodiesel made by rapeseed oil has gained tremendous momentum for development in Europe, with output jumping from 0.93 million tons in 2001 to 5.71 million tons in 2007. Since it is rich in soybean, the United States uses soybean oil

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as a raw material for its biodiesel production. From 2001 to 2007, rapeseed and soybean oil prices in the international market jumped from US $400 to US $1,400 and from US $300 to US $1,200, respectively. Undoubtedly biodiesel development is one of the driving forces behind the price hike. In 2007 and 2008, China’s cooking oil consumption amounted to 23.88 million tons, about one-fifth of the global total consumption. Rapeseed, soybean, and peanuts are three major oil crops in China. In 2007, China harvested 10.57 million tons of rapeseed from 5.64 million ha of rapeseed fields and 12.73 million tons of soybean from 8.75 million ha of soybean fields. Rapeseed boasts such strong points as wide applicability, a short growth period, enrichment to soil fertility, good for the rotation of crops, and an advanced mechanization degree. Rapeseed cake, straw, and seed shell all can be used as raw materials for high-quality feed and deep processing. Domestically produced vegetable oil amounted to 7.27 million tons in 2007 and 2008, only satisfying one-third of the vegetable oil consumption in the nation. And the gap between domestic consumption and supply can only be filled by imports from overseas. Rapeseed oil, with an annual output of 3.74 billion tons, accounts for over 50 percent of the total domestic vegetable oil, and it is mainly used for the production of edible oil (Fu and Shen, 2006; Wang, 2008). In China, the increase in the oil crop yield is mainly used to make up the domestic consumption and supply gap of cooking oil, and it can’t be used for energy manufacture. In addition, China produces 7.5 million tons of cotton each year, along with two million tons of cottonseed oil as a byproduct. Although cottonseed oil is rarely used as cooking oil in China, it is still too expensive to be used as raw material for biodiesel. Woody Oil Plants China has 1,554 species of woody oil crops from 697 genera and 151 families. Among which, 154 species of woody oil crops have more than 40 percent of seed oil content, and more than thirty species of woody oil crops cultivated in 3.429 million ha of field are financially exploitable (CSFA, 2008). At present, only a small portion of oil trees such as camellia, tung, and walnut have been tapped in the nation. Other untapped oil trees available for energy development include pistacia chinensis, bunge of anacardiaceae, yellow horn of sapindaceae, Jatropha curcas of euphorbiaceae, cornus wilsoniana of cornaceae as well as uzziah tung and cypress (please refer to table 16.2 for more details). According to statistical data, the plantation areas of the six trees mentioned above total 1.35 million ha. Among which, about 600,000 ha of fields can be modified into a woody oil forest, with oil output reaching 1.5 tons per hectare each year. The major factors compromising the development of the wood oil plant are decentralized geographic distribution and

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Southwestern provinces, Hainan, Fujiang Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shannxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, southwestern provinces Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Shannxi, Northeastern provinces Karst regions stretching from Yangtze Basin to Southwestern China Yangtze and Pearl Basin, Zhejiang, Hubei, Sichuan 15 provinces, including Shannxi, Gansu, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang

Jatropha curcas L Pistacia chinensis

135.35

35–50 40–50

30–36

30–40

30–60 35–40

Oil Content (%)

2,250–7,500 3,000–12,000

4,500–10,500

3,000–9,000

3,000–7,500 1,500–9,000

Seed Output (kg ha–1)

Note: Data of current area is from the statistical data of the provinces and is summed by the State Forestry Administration.

Total

Chinese tallow tree Vernica fordii

Swida wilsoniana Wanger

Xanthoceras sorbifolia

Distribution Regions

Tree

Table 16.2. Major oil trees in China (CSFA, 2008)

4.80 118.80

0.45

0.50

2.10 8.70

Current Area (104 ha)

3–8 3–5

3–6

4–6

3–5 4–8

Age to Start Use/Year

20–50 20–50

40–50

30–80

30–50 50–80

Duration of Uses/Year

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inconvenience of collection. It is true that a long period of time is needed for a large-scale woody oil forest to reach its ideal productivity, but the cost of raw materials will be brought down after reaching the ideal productivity. Jatropha curcas Belonging to the euphorbiaceae family, Jatropha curcas is the fastest growing woody oil plant in the country. Shrub, also called dungarunga, hibiscus tree, or Jatropha, originated in South America and will stand three to five meters high upon maturity. It has a high survival rate and can grow fast with cuttage methods. It can bear fruit every year of plantation and will enter into the fully booming stage five years later. Its life cycle can last forty years. Jatropha curcas demonstrates great drought resistance, and it can be planted in hilly areas with the ability to withhold soil and water as well as improve the ecological environment. Jatropha curcas can produce five to eight tons of seeds per hectare each year, which are sufficient as raw material for 1.5 to 2 tons of biological diesel. What is more, oil content in Jatropha curcas seeds are around 50 to 55 percent. Specifically speaking, oleic acid accounts for 41.6 percent, linoleic acid 33.8 percent, palmitic acid 13.3 percent, and stearic acid 8.8 percent (Yao, 2006), and the remaining are minor oil elements such as linolenic acid. Because Jatropha curcas oil has such merits as low sulphur dioxide, high 16 alkane value, good performance at low temperature, strong lubrication function, and high security, it can be refined into high-grade biological diesel oil. Under the support of the Rockefeller Foundation and the German government, Jatropha curcas has been planted in Brazil, Nepal, Zimbabwe, and India in 1995 as a new energy plant. Semiwild and cultivated Jatropha curcas trees are also seen in Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Guangxi provinces in China. At present, 17,300 ha of Jatropha curcas have been planted in the Sichuan province, producing 170,000 tons of seed and 60,000 tons of oil. As of July 2008, the Yunnan Province has accumulatively planted 65,000 ha of Jatropha curcas, making the total Jatropha curcas field reach 83,000 ha in the province. Besides, it also has constructed 146 ha of breeding bases in four counties. Yunnan has more than 670,000 ha of untapped barren hills and lands in arid and warm river valley areas, which is suitable for forestry cultivation like Jatropha curcas (Deng et al., 2005). The Yunnan Jatropha Curcas Bio-energy Raw Material Production Base, which has been listed into bioengineering high-tech demonstration projects by the National Development and Reform Commission, has a seed breeding base of 26.7 ha in area, a Jatropha curcas plantation base of 20,000 ha in area, and a biodiesel processing plant that is under construction and aims to generate one hundred thousand tons of biodiesel annually. In June 2008, the National Development and Reform Commission

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approved PetroChina, CNOOC, and Sinopec to build (Jatropha curcas based) biodiesel industrialization demonstration projects with annual outputs at 60,000, 60,000, and 50,000 tons, respectively, in Nanchong City, Hainan Province, and Guizhou Province. Currently, Jatropha is the most widely planted woody fuel plant in the world. With great tolerance to the growth environment, Pistacia chinensis bunge of Anacardiaceae is highly resistant to drought and barren land. Having a root that penetrates into the deep depths of soil, Pistacia chinensis bunge enjoys great germination power over a slow-growth duration. The oil content of its seed kernel reaches 56.7 percent. Widely spreading throughout twenty-three provinces in North China, Central China, and South China, Pistacia chinensis bunge is often sporadically observed among mountainous and hilly areas seven hundred meters below altitude. In addition, there are also large-scale pure or mixed Pistacia chinensis bunge forests in the nation, which are mainly located in Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, the Taihang Mountains, the southern slope of Qinling, Henan, Hunan, the western mountainous areas of Hubei, Taishan of Central Shandong, as well as hilly regions of Central China and East China. Among them, Hebei Province (33,000 ha), Henan Province (20,000 ha), Anhui Province (40,000 ha), and Shanxi Province (20,000 ha) are the top four provinces with richest Pistacia chinensis bunge resource in the nation. Kekui Oil Plant As a broadleaf evergreen tree, the kekui oil plant is most distributed in the Guangxi mountainous areas. The kekui oil plant tree has a strong adaptability to soil and a great resistance to drought, flood, plant diseases, and pest. In addition, it can do a good job in preserving water and soil as well as improving the ecosystem and environment. Its seed kernel oil content reaches as high as 64 percent. About 22.5 to 30 tons of seed kernel and 7.5 tons of biodiesel can be produced per hectare of kekui oil plant fields. The major technical indicators of China’s kekui oil plant cultivation can meet the EU rapeseed biodiesel standards, and especially –10°C of diesel standards. The kekui oil plant will bear fruit in the sixth year of plantation, and the time span will be shortened to three to four years along with the success of the asexual reproduction test. Microalgae As a kind of single-celled autotrophic lower plants, microalgae has wide varieties such as botryococcane and botryococcus, and it can adapt to the environment easily. They are widely distributed in ponds, lakes, and temporary water areas from temperate to tropical regions. In addition, they

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can also breed in a brackish water environment. The solar energy conversion efficiency of microalgae is about 3.5 percent, higher than that of common plants. With an annual output up to fifty to eighty tons per hectare, botryococcus can immediately produce hydrocarbon about 75 percent of its dried weight and with a chemical composition close to diesel. In 1978, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy from the west and Hawaii areas collected more than three thousand microalgae. Later, researchers sifted through more than three hundred microalgae with high oil concentration, namely green algae and diatom. With the aid of engineering technology, their oil content can reach up to 40 to 60 percent. It was further shown by a one-year-long test conducted in an algae pool of 1000 m2: 50 grams of algae can be produced in every square meter of the algae pool on average. Industrialization efforts started in 2008. It was reported by the California Sapphire Energy Company in 2008 that environmentally friendly crude oil was successfully invented with the input of seaweed, sunlight, carbon dioxide, and inedible water, and at a cost close to that of light crude (US $130 per barrel). Besides, such environmentally friendly crude oil can be refined in existing oil refineries (SuperSite/X-Space community portal, May 30, 2008). Compared with higher plants, genetic engineering projects for single-celled algae is much simpler, and a great amount of carbon dioxide can also be absorbed in the breeding process. Related units from the China Academy of Sciences have done a lot of work in microalgae breeding and database construction and have achieved substantial progress. Besides, the Ocean University of China, Tsinghua University, Sinopec, CNOOC, and others have also engaged themselves in such fields. China, with about 3.5 million ha of seaside beach and a great quantity of inland water areas available for reclamation, has boundless potential for microalgae development.

16.4. CELLULOSIC BIOMASS PLANTS Plants are a treasure house itself, with cellulose (including hemi-cellulose, similarly hereafter) constituting half of its ingredients. Cellulose, which is used for the manufacture of liquid fuel, can be used to produce liquid fuel as long as we achieve the necessary technical breakthroughs. Except for crop straw and forestry residues, a great quantity of cellulosic plants, herbaceous plants, shrubs, and arbors alike can be the source of cellulose. Herbaceous Fuel Plant Cultivating perennial and diverse herbaceous plants on marginal soil is an important way for us to gain cellulosic-based raw material. Switchgrass,

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Miscanthus, and Salix viminalis are superior herbaceous fuel plants booming in different parts of the nation. Switchgrass is a kind of wild plant that can be seen everywhere on the American continent and is mainly used to feed cattle and to conserve water and soil. It has strong adaptability, is highly tolerant to sterile soil, and yields high output. Meanwhile, its stem can grow to three meters in height, and it is sturdy upon maturity and its growth period can last twenty years. As perennial plant, it benefits soil carbon accumulation. Under simple management and with low investment, about thirty to forty-five tons of hay can be produced by per ha of switchgrass field, enough to produce ten tons of ethanol. The U.S. government pays high attention to the research and development of switchgrass as a new kind of energy resource. Currently, switchgrass ethanol costs US $2.7 per gallon, while genetically modified switchgrass ethanol cost about US $1 per gallon only. Though having been introduced in China for years, switchgrass is still in the trial application stage. Miscanthus Miscanthus gains a better cultivation result than switchgrass in Illinois. Miscanthus grows in experimental plots without access to irrigation and fertilization, and it can produce about thirty-two tons of dry substance per ha of Miscanthus field, equaling 17.5 tons of standard coal. Under the same condition, switchgrass can produce about twelve tons of dry substance, equaling 6.7 tons of standard coal. The output of Miscanthus is about 2.6 times that of switchgrass. Shrub Fuel Plants Shrub, acclaimed as the “patron saint” for the ecosystem in Northwest China, really deserves such fame thanks to its great resistance to arid and infertile land, strong reservation for water and soil, great refrain from soil erosion and wind threat, multiple functions as feed and fertilizer, and more. It is also an excellent energy plant, because per kilogram of its dry substance it can generate more than 16,736 kJ of calorific value, a level similar to coal. The fully grown major shrub in Northwest China can generate eight to twenty tons of the aboveground biomass per hectare, with an annual calorific value equivalent to six to fourteen tons of standard coal. Please refer to table 16.3 for more indicators. Shrub plots will come into being with great ecological benefits after shrubs have been planted for three to five years. A significant way to cultivate an exuberant shrub plot is to cut off the aboveground shrub branches every three or four years in order to promote their growth. The cutoff aboveground shrub branches are good biomass material themselves. If they can accumulate to a certain scale and give rise to a new industry, it

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8.0 (4-year-old) 7.935 (4-year-old)

10.696 (4-year-old)

13.3 (3-year-old) 21.33 (4-year-old) 4.7–4.99 (3-year-old) 5.21–7.61 (4-year-old) 10.53–10.74 (5-year-old) 7.5 (cutting after 3 years) 10–15 (2-year-old sprout forest) 15–20 (3-year-old sprout forest) 20 (4-year-old sprout forest) 22.5–30.0 (5-year-old) 22 (4-year-old, above ground) 25 (5-year-old, above ground) 13.53 (3-year-old, whole plant) 80–100 (2-year-old)

Caragana korshinskii

Caragana microphylla

wild apricot

Elaeagnus angustifolia

Note: Productivity (2) is converted from productivity (1); * converted to standard coal.

Acacia mearnsii

Calligonumklementzii Alnus cremastogyne

Tamarix ramosissima

Chinese seabuckthorn

Output (ton ha–1)

Tree

19,274–22,207

16,760 17,598–18,017

17,623

20,441

197,220 (5-yearold trunk) 19,781 (4-yearold trunk) 20,200 (5-yearold trunk) 19,727 (2-yearold branch) 19,907 (2-yearold branch) 20,601

Calorie Value (kilo joule kg–1)

Table 16.3. Major shrub types for energy use and energy generation capacity (ton ha–1) (Yin, 2007)

77,0960– 888,280

87,990 87,990–99,094

102,802

43,478

110,174

53,231

39,241

3,945

Productivity (1) (106 joule ha–1 year–1)

26.31–30.32

3.00 3.00–3.38

3.51

1.48

3.67

1.82

1.34

1.35

Productivity*(2)/ (ton ha–1 year–1)

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will be of great benefit to ecological protection, energy production, and farmers’ income. I will elaborate on this matter in chapter 19 of the book. China’s shrub plots, which are mainly distributed in northern regions, are 53.65 million hectare in area. In recent years, more than 600,000 ha of shrub plots have been created annually in the nation. It is a good idea to plant shrubs as shelter forests on both sides of grassland, farmland, and roads. At present, a number of unique shrub plots consisting of caragana, Salix, hippophae, azaleas, and so on have come into being across the nation. According to the survey of 2003, there were 163 counties whose total shrub plot area was more than 33,000 hectare, and there were seventythree shrub plots whose area was more than 20,000 ha. Based on preliminary calculations, 60 million ha of land can be used to plant shrubs in China’s western regions. Coupled with the existing 36.42 million ha of shrub plots, China’s western regions are expected to accommodate 100 million ha of shrub plots in total. If we assume that 60 percent of the total shrub plots are energy forest and their annual biomass output is three tons per hectare, then 180 million tons of biomass can be generated on yearly basis, equivalent to 120 million tons of standard coal. Arbor Power Plants Firewood forests have been cultivated since the 1960s as one of the measures to meet the demand of household fuel wood consumption and to reduce the pressure on natural forest firewood. China is numberone in terms of firewood forest areas in the world. Firewood forests are expected to grow fast, adapt to the environment soundly, generate high thermal energy, and be conducive to ecological protection. Firewood can be divided into many species—namely broadleaf coppice types such as oak, castanopsis trees, lithocarpus glaber, and silver chain; and fastgrowing types such as willow, eucalyptus, cassia siamea, masson pine, and hemp oak. Woody energy trees should be suitable for the region’s natural features. For example, Zhejiang Province has, through multiple on-site experiments, picked out ten ideal firewood species such as lespedeza, eucalyptus, masson pine, german oak, sweetgum, and more. Meanwhile, Zhejiang Province also chose species such as lespedeza, eucalyptus, and others for its nine single species forests and species such as masson pine, lespedeza, and others for its six superior mixed forests from twenty-two types of forest structure combinations. According to the data of the State Forestry Administration (CSFA, 2009), China’s current firewood forest is 1.75 million ha in area. Firewood plots, which can generate a great amount of fuel wood for household consumption, will reach the output of 7.5 tons per hectare in the South and 3.8 tons per hectare in the North.

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SECTION IV: SUMMARY AND COMMENTS ON BIOMASS RESOURCES IN CHINA I have summarized and analyzed data concerning agriculture and forestry organic waste, marginal land, and biomass raw material plants, and I proposed the most reliable data for reference in the above three parts. Here, in the fourth part, I would like to make a final account on the marginal lands and biomass plants available in the nation and to make a prediction on their increments as of 2030. Finally, I will draw some conclusions about China’s biomass resources.

16.5. THE COMBINATION BETWEEN LAND AND PLANTS As one kind of raw material, organic waste can be directly transformed into useful products. However, biomass plants cannot achieve such things alone. Only combined with certain fields can they give a good show of their great potential. For example, sweet sorghum should be cultivated on alkaline soil and inferior farmland free of grain cultivation; energy forests should be cultivated on wasteland. In addition, different biomass plants are suitable to be converted into different products. So we can make a good match between biomass plants and energy products. Table 16.4 lists the distribution and output of main biomass plants in China, and table 16.5 lists the combinations among different biomass Table 16.4. Distribution and productivity of China’s major energy plants Raw Material Energy Plant Sweet sorghum Sweet potato

Regions North China and nationwide Nationwide

Cassava

Southwest, South China

Sugar cane

Southwest, South China Nationwide Nationwide Northwest and nationwide

Woody oil Energy forest Shrub land

Raw Material Output (ton ha–1)

Main Product Output (ton ha–1)

Productivity* (ton ha–1)

60–80 (shoot) 3–5 (grain) 15–20 (ordinary yield) 20–30 (ordinary yield) 45–75 (high yield) 60–70

4–6 (ethanol)

4–6

2–3 (ethanol)

2–3

4–6 (ethanol)

4–6

10 (ethanol) 4–6 (ethanol)

10 4–6

4.0 (grain) 6.5 4.0

1.5 grease 6.5 (solid fuel) 4.0 (solid fuel)

1.8 3.3 2.6

Note: Calorie value per ton of ethanol is close to that per ton of standard coal if measured by the low-rank calorie value of ethanol, 29,734 kilo joule kg–1. * converted to standard coal.

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175 343 5,365 16,374

700

Firewood forest Oil forest Shrub land

Energy forest 60% Oil trees 20% Energy crop 20% Xeromorphic shrub

5,004

2,000

Sweet sorghum 35% Sweet potato15 (north) Cassava 35% (south) Sugarcane 15% (south)

2,787

Area (104 ha)

4.2 1.8 2.6

3.3 1.8 3–5 2.6

Others: 4–6

Sweet potato: 2–3

Energy Productivity* (ton ha–1)

735 617 13,950 54,974

9,908 1,801 4,003 1,820

22,140

104 ton

1.3 1.1 25.4 100.0

18.0 3.3 7.3 3.3

40.3

%

Potential of Energy Production*

Solid fuel Biodiesel Solid fuel

Solid fuel Biodiesel Fuel ethanol Solid fuel

Fuel ethanol (excluding biodiesel)

Main Product

Note: The percentage in the suitable raw materials plant is an estimated value; energy productivity is from table 16.4; potential of energy production is median value; * is converted standard coal.

Sand land 4. Current marginal land for forest use firewood Oil trees Shrub land Total

1. Agricultural suitable reserve 2. Current marginal land for agricultural use 3. Forestry suitable reserve Deserted hills and slopes

Type of Marginal Land

Suitable Raw Materials Plan and Their Area and Percentage

Table 16.5. Marginal lands in China and productivity of their corresponding energy plants

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plants and different land types (marginal land suitable for agriculture cultivation constitutes a great combination with sweet sorghum/potato; barren hills and slopes suitable for forest cultivation constitutes a great combination with fuel forests; sandy wasteland suitable for forestry cultivation constitutes a great combination with shrub plots; firewood forest/ shrub plot/fuel forest constitutes a great combination with firewood/ shrub/fuel plants). With reasonable combinations, biomass plants with the energy power equaling 54,974 tons of standard coal are expected to be harvested from 163.74 million ha of marginal land. Among which, 221.4 and 328.34 million tons of standard coal equivalent will be contributed by agricultural and forestry marginal lands, accounting for 40.3 percent and 59.7 percent of the total energy produced, respectively.

16.6. THE CURRENT STATUS OF BIOMASS RESOURCES The panorama of China’s biomass resources can be pieced together by the scenes of marginal land combined with biomass plants and the scene of organic waste resources. As shown in table 16.6, we find that biomass resources produced 932 million tons of standard coal equivalent fuel energy in the year 2007, among them, the organic waste and marginal land produced 383 and 549 million tons of standard coal equivalent, accounting for 41.2 percent and 58.9 percent, respectively. The top five major energy producers are as follows: backup land suitable for agriculture cultivation (221 million tons of standard coal equivalent, accounting for 23.7 percent), crops straw (213 million tons, 22.9 percent), backup land suitable for forestry cultivation (175 million tons, 18.7 percent), shrub (140 million tons, 15.0 percent), and livestock manure (77 million tons, 8.3 percent). These top five major energy producers contribute 88.7 percent of the total fuel energy. Among the 932 million tons of standard coal equivalent of fuel energy, 61.2 percent came from the agriculture domain and 38.8 percent came from the forestry domain. And 83.8 percent of the energy produced by organic waste comes from the agriculture domain, and 60 percent of the energy produced by marginal land comes from the forestry domain.

16.7. THE PREDICTION ON BIOMASS’S DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL IN 2030 The output of biomass feedstock will increase along with the development of agriculture and forestry. The technical factor parameters for resource growth potential were set very high in both the U.S. Technical Feasibility Study Report on 1 Billion Tons of Annual Supply Potential

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Table 16.6. Biomass raw materials in China (based on outputs in 2007) Actual Output (108 ton)

Standard Coal Equivalent (108 ton)

Share in Total Resource (%)

4.22 6.19 0.70 0.38 — 0.16 11.65

2.13 0.77 0.40 0.22 0.28 0.03 3.83

22.9 8.3 4.3 2.4 3.0 0.3 41.2

Types of marginal land

Area (104 ha)

Standard Coal Equivalent (108 ton)

Share in Total Resource (%)

1. Agriculture-suited reserve 2. Current marginal land for agriculture use 3. Forestry-suited reserve 4. Current firewood land 5. Current oil forest land 6. Current shrub land Total

2,787 2,000 5,704 175 343 5,365 16,374

2.21

23.7

1.75 0.07 0.06 1.40 5.49

18.7 0.8 0.6 15.0 58.8

Types of organic wastes 1. Crop straws and stalks 2. Animal feces 3. Forestry leftover 4. Collectible silviculture firewood 5. Industrial wastes 6. Municipal organic wastes Total

and Edward Smeets’s forecast on global biomass resources. We use the “growth forecasts reverse deducing method” to estimate China’s biomass feedstock growth potential instead of the “scenario designing method” that was used by the United States and Smeets. The major idea of the “growth forecasts reverse deducing method” is to use the requirement and production predictive indexes proposed by national authoritative departments on China’s agriculture and forestry development to reversely deduce the growth of related biomass resources. As predictions on requirement and production are worked out based on many comprehensive factors, this method is more appropriate for China’s reality. Now, I would like to present the predications on the increment of crops straw, livestock manure, and energy crops production as of 2030 as follows; the others are more difficult to predict. The growth of crop straw output depends on the growth of crop yield. Agricultural Development Strategy for 21st-Century China, which was edited and published by China’s National Development and Reform Commission in 2000 (Liu, 2000), put forward the predictions on the demand for rice, wheat, corn, and other grains of the nation in 2030. Based on the “grain-straw ratio,” we know that grain straw output will be around 799 million tons as of 2030, 38 percent higher than 2007. Or to put it in other

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Table 16.7. Crop straw and stalks output as biomass raw materials in 2007 and 2030

Output (104 ton)

Cereals Rice Wheat Maize Other cereals Cereal total

2007 2030 2007 2030 2007 2030 2007 2030 2007 2030

18,603 20,273 10,930 16,460 15,230 21,096 869 2,624 45,632 60,453

StrawtoGrain

Straw Output (104 ton)

1:0.623

11,590 12,630 14,930 22,484 30,460 42,192 869 2,624 57,849 79,939

1:1.366 1:2.0 1:1

Standard Coal Conversion Factor 0.429 0.5 0.529 0.50

Standard Coal (104 ton) 4,972 7,869 7,465 11,242 16,113 22,320 435 1,312 28,985 42,743

Growth Rate of Standard Coal (%) 58.3 50.6 38.5 201.6 47.5

Note: Cereal output in 2007 is from the China Agricultural Statistical Yearbook 2008; the projected cereal output in 2030 is cited from Lv Feijie, 2000.

words, we can have 427 million tons of standard coal equivalent of fuel generated from grain straws as of 2030, 137 million tons more than 2007 or a 47.5 percent increase compared with 2007 (table 16.7). The output growth of livestock manure can be estimated from the demand prediction on pork, beef and mutton, and poultry in 2030. It is predicted that the demand for pork, beef and mutton, and poultry in 2030 will rise to 66.55, 20.26, and 21.98 million tons, a 55.2 percent, 103.4 percent, and 51.8 percent increase compared to 2007 (Jia, 2000). We therefore can deduce that livestock manure will rise from 884 million tons in 2007 to 1,401 million tons in 2030. That is to say, the fuel energy generated from livestock manure will increase by 45 million tons of standard coal equivalent, and to 122 million tons from 77 million tons. At present, the yields of sweet sorghum stalk and potato stand at 60 tons per hectare and 15 tons per hectare, respectively. A 50 percent increase is definitely a reachable target by means of improved variety, enhanced fertilizer application, and strengthened field management. In this case, the annual output of fuel energy converted from such biomass resources can be increased from 113 to 170 million tons of standard coal equivalent. Based on the growth prediction on stalk, livestock manure, and energy crops mentioned above, we can come to the conclusion that fuel energy generated from such biomass resources will increase by 137, 45, and 57 million tons of standard coal equivalent, respectively, totaling 239 million tons of standard coal equivalent. As a whole, fuel energy generated from such biomass resources will increase from 932 million tons of standard coal equivalent in 2007 to 1,171 million tons of standard

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Figure 16.1. Biomass resource of China in 2007 and increment in 2030.

coal in 2030. Please refer to figure 16.1 for the summary of the current and predictive resource potential. 16.8. THE GOOD MATCH BETWEEN MATERIAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY PRODUCTS Different biomass resources are suitable for being processed into different products. Sugar and starch biomass resources are suitable to produce liquid fuels such as ethanol and its chemical derivatives; lipids biomass resources are suitable to produce biodiesel and its chemical derivatives; livestock manure, organic waste water, and residue released from the processing industry and urban cities are suitable to produce biogas products; crop straw, forest residue, and other lingo-cellulose biomass resources are suitable for biomass combustion and cocombustion power generation, and they are suitable to produce briquettes as well as liquid fuel and other various products if technological breakthroughs are made. Therefore, crop straw can be used for both liquid and solid fuel production after going through simple treatments. In short, among the 1,171 million tons of standard coal equivalent fuel energy generated from biomass resources, 466 million tons, namely 39.8 percent, are suitable to produce liquid fuel to substitute for petroleum; 552 million tons, namely 47.1 percent, is suitable to produce solid fuel to substitute for fire coal; 153 million tons, namely 13.1 percent, is suitable to produce gas fuel to substitute for natural gas. It is expected that the goal can be realized around 2040 that crops straw can, after going through certain treatments, be halved to produce cellulosic ethanol and solid fuel. Please refer to figure 16.2 for detailed information.

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Figure 16.2. The substitution potential of integrated bio-energy products derived from corresponding biomass raw materials in China. Note: The numbers shown in the figure are standard coal equivalent (unit 108 ton year–1).

16.9. THE COMPREHENSIVE VIEW ON CHINA’S BIOMASS RESOURCE Based on the analysis we have made above, we can draw some comprehensive views on China’s biomass resources in the following: First, China is a country rich in biomass resources. With fuel energy converted from biomass resources expected to rise from 932 to 1,171 million tons of standard coal equivalent in 2030, China will gain access to a huge supply of biomass-turned-fuel energy in 2030, which is equivalent to 44 percent of the total energy consumption in 2007. Such a sustainable green energy rich ore will provide the nation with precious resources and boundless wealth. Second, as for energy sources, 48.3 percent of China’s biomass resources come from agriculture and forest wastes (565 million tons of standard coal equivalent); 51.7 percent come from energy crops planted on marginal land (606 million tons of standard coal equivalent). To put it in another way, 66.7 percent comes from agriculture and 33.3 percent comes from forestry, and agriculture accounts for two-thirds and forestry accounts for one-third of the total biofuel. Third, producing biomass fuel from agriculture and forest wastes is a good way to recycle resources, and growing biomass plants on marginal land as an extended use of land resources are attempts to develop new resources and products. Such efforts do not constitute competition for raw material and markets with traditional industries; instead they can supply clean energy that is in bad need nowadays, reduce greenhouse gas emission, and promote rural economic development.

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Fourth, it is a huge contribution that China’s biomass resources can displace petroleum of 459 million tons of standard coal equivalent, coal of 559 million tons of standard coal equivalent, and natural gas of 153 million tons of standard coal equivalent; meanwhile, such biomass resources can make greenhouse gas emission decrease by two billion tons annually. Fifth, China is a country with a vast territory, complex natural conditions, and various scattered biomass resources. Therefore, it is wise for China to develop a strategy that will be directed by diversified local biomass resources and fuel products, to pay equal importance to the development of liquid, solid, and gaseous fuel as well as biofuel and bio-based products, and to dedicate itself to forming a widely covered biomass industry layout and network in the nation, with priority given to small- and medium-sized factories.

REFERENCES CSFA (China State Forestry Administration). Office for Forest-Based Bio-Energy. Briefs of Forest-Based Bio-Energy Development 5 (2008). CSFA (China State Forestry Administration). Report on China Forestry Resource: The Seventh Inventory on China Forestry Resource, 12 (2009). Deng, Z. J., H. N. Cheng, and S. Q. Song. “Studies on Jatropha curcas Seed.” Acta Botanica Yunnanica 27, no. 6 (2005): 605–12. Fu, T. D., and J. X. Shen. “Current Situations of Rape Production and Biodiesel Development in China.” Chinese Academy of Engineering, 2006. Strategic Forum on Bio-Energy Development, November 2006. Jia, Y. L. “Development and Economic Issues in Livestock Industry.” In Agricultural Development Strategy for 21st-Century China, ed. J. Liu. Beijing: China Agriculture Press, 2000. Liu, J. “Study on Aggregate Supply and Demand for Agricultural Products.” In Agricultural Development Strategy for 21st-Century China, ed. J. Liu. Beijing: China Agriculture Press, 2000. Lv, F. J. Medium- and Long-Term Outlook on China Agricultural Products: Forecast Model and Policy Analysis. In Agricultural Development Strategy for 21st-Century China, ed. J. Liu. Beijing: China Agriculture Press, 2000. Wang, H. Z. “Analysis and Suggestions on China’s Edible Oil Supply and Security.” Presentation at Xining, Qinghai, China, August 2008. Wang, M. J. “Breeding Good Cultivar of Energy Crop Sweet Sorghum and Ethanol Production Technology from Its Stalks.” Chinese Academy of Engineering, 2006. Strategic Forum on Bio-Energy Development, November 2006. Yao, X. H. “Current Situations and Developing Potential on Woody Oil Trees.” Chinese Academy of Engineering, 2006. Strategic Forum on Bio-Energy Development, November 2006. Yin, W. L., and M. P. Zhai. “Developing Energy-Purpose Shrub in West China to Achieve Win-Win Solution of Ecosystem And Energy Security.” Scientific Chinese, April 2007.

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One is born to be useful somehow Money is bound to return someway. —Li Bai

W

ith the annual power production potential as high as 213 million tons of standard coal equivalent and accounting for 23 percent of the total energy produced by all biomass resources, crop straw ranks second among the five major biomass resources mentioned in chapter 16. It is expected that 350 million tons of standard coal equivalent could be produced from straw in 2030, accounting for 30 percent of the total biomass energy. Shendong Coalfield, although it is the largest coalfield in China with an annual output around about fifty million tons of raw coal (i.e., thirty-five million tons of standard coal equivalent), only takes up about one-tenth of the energy potential of straw. While coal is the primary source of greenhouse gas emission, straw is a clean and renewable energy resource. It is estimated that the coal reserves in Shendong Coalfield can only last for about fifty years. The “straw mine,” however, can be used eternally. Magically enough, the more we explore the “straw mine,” the more treasure it will bring to us—a scene quite similar to the famous poem lines of Li Bai, a genius poet in ancient China—“One is born to be useful somehow and money is bound to return someway.” In this chapter, I will explore further the “straw mine” with an emphasis on straw resources as well as biomass pellets and briquettes.

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17.1. A LATE-ARRIVING SURPRISE Ever since I have dabbled in biomass, I have been fascinated by the biomass pellets and briquettes in Sweden, where organic solid wastes (e.g., deadwood, crop straw, bark, and sawdust) are collected, crushed, and compressed into pellets and briquettes of various sizes. These waste materials, with slight physical modifications, are turned into clean and condensed fuels easy to transport and commercialize. What’s more, their thermal efficiency even increased by two to three folds after such modification. Both pellets and briquettes are technical terminologies. While fuel compressed into particle shape is termed pellet, fuel into block shape is termed briquette. Pellet and briquette are widely used in European countries such as Sweden, Germany, and Italy as feedstock for the family fireplace or for electricity generation at small residential communities. Like the coal balls in China, the pellets and briquettes are found everywhere in the markets in Europe, but they are cleaner, more convenient, and more nicely packed than their Chinese counterparts. Backed with fully developed technologies and facilities, pellet and briquette production in Europe does not require much investment and can be carried out in medium and small scale, with revenue quickly returned. Farmers also show high enthusiasm for such production on the European continent. Apparently, the pellet and briquette production models are especially suitable for China to get involved in. Back at that time, a company in Beijing was producing the pellets and specially tailored kitchen units for residents in rural areas. As I deeply convinced by the bright future of pellets and briquettes in vast rural areas of China, another academician and I delightedly served as advocates for products and technologies launched by the pioneer company in an exhibition held for senior Chinese leaders in early 2005. Many of them were attracted by the pellets, and they believed them to be of great potential. In addition to the forerunners, there were several pioneers also active in the field. For example, inventors from the Henan Agricultural University compressed wheat and corn straw through heat processing into blocks to substitute for coal as a feedstock for boilers. Similar factories also appeared in Jilin Province to engage themselves in the production of pellets and briquette, as well as the molding machines. In addition, the Plan and Design Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture developed a demonstration base for pellet industrialization at Daxing County, Beijing, in 2007, where twelve thousand tons of straws were consumed to churn out ten thousand tons of pellets each year through the machines. About ten thousand tons of straw briquettes, which have been produced by the demonstration base as of April 2009, were provided to 150 nearby farmers and sold to adjacent vegetable

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growers for greenhouse heating. The Plan and Design Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture also established a standard system for straw briquette production in the nation by reference to the European Union Standard (Plan and Design Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, 2004). Though straw briquette has not been a totally new thing in China, it developed very slowly. To the best of my knowledge, there are about one thousand pellet-making machines in operation across the nation, but only less than three hundred thousand tons pellets are produced each year (Hong, 2009). The production of straw briquettes is still at the research and demonstration stage in China, because the production efficiency of pellet-making machines is low and energy consumption is high. What is more, it is difficult to replace the easily damaged parts of the machine due to only a few production lines. While the small companies involved in the business have ambition but lack the ability to expand their production, the large corporations just lack incentive to get their hands in the circle. More importantly, the supporting policies to help the sound development of briquette production have always remained absent in the nation. I found myself often sunk into deep contemplation, trying to figure out what kinds of problems—technology, equipment, or policy ones—should be responsible for such laggard development. In spring 2009, I got my long-sought answers from a board chairman of a Jilin-seated company engaged in briquette production. His introduction to his career path solved the puzzles that were confusing me and brought me to a late-arriving surprise.

17.2. A SUCCESSFUL REALIZATION OF CONCEPT Hong Hao, the incumbent board chairman of the Huinan Hongri New Energy Source Co., Ltd., engaged in the bioremediation of saline and alkaline soil in the western part of the Jilin Province in his early years. Since 2006, he has been interested in the wood wastes scattered in the Changbai Mountain forest region in Jilin, China. The wood wastes are both hidden risks of fire accidents and useful resources for exploitation. Hong Hao decided to wield the double-bladed sword, and he dabbled in straw briquette production. He had to face many problems, however, such as how to collect, store, and transport the highly dispersed wood wastes to the processing site. Besides, there were no domestically produced briquettemaking machines available in China then, and it would be very expensive to purchase them from abroad. While feedstuffs for briquette making are relatively uniform in other countries, the situation is much more complicated in China. In addition, there were no product standards for

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entrepreneurs to refer to in their daily operation activities. Among all of the problems, market development and market positioning are the most difficult ones. Huinan Hongri New Energy Source Co., Ltd., fully tasted the bitterness in starting the first of such ventures in the country. After two years of trial and error, they successfully developed the machines and specialized boilers for briquette making. More importantly, they finally sought out the right market positioning and the sales strategy. They found, through market surveys, that even with due respect for the lofty ideas of environment protection, customers still pay top priority to products with better quality and lower price when it comes to their purchase decision making. Hence, it was not a practical marketing strategy to promote briquette products door by door to potential household users. However, heating suppliers in cities and towns would be highly interested to substitute coal with such novel fuel products. By doing so, these suppliers could easily transfer the heat converted from pellets and briquettes to thousands of households. In Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province, the heating supply to households usually lasted a half-year due to the cold and harsh weather, so this is really a big market for straw briquettes. However, the coal boilers, which have been used for several decades by local residents, have made themselves indispensable companions for people there in the heating season. Besides, the coal boiler facilities were well developed, and the coals were easy to buy. If biofuels were used instead of coal, many facilities, including boilers, had to be changed. No doubt, no one was willing to take this trouble. To overcome this obstacle, Huinan Hongri New Energy Source Co., Ltd., conceived of a bold idea and decided to sell “heat,” the end product, rather than pellets and briquettes to customers, by providing highly integrated services ranging from producing pellets and briquettes to converting them into heat by boiler. In the heating season of 2008 to 2009, the company successfully managed to conclude deals with some customers as their indoor heating supplier. The contracted total heating area reached eighty thousand square meters, of which the largest user—the four-star Kuala Lumpur Hotel in Changchun—accounted for forty-two thousand square meters. According to the contract signed between the company and the hotel, the indoor minimal temperature should stay at 20ºC. But as a matter of fact, it reached to a more cozy level of 21 to 22ºC. What’s more, the hotel was used to paying a bill as high as 5 million RMB yuan for oil-based heating in a heating season. Now it only spent 2.7 million RMB yuan when the straw briquettes were used as the energy materials. Last but not least, the emissions of greenhouse gas and dust were much lower compared with oil fuel. As a result, all of these merits were highly recognized by the Department of Environmental Protection in Changchun.

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Thanks to its brilliant performance the previous winter, Huinan Hongri New Energy Source Co., Ltd., won a more impressive order from Tianhe Fu’ao Auto Safety System (Changchun) Limited Company at the Changchun New Technology Development District, and it was entrusted to innovate Tianhe Fu’ao’s pellet heating systems in the heating season of 2009 to 2010. In July 4, 2009, we drove to Huinan County, a place two hundred kilometers away from Changchun. When we arrived at Huinan Hongri Co., Ltd., the machine was operating soundly, with pellets and briquettes continuously spouting out at trepid temperature. We also visited spacious and bright warehouses where raw materials and produced pellets were orderly stored. Huinan Hongri Co., Ltd., doubled its indoor heating service area to 180,000 m2 in the heating season of 2009 to 2010 and was determined to expand its business from the province to the whole nation. The fledging company expects to have their indoor heat supply area increased to eight hundred thousand square meters in the heating season of 2010 to 2011, a double rise from the last year. With caloric values staying about 17,991 to 18,828 × 103 J/kg, the pellets produced by Huinan Hongri Co., Ltd., is about six to eight milimeters in diameter, thirteen to sixteen milimeters in length, and 1.1 to 1.4 tons/m2 in density. Table 17.1 shows the comparison of the caloric value and heating cost of five kinds of fossil fuels and pellets. The unit cost of pellets is comparable to that of coal and pipelined natural gas, lower than that of fuel oil, and much lower than that of commercial electricity. The concentrations of smoke and dust emitted by boilers using coal, fuel oil, fuel gas, and pellets were 80, 80, 50, and 34.7 mg/m3, respectively. The concentrations of SO2 emitted by such boilers were 900, 900, 100, and 41.3 mg/m2. So it is easy for us to find that pellets are the most environmently friendly and the cheapest in cost compared with other fuels (table 17.1).

17.3. BIORESOURCES ARE AROUND US In the seminar in celebration of the successful conclusion of “The Feasibility Study on the Enterprise Integrated Production of Electrical Power, Heating/Cooling, and Pellet by Cassava Straw in Guangxi Province,” a cooperative project undertaken by the Biomass Engineering Center of China Agricultural University (CAU) and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, I cited a famous line from History Book of Sui Dynasty— “not exceeding ten steps, a beauty must be seen”—to express my delight about the great abundance of biomass.

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Table 17.1. Comparison of the heat values of five fossil fuels and the molded biofuel and the costs of them for heat supply (Hong, 2009)

Fuel

Heating Value

pipeline natural gas

35962 × 103 J/m3

oil fuel, 108 CST

48088 × 103 J/kg

oil fuel, M 100

41816 × 103 J/kg

diesel oil, 0#

50179 × 103 J/kg

coal

24253 × 103 J/kg

commercial electrical power wood particle

360×103 J(kW•h) 18817 × 103 J/kg

Cost of Fuel for Heat Supply 1.95 yuan/m3, 54.16 yuan / 1 × 109 J 3000 yuan/ton, 62.31 yuan / 1 × 109 J 3300 yuan/ton, 78.82 yuan / 1 × 109 J 5780 yuan/ton, 115.04 yuan / 1 × 109 J 1350 yuan/ton, 55.59 yuan / 1 × 109 J 0.6 yuan/(kW•h), 166.64 yuan/ 1 × 109 J 1000 yuan/ton, 53.08 yuan/ 1 × 109 J

Cost of Fuel per Producing 1 × 109 J of Heating Value 1.02

1.16

1.48

2.17

1.05

3.14

1

Note: Data from Huinan Hongri Co., Ltd., in 2009.

It has been well known that crop straw can be used as firewood and fodder. However, cassava straw is an exception, which is hard to burn or to be fed to cattle. Therefore, it is usually discarded along an off-field road as useless waste. Professor Cheng Xu, a distinguished professor dedicated to agroecology and biofuel research at CAU, generated an idea of converting them to straw briquettes. He cast his sights to Sweden, the origin place of briquettes boasting a consumption level of 300 kg of briquettes per capita, and he established a collaboration with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The two parties gained a grant for the jointly applied EU-China Energy and Environment Program and achieved very good results with their two-year research (Biomass Engineering Center of China Agricultural University, 2009). The research results show that the fuel properties of cassava straw are different from those of other biomass resources, since cassava is rich in phosphorus, potassium, and calcium and is low in silicon. Specifically speaking, cassava straw has less ash residues than corn straw after combustion, and its melting point is quite high. Therefore, using cassava

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straw as fuel decreases the risk of coke and dreg deposition. Through improving combustion facilities, the problems caused by excessive ash due to the high content of nitrogen and potassium can also be overcome. The Swedish experts also found that the quality of pellets produced by cassava straws with 10 percent, 12 percent, and 14 percent of water content all reach up to the European Union Standard. The energy consumed during the conversion process is 10 to 15 percent less than the process in which wood materials was converted into pellets in Sweden. The cassavastraw-turned-pellets can be used as feedstock for medium and small boilers, and it is especially good for electricity generation boilers. It is an ideal practice to carry out the cogeneration of pellets and power (CPP). Such manufactoring can produce 160,000 tons of solid biofuels and 1 × 107 kW per hour of electricity by using two hundred thousand tons of dry cassava straw. The excessive heat released from the manufactoring can be offered to the local starch/alcohol industry as well. The produced pellets can produce 1 × 105 tons of the standard coal equivalent of energy. According to the investigation team, the total area of cassava planted in Guangxi Province is about 4 × 105 ha. Annually, about 3.6 × 106 tons of cassava straw is produced with a product value of about one billion RMB yuan per year, which could produce two million tons of the standard coal equivalent of energy and decrease about five million tons of CO2 emission. This is absolutely exciting news for Guangxi Province, which is poor in coal, petroleum, and natural gas reserves. The significance of small pellets cannot be underestimated, since it really can do a big business. At the seminar held on the occasion of the conclusion of the aforementioned project, I cited the last word left by Liu Bei, the king of Shu in the Three Kingdom Period in Chinese history, to his son, Liu Chan, to express my feelings about the small-sized treasure: “Don’t miss doing any good thing no matter how insignificant it looks.” The results of the project also show that a total 380 million RMB yuan of investment is needed to build a factory that can coproduce both pellets and 1 × 108 W of electrical power per year; while the pretax marginal income ratio of the factory is 46.21 percent and the fixed investment can be returned in five to six years. Definitely, this project has great potential for industrialization. It is like a single girl with both beauty and virtue; she will definitely be courted by a lot of young men for marriage.

17.4. A CAMPAIGN FOR COMPREHENSIVE USE OF STRAW IS UNDERWAY When I rendered my research results to Premier Wen Jiabao on behalf of the agricultural strategic team of the China Medium-to-Long-Term

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Science and Technology Development Program in early summer of 2004, and I informed him that crop straws can be better used as energy resources, Jiabao claimed agitatedly: “The problem of burning straw in open fields has been mentioned for ten years but we still have not solved it to date.” Now, another six years has passed by, and unfortunately, the problem still remains unsolved. The local leaders did try every measure to curb the phenomena; for example, local top leaders were assigned as the first person to be held accountable, special offices were established to enhance the management of straw burning, severe orders were issued to prevent such action, and people were sent to correct any straw-burning related wrongdoing, and more. However, all of the measures showed little effect in reality. Why are such problems so difficult to cure? The North China Plain is an important grain-producing base in China, which has seen a quick growth in grain output since China’s adoption of reform and the opening up of policy in 1978. In the past, wheat and corn were harvested three times in two years. Now they are harvest twice a year. Therefore, farmers are extremely busy with removing the crop straw rapidly from the field during a limited time interval between two planting seasons, so that the seeding can be cultivated in a timely manner. Just as the agricultural byword states, “agricultural cultivation is measured by day in Spring and hour in Summer,” for so-called three great mission in summertime—summer harvest, summer sowing, and summer field managing. Removing crop straws from fields in a timely fashion would be a big problem if the mechanization level was low and the labors insufficient. In addition, the farmers are richer now; they are not as eager as before to use crop straw as firewood and compost. So they adopt the simplest way; that is, burning the crop straw in the field. That is why the ban on straw burning is so difficult to put into practice (see figure 17.1). Releasing compulsive orders only is not feasible to eliminate the straw-burning problem, which has to be solved from the source. In July 2008, the General Office of the State Council issued a directive titled Suggestions about Speeding up the Promotion of Comprehensive Utilization of Straw. Obviously, the directive is targeted to eradicate the problems of straw wildfire thoroughly. Otherwise, why was straw proposed to be used in a comprehensive way? The directive made it clear that its objective was to “realize the comprehensive utilization of straw and solve the problems of resource waste and environmental pollution out of the illegal firing of straw waste.” The collecting system for crop straw will be put in place as of 2015, when a comprehensive use pattern of straw will be realized and more than 80 percent of the straw will be used. In 2009, the State Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry

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Figure 17.1. Satellite map of straw wildfire during wheat harvest period at HuangHuai-Hai Plain in 2008. Note: The spots in satellite image are open-field burning sites. Source: Cheng Xu.

of Agriculture issued a Notice on Issuing Guidance Opinions on the Compilation of Straw Comprehensive Application Program. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance and the State General Administration of Taxation issued a directive, Temporary Measures on Managing the Subsidy Fund for Straw Utilization as an Energy Resource. To execute the orders from the State Council, a senior summit on comprehensive straw use was held by related ministries and scientific societies in Beijing in June 2008. In November 2009, a meeting was held in Hefei City, Anhui Province, for concerted parties to exchange experiences on the comprehensive use of crop straw. At the end of November, the Second China Straw Comprehensive Utilization Seminar and Technique and Equipment Exhibition was held in Hefei City, too. A great campaign for the comprehensive use of straw and wildfire forbiddance was launched across the country. Although delighted with the kickoff of the battle, I felt the way toward the triumph of the battle still was vaguely identified in the meeting.

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17.5. TURNING CONCEPT TO PRODUCTIVITY In the Second China Straw Comprehensive Utilization Seminar, I introduced the concept of a “straw industry” for the first time (Shi, 2009). For several thousand years, straw has been considered as residues after economic outputs (e.g., food, fiber, fat, sugar) are taken away from the field. Although they are also used as fodders for cattle, as raw material for paper making, as firewood for domestic heating, or are returned to or burned in the field, such practices are quite random in nature. Besides, the concept of a straw comprehensive use as advocated recently is just an extension of the farmers’ traditional ideas on straw usage. By proposing the concept of a “straw industry,” I tried to convey the idea that if straw can be developed with modern technology and managed with advanced concepts, a new industry can be fostered with completely different results harvested in comparison with the traditional way of straw usage. First, rather than residue left behind, straw is an important resource. Both straw and coal/petroleum are carriers of energy and mass. Their differences lie in that while straw is carbohydrate, coal/petroleum is hydrocarbon. With low thermal efficiency, straw is clean and renewable. Second, straw is abundant in quantity, with an annual energy output equivalent to ten times that of Shendong Coalfield. Moreover, straw can be used eternally. Third, technologies include biopower generation and the cogeneration of heat and power, and briquette and cellulose-based ethanol technologies (under research) are available now for straw industrialization with a lot of successive cases. Fourth, straw can be quickly consumed through industrialization with a deep-seated problem of the illegal firing of straw solved from the root. Besides, the emission of CO2 can be reduced, and the farmer’s income can be increased as well. Therefore, doesn’t the straw deserve the name “renewable giant green mine”? Things get changed with changing conditions. For example, coal and petroleum had been ignored for hundreds of millions of years deep underground before the advent of modern technology and the Industrial Revolution. They have been unearthed and became precious resources thanks to mining machines and coal boilers. The moon remained a charming yet mysterious and unattainable place for us in the past. Now, we can land on it through space technology and find ways to access its abundant helium-3 resources. In the past, straw was a negligible crop residue in less quantity with applications, and it was, at best, fodder, firewood, and nourishment returned to the field. Now, abundant straw resources, with the support of model technology, can play a significant role totally beyond most people’s imagination. The concept of “straw industry” under my proposal features the following ideas: more than the so-called comprehensive use, straw can be

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used as a sustainable and green mine resource; straw used should be industrialized on a large scale rather than be confined to rural areas on a small scale; modern management practices instead of traditional outdated approaches should be used for straw use. We have been talking about “industry nurtures agriculture,” “agricultural modernization,” and “building a new socialist countryside” in great length. Is not the straw industry a driving force for economic growth and a good way to solve problems related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers in the nation? Inspiring concepts will lead to enhanced productivity, improved technology, and a developed society. Below, I would like to give several examples to attest to the great power of inspiring concepts. When the Industrial Revolution was at full steam, what the economist Alan G. B. Fisher cared most about were not the grand factories, huge mines, and roaring machines. Instead, he paid attention to the post office, bus station, school, bank, restaurant, and store—the ordinary social cells. In his book The Clash of Progress and Security published in 1935, he put forward the concept of a “tertiary industry” for the first time. Now tertiary industry is like a rising sun, playing a more and more important role in a country’s economic modernization. Fisher did not intend to ask people then to devote attention to the development of social cells such as post offices, bus stations, schools, banks, restaurants, and stores in the industrial wave. Instead, he put forward the concept of the tertiary industry from a theoretical angle. In the 1960s, the U.S. economist Kenneth Boulding got inspiration from spacecraft. The astronauts in an isolated spaceship have to make do with and recycle the limited energy and substances they have in hand and discharge the least waste possible for survival; that is, they have to reduce consumption, reuse and recycle substance and energy to maximize the use efficiency of resources, minimize the production of waste, maximize the recycling of waste, and minimize the emission of pollution. Boulding and his backers not only told space experts to save resources and reduce waste discharge but also, more importantly, he theoretically put forward the concept of a “circular economy.” After studying the conflicts between modern economic development and its supporting ecosystem, Lester Brown put forward the concept of “ecological economics”—humans and their economies are parts of larger natural ecosystems, and they coevolve with those natural systems. He once mentioned that this concept would be deemed a radical one by many people, including economists and consultants for political and commercial leaders (Brown, 2001). When Brown found that human society developed at the cost of ecology and the living environment, he not only appealed to the public attention to the protection of ecology but also came up with the concept of “ecological economics.”

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The concept is drawn for evolved cognition with abstract efforts. However, the power of an advanced concept cannot be fully crystallized unless it is finally recognized and abided by both leaders and people over a long period of time. Both the concepts of straw industry and biomass industry are not exceptions to the universal principle. A new concept needs time for maturity and self-examination.

17.6. STRATEGY AND CONNOTATION FOR THE STRAW INDUSTRY What is the strategy and connotation of the straw industry? Let’s start from the five purposes crop straws are mainly used for in China; namely returned to the field, used as feedstuff, used as industrial raw material, used as firewood, and burned in field, as we mentioned in chapter 15. Now, let’s look at the first purpose—returned to field. First, I would like to point out one wrong perception: the more the straw is returned back to the field, the more nutritious elements the soil will retain. Theoretically, there is a dynamic equilibrium between the organic and inorganic matters in soil. For example, organic matters are richly accumulated in black grassland soil in the cold northeast region, and poorly accumulated in the red earth soil covered with lush trees and grasses in the tropical region. Organic matters are unusually high in farmland under elaborate management and with strong fertilizer application. Hence, the removal of a fraction of straw from such farmland does not influence soil fertility very much. A fifteen-year-long study program conducted by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on the fertility of paddy soil showed that soil fertility was retained through sufficient fertilizer application, but not returned straw (Buresh, 2007). In China, straws have been mainly used as firewood and fodder for several thousand years, but the land productivity still remains high. As far as China’s farmlands are concerned, it is necessary to return a portion of the straw back to the field to maintain the desired level of organic matter in soil, but it does not mean the more the better. Removal of 70 percent to 80 percent of straw from farm fields does not affect soil fertility if fertilizer is properly applied. Then, let’s talk about fodder. The straw is mainly used to feed cattle in the husbandry domain, as swine, chicken, and other nonruminant livestock do not take straw as feed. In 2007, 105.95 million cattle was raised in China, with 86.7 percent of them raised in agricultural areas. If cattle consumes 1.3 tons of straw a year, then 110 million tons of straw will be needed as fodder. The development pace of fodder-purposed straw depends on that of the cattle industry, which is controlled by various factors such as market demand. Therefore, it is impossible for us to expect a steep rise in fodder-

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purposed straw demand as a way to solve the long-term problem of arbitrarily burning straw in an open field. In addition to fodder, straws are also used to produce papers (a lot of small paper mills have been closed out of environmental concerns). The cotton straws used for making strawboard and producing esculent mushroom are also found in small quantities. All of the aforementioned utilities only consume a small fraction of straw. Data about straw returned to the field, used as feedstuff, used as industrial raw material, used as firewood, and burned in the field are summarized in table 17.2. We can find from table 17.2 that the proportion of straws used for five purposes with data gained from four channels are quite close. Straws used as firewood and burned in the open field take up 50 percent to 60 percent of the total straw, equivalent to 400 to 450 million tons. According to the current utility of straw, it can be concluded that the straw industry is an industry in which straws are used as raw materials for fuel generation, fodder, and the processing industry and are returned to the field based on modern technology. Specifically speaking, 40 percent of straws will be used in the traditional domain; namely, returned to the field, as fodder, and for the processing industry, and the rest of the straw (60 percent) will go to the bioenergy section—a new and promising undertaking in China, which can facilitate the economic development in rural areas and increase farmers’ income. The development strategy of the straw industry is to apply straw to multiple usages but with a focus put on energy production. The present priority for straw industry development is to eliminate the deep-seated problem of firing straw in open fields. Jiangsu Guoxing Siyang Biomass Power Generation Co., Ltd., is one of the problem solvers active in this field, which once revealed that the main propose for its straw-based power generation efforts is to solve the problem of straw being arbitrarily discarded by farmers in the nation (Zhu, 2009). In China, 75 percent of straw comes from corn, wheat, and rice. Therefore, the major grain production areas are also the major straw resource areas, the major straw burning areas, the major straw processing areas, and the major straw energy consumption markets. Therefore, the straw industry and food production could develop hand in hand in a win-win manner. The straw industry is an important vehicle to drive up food production in China.

17.7. OPTION AND TECHNOLOGY FOR STRAW INDUSTRY AS BIOENERGY RESOURCE Multiple technologies of different technical maturity are welling up to process straw into fuel energy and products. While some of them have

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— 2007

— 7.04*

15 15

15 15

Return to Field

24 20

31 20.1

Fodder

2.3 4

4 2.2

Industry Feedstock

40 45

19 47.1

Firewood

18.7 16

31 15.6

Discarded or Wildfire

Fraction of Straw Used for Each Utility (%)

58.7 61

50 62.7

Fraction of Straw That Can Be Used for Energy Resources Returned to Field

*Data were obtained by considering nine types of crop straws, including rice, wheat, corn, other food grain crops, legumes, potatoes, oil plants, cotton, and sugarcane.

2009 2004

Year

8.2 7.21

Gross Production (1 × 108 tons)

Summary of the fraction of straw utilities.

Ministry of Agriculture (Kou, 2008) China Petroleum Planning and Engineering Institute (Zhu, 2009) Feng Wang (Wang, 2008) Yuanchun Shi (Shi, chapter 15)

Reference

Table 17.2.

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achieved sound business results, some of them are at the demonstration stage and are on their way to being industrialized, and some of them are trying to overcome technical bottleneck. The technologies for biopower generation, heat and power cogeneration, and straw briquette have been well developed with quite high commercialization levels in Europe, such as Sweden and Denmark. In China, the National Bio-Energy Group, the Maowusu Biomass Power Generation Co., and the Huinan Hongri New Energy Source Co., Ltd., also have done good jobs in such fields with massive market shares secured. The technology of straw gasification/liquefaction through pyrolysis is at a demonstration stage now in China and to be industrialized for further development. In spite of its efforts in promoting straw-turned-electricity stations across rural areas during the past twenty to thirty years, China has not achieved impressive results in this regard due to problems such as low thermal value (around 4,187 kJ), high cost, tar blockage, and safety problems. Now, only small-scaled demonstration projects are observed in China. However, compared with the power transmission through the electrical grid, such minitype and low-cost power stations are especially suitable for rural areas, which are troubled by the severe scarcity of electrical power supply. In Erlongshan Farm, a state-owned farm in Heilongjiang Province, thirty stations were established to supply 160 million kW per hour of power and 400 million m3 of gas to twenty-eight corporations, and 8,500 households settled in this farm by the gasification of two hundred thousand tons of straws produced on this farm annually. To solve the problem of straw wildfire in nearby Jinan City, Shandong Province, Shandong University developed a series of technologies for straw collection, briquette making, gasification through pyrolysis, gas purification, and power generation. The pyrolyzing furnace developed by the university has a gassification efficiency up to 78 percent and can work well with many types of biomass feedstock. The furnace, which is fixed in a machine bed with feedstocks entered from the bottom, can continuously gasify biomass in a stable way, with quality gas fuel produced. After the biomass-turned-gas is treated by a purification system, less than 10 mg of tar will be left in the furnace for each cubic meter of gas produced, much lower than the domestically prevailing ratio of 50 mg of tar per cubic meter (Jing, 2010). On-site straw processing is a good solution for manufacturers to reduce transportation costs and energy consumption. With the facilities codeveloped by Professor Roger Ruan and Nanchang University, straw can be continuously pyrolyzated under catalysis and microwave (Ruan, 2010) and converted into 20 to 30 percent of gases, 50 to 60 percent of liquids, and 15 to 20 percent of solids. To put it in a more specific way, the gas

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is a syngas with a great combustibility composed of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane; the liquid is bio-oil that can be used to produce biofuel and other chemical products; the solids can be used as raw material for organic fertilizer. By using one ton of straw, 500 to 550 kg of bio-oil and 100 to 150 kg of organic fertilizer can be produced by such facilities. All produced gases are used as energy for the run of the facility. Such facilities are small in size and can be carried by car. The energy usage efficiency of such facilities is very high because the straw is processed onsite and does not need to be extensively crushed. Therefore, the produced biofuel and organic fertilizer enjoy sound economic benefits. Now there are several demonstration facilities running trial experiments. Techniques combining kneading, chemical processing, and the twice fermentation method are adopted for biogas generation directly from dry straw. However, such techniques are still at the trial stage. In addition, Professor Cheng Xu points out that changes that happen to corn straw upon its maturity—such as water-soluble sugar in corn straw decreases from 13 percent before harvest (filling stage) to 2 percent after harvest; lignin get doubled after harvest; cellulose also has an apparent increase after harvest—are not suitable for straw fermentation. To date, a new variety of corn has been developed whose straw will remain blue green when the fruit fringe matures. Therefore, the blue-green straw can also be collected as feedstock for biogas production after harvest. As such, both food and bioenergy are harvested at the same time. If the technical hurdles of a cellulose-based ethanol and biodiesel can be overcome, the use of straw will reach a new level. This has been discussed in other chapters. As abundantly produced and broadly distributed biomass in China, straw can be processed by multiple ways and into multiple products. With the advance of technology, the potential of straw as biomass energy will be more and more evident.

17.8. POWER GENERATION BY STRAW DIRECT COMBUSTION: WE CANNOT AFFORD TO REJECT IT TOO EARLY The technology of power generation by straw direct combustion has matured, and the sector developed fast in China. At the end of 2008, the State Development and the Reform Commission had given consent to the establishment of more than 170 biomass power generation projects with the total installed capacity amounting to 4.6 million kW per hour. To date, fifty projects have been put into operation, and the total installed capacity is 1.1 million kW per hour. There are some doubts about the power generation by straw direct combustion (Gu, 2009; Zhang, 2008; Fu et al., 2007; Xu, 2009). First, it is considered that burning straw

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for power generation is at the cost of bringing down land productivity due to less straw being returned to the field. I have dispelled such unreasonable doubt previously in this book. Second, some doubters believe that it is difficult to collect, store, and transport straw. However, the National Bio-Energy Group has demonstrated that these problems are solvable with successful cases. Third, some skeptics feel unsure about the stable supply of straw and whether biomass fuel generation will rival resources with other industrial sectors. To solve this problem, careful planning and strict control of the industrial layout should be fulfilled by the government with due diligence. In May 2010, Academician Ni Weidou aired his viewpoint in the China Science Times that what people gain from power generation by direct combustion of straw cannot offset what they lose (Li, 2010). I immediately wrote an article (Shi, 2010) arguing that it is not suitable to reject power generation by straw direct combustion in today’s China for four reasons: First, the straw in China now is not in short supply but in surplus. Annually, there are hundreds of million of tons of straw burned in the field. Therefore, rather than plundering the straw source from other sectors, the biomass power industry is trying to solve the deep-seated problems of straw wildfire as well, since it can rapidly consume straw in huge quantities. This is, in fact, the best and only way to eliminate man-made straw wildfire. To date, only several million tons of straw are used to generate power, less than 10 percent of the amount burned in the open field. Thereafter, we have to dedicate to rather than abstain from straw power generation as one way to eliminate man-made straw wildfire. Second, more than half of the cost for straw power generation is paid to farmers to buy the straw. The subsidy provided by the government to the power industry reaches the farmers’ hands finally. It is well known that farmers get very low economic returns by growing grain crops and hence they do not have much incentive for it. If the money they gain from grain sales only can offset the cost of crop planting, then the excess income gained from selling straw at 200 RMB yuan per ton will mean a lot to them, since straw income will be much more than the subsidy given by the government for grain planting. This not only increases the farmers’ income but also inspires their passion to plant crops. Hence, how can we deny the straw power generation that boasts many byproducts no other fossil and nonfossil fuel can attain, such as being beneficial to farmers, increasing food production, and protecting the environment? Third, the thermal value of one ton of straw is approximately equal to 0.5 tons of standard coal. Since one ton of standard coal can produce 3,000 kW per hour of electricity power, accordingly, the one hundred million tons of straw burned in the field each year can be converted to 150 billion kW per hour of electricity power, double of the production from

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Three Gorges Power Plant. Can China, a country mainly dependent on its severely insufficient thermal power supply, afford to ignore the “giant green straw mine” to make up its great power gap? Fourth, though the thermal efficiency of using straw for cogeneration of heat and power can be up to 97 percent, nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium, and organic matter that is good for plants are lost from the soil during the power generation process. Judged from this angle, biogas and cellulose ethanol power generation are more environmentally friendly. However, these two methods are far from mature in terms of technology. This is especially true for cellulose-ethanol-based power generation, since it at least needs another ten years to reach a certain scale. Hence, only straw power generation now can be adopted as a feasible solution to relieve the arbitrary firing of straw in the open field. Abundant in straw resource, China will definitely see various power generation technologies coexist across its land, rather than be confined to cellulose ethanol power generation technology. Although straw direct combustion cannot claim to be the best way to generate power, it is most useful and a practical one at present. Thus, we do not have any reason to deny it. Academician Ni Weidou once pointed out that the collection of straw has to consume a lot of energy. However, his conclusion was partially problematic due to incorrectly cited parameters. What’s more encouraging is that the National Bio Energy Group has proved such high-energy consumption can be brought down with successful practices. In contrast, thermal power stations cost more energy for the transportation of coal. The safety problem related with coal exploitation is also well known with devastating aftermaths. Of course, we have to pay sufficient attention to problems existing in straw power generation. First, as countermeasures against the gloomy economic scene commonly observed in the sector, since most corporations cannot profit or they even lose money, corporations engaged in this sector are expected to further develop technologies and bring down costs. The government, meanwhile, is also expected to extend more favorable policies to these enterprises. Second, straw power stations should be reasonably deployed at major crop production areas, with an installed capacity no more than thirty million kW. In such way, problems such as the rivalry for straw material and an unreasonable price war can be avoided in advance. Third, the straw industry should follow the development path featuring the cogeneration of heat and power and comprehensive use so as to further improve the conversion efficiencies between mass and energy. Fourth, more efforts should be paid to protect farmers’ benefits and to promote the prosperity of the industry and service sectors in rural areas. Finally and most importantly, government authorities, which are expected to be well aware that their decision, attitude, and support are

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keys to the development of straw power generation, should do their utmost to fulfill their duties.

17.9. LET PELLETS SERVE SMALL BOILERS China has two blind spots in its practice of energy source application and emission reduction. First, each year, hundreds of million of tons of excessive straw are burned in the field, causing terrible air pollution. Second, there are hundreds of thousands of dispersed small- and middle-sized coal boilers wantonly giving out greenhouse gases across the nation. If straw is compressed into pellets and used in the boilers as a coal substitute (i.e., let small and dispersed straw serve the small and dispersed coal boiler, as clean fuel substituting for fossil fuel), both aforementioned problems could be solved. How wonderful that is! The technologies and facilities for producing briquettes with straw as feedstock have been well developed. The produced briquettes are solid, compact, clean, and easy to transport. Guaranteed with sufficient supply flow, the straw briquette market can be formed for both providers and consumers. If small straw briquettes converted from hundreds of millions of tons of straw and forest residues can be used as fuel for hundreds of thousands of medium and small boilers (which are estimated to consume hundreds of million of tons of coals annually), the straw briquette market will be anything but a small market or small CDM business. The combination of the two “small” can form a new industry and a new economic growth point. According to the data from Hao Hong (Hong, 2009), 180 million tons of straw briquettes were sold globally in 2008, with a gross output value reaching 50 billion euros, of which the heat supply business accounted for 58 percent (2006). It is expected that after 2010, this market will expand with an annual growth rate over 25 percent. The heating supply is also one of the energy consumption products with the fastest growth rate in China. For the past ten years, it has secured an annual growth rate of more than 10 percent per year. The majority of 0.5 million small and medium boilers in China are fueled by coal, with an annual consumption of about six hundred million tons of standard coal. Because of their small scale, they are unable to be equipped with facilities for the efficient removal of sulfur and dust. Their emissions of SO2 account for more than half of the total emissions in China. In 2006, the total area covered with the heating supply in China’s urban cities is about 6.5 billion m2, among which, 20 billion m2 are served by a noncentralized heat supply. Some heating consumers such as hotels, hospitals, schools, and universities choose to pay a heavy bill for their self-

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reliant heating supply fueled by coal, oil, gas, or power for a cozy indoor temperature that is denied by the urban centralized heat supply. Therefore, a huge market is there for straw briquettes to conquer. In addition, straw briquettes are also suitable heating fuel for suburban areas and towns where the heating supply area is usually less than 200 thousand m2 in scale. During the 2009 Experience Exchange Conference for the Comprehensive Utilization of China’s Crop Straw held in Hefei, I submitted a proposal to the National Development and Reform Commission about matchmaking straw briquettes with small and medium boilers. I have high hopes about promoting the role played by briquettes as the bridge linking together small and medium boilers with excessive straw resources scattered in the country. However, I have not gotten a reply.

17.10. LET “GREEN POWER” SUBSTITUTE FOR THERMAL POWER For all fossil fuels, coal is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emission. Small thermal power stations are the primary criminals of carbon dioxide emission because their unit consumption of coal is much higher than the large thermal power stations. They are small in size, massive in number, and dispersed in locations. In May 2004, the National Development and Reform Commission issued an executive order to terminate the use of small coal boilers and the operation of small thermal power stations across the nation in consideration of their outdated technologies and facilities, weak capital strength, and failure in clean combustion. In May 2010, the National Energy Administration held a meeting, with the agenda worked out to wash out the old machines from the industry of power generations. About four hundred machines with capacities of 10 million kW in 140 power stations were required to shut down before the deadline. During the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2006–2010), many small thermal power stations (with a total capacity exceeding 70 million kW) were closed. By substituting large power stations with these (closed) small power stations, eighty-one million tons of raw coals were saved, and CO2 emissions were reduced by 164 million tons. Can this so-called “let bigness substitute for smallness” program be partially supplemented by “let straw substitute for coal” program and “let green substitute for black” program, since facilities in these closed small stations still have great potential to be changed and reused in reasonable ways? Let’s take Shandong Province as an example. Shandong Province has more thermal power stations than any other provinces in China, with 16.82 billion kW per hour of power produced in 2004. Among more than 370 thermal power stations running in Shandong, only thirty-one stations reach the capacity of fifty million kW per hour per year. At the end of

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2003, the total installed capacity of all stations in the province amounted to thirty million kW, with the small stations accounting for seven million kW. On average, there are two to three small power stations located in almost all of the 130 cities in Shandong Province (Cheng, 2004). As an important agricultural production province, Shandong produced about 19.96 million tons of wheat and 18.17 million tons of corn in 2007. Both crops produced 63.60 million tons of straw, which is approximately equal to of 31.8 million tons of standard coal or 95.4 billion kW per hour power, and about 35 percent of the total produced power (26.91 million kW per hour) in Shandong in 2007. Therefore, it is completely feasible to use straw power stations to substitute for small thermal power stations in the province. In consideration of available straw resources in Shandong Province, three hundred straw power stations can be built across the province, with the power generation output double that generated by small thermal power stations. The small thermal power stations deployed in the 130 cities of Shandong Province do not have any direct economic connection with the three domains of agriculture, countryside, and farmer. However, if they become biomass power stations, this will comprehensively promote the industrialization and modernization in the rural areas in Shandong Province and will benefit farmers and agriculture. In this chapter, the assumptions of “let pellets serve small boilers” and “let green power substitute for thermal power” were proposed after the practice of power generation based on straw direct combustion was introduced. As long as the technologies of straw gasification and liquefaction through pyrolysis for marsh gas production mature, they can be adopted in small power stations. Compared with the gigantic coal and petroleum industry, both the biomass direct-combustion power stations and boilers for pellet production are quite small in size. However, they represent the future of energy source development. They are most adaptable to the dispersed geological locations of biomass feed stocks. They can really bring benefits to farmers, rural areas, and agriculture in China. A famous economist, Ernst Friedrich “Fritz” Schumacher, wrote a book, Small Is Beautiful. Mark J. Penn said in his new book, Microtrends, The Small Forces behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes, that if you look deeper into the world, you will see it full of different kinds of unknown and hardly discoverable small forces. Actually, it is the small forces that will bring tomorrow’s big changes (Penn and Zalesne, 2008).

REFERENCES Biomass Engineering Center of China Agricultural University. Abstract of the Research Report about the Possibility of Establishing Corporations to Integrate Production

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of Electrical Power, Heating/Cooling, and Granular Biofuels Using Cassava Straw in Guangxi Province (unpublished), 2009. (In Chinese) Brown, L. R. Eco-economy. Translated by Z. X. Lin. Beijing: Oriental Press, 2002. (In Chinese) Buresh, R. “Implications of Straw Removal on Soil Fertility and Sustainability.” Expert Consultation on Biofuels, IRRI, August 27–29, 2007. Cheng, J. “It Is Possible That Straw Becomes a New Energy Resource in China.” China Water Resources, October 2004. (In Chinese) Fu, Y. H., F. M. Fan, and Y. Q. Fu. “Impact Factor of Straw Power Generation in China and Strategy.” Journal of Shenyang Institute of Engineering (Natural Science) 3, no. 3, 2007. In Chinese. Gu, H. B. “Reflection on Straw Power Generation.” Technology Information—Power and Energy 23 (2009). (In Chinese) Hong, H. Current Situations and Outlook on Bio-Based Solid Fuel Industry, 2009. (unpublished) Jing, Y. Z. “Research Report about the Technique of Prevention and Elimination of Pollutions by Straw Wildfire nearby the Jinan Airport.” Presentation at Shandong University, 2010. (In Chinese) Kou, J. P., L. X. Zhao, X. R. Hao et al. “Status of Renewable Energy Development at Rural Areas in 2007 in China and the Trend.” Renewable Energy 26, no. 3 (2008). (In Chinese) Li, X. M. “An Account Book for Biomass Power Station.” Science Times (Edition of Low Carbon and Energy), May 24, 2010. (In Chinese) Penn, M., and Zalesne, E. K. Microtrend: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes. 2007. Translated by Y. A. Liu and H. R. He. Beijing: Central Compilation & Translation Press, 2008. Plan and Design Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture. Report on StalkBased Solid Fuel by Plan and Design Academy of Ministry of Agriculture, April 2004. (unpublished) Ruan, R. Removable Facilities of Converting Bio-Waste to Bioenergy and Material by Pyrolysis with Microwave and Its Industrialization. Presentation at Nanchang University, September 2010. (In Chinese) Shi, Y. C. “Straw Energy Industry.” Material from the Experience Exchange Meeting of Comprehensive Utilization of China’s Crop Residue, Hefei, November 2009. (In Chinese) Shi, Y. C. “It Is Not Suitable to Deny Direct-Combustion of Straw for Power Generation.” Science Times (edition of low carbon and energy), June 7, 2010. (In Chinese) Wang, F. “Prospect of the Development of Straw Thermal Power Station.” Control Engineering of China 15 (2008). (In Chinese) Xu, C. M. “Circumspection Is Needed for the Development of Straw Power Stations.” Anhui Technology, Garden of Countryside and Society Development 5, (2009. (In Chinese) Zhang, Zhongchao, Man Wang, and Rui Meng. “Problems of Straw Power Generation and Strategy.” Ecological Economy (research edition) 2 (2008). (In Chinese) Zhu, C. Z. “Is Straw Energy a Resource?” Popular Utilization of Electricity, January 2009. (In Chinese)

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18

From Straw Burning in Open Field to Green Power*

O

n their way driving from Beijing to Jinan, the son of a farmer from the Yimeng Mountain area in Shandong Province and a friend of his from Denmark were stopped by the thick smog in front of them when they crossed the boundary of Shandong, and they wondered what had happened. Later on, a peasant passing by toldthem that the smog was caused by burning straws. They decided to drive closer to have a look and found out that the wheat field had become an ocean of fire. Waves of heat and smoky smog kept them from getting closer. The elder friend from Denmark said that he wanted to take a look. He stepped to the ridge and stood for a while, squatting there for a long time. The farmer’s son approached him, squatted down, and asked his friend from Denmark, “Are you okay?” His eyes moist, his friend said with pity, “Mr. Jiang, how could they burn these valuable straws for nothing like this? They are used for power generation in Denmark.” His words made the peasant’s son ashamed. He could not agree more with his friend’s words, and he said to himself silently: “Yes, farmers are still very poor in China. Why can’t they use these valuable straws to generate electricity?” At that time, he made up his mind firmly that he should promote biomass fuel for the benefit of both his homeland and for farmers in China. Three years later, a batch of biomass power plants emerged in China, which helped breed a rising industry that makes waste valuable and is deeply welcomed by farmers. The man behind such booming plants is the son of the peasant—Mr. Jiang Dalong, the incumbent chairman and president of National Bio Energy Co., Ltd. 369

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18.1. “FAIRY TALE” OF DENMARK After being born in Denmark, a kingdom of fairy tales, the technique of biomass direct-fired power generation quickly spread to many European countries. The invention of such techniques can be traced back to the 1970s when the oil crisis broke out. Denmark, a country solely relying on oil for energy at that time, had no way but to follow to policies that focused on diversifying sources of energy. BWE in Denmark took the lead in developing techniques to generate power with the combustion of biomasses like straws. And the first straw-based biomass combustion power plant in the world was founded in Denmark in 1988. Despite stable growth in GDP since 1974, Denmark did not see a rise in energy consumption, and its annual oil consumption is now even 50 percent less than in 1973, to which straw-based power generation makes a great contribution. In this beautiful country in North Europe that is well known for the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, power generation with straws creates a new “fairy tale of energy.” In many European countries, biomass power generation and joint heat and power generation have become the key methods for power generation and heating supply and have been under commercial operations for years. Now, there are 130 straw power plants operating in Denmark. With the techniques and equipments provided by BWE, Sweden, Finland, Spain, and other European countries also have built up straw power plants. Listed as a key project promoted by the UN, the technique of straw direct-fired power generation is making its way toward the global arena. National Bio Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred as NBE), a subsidiary under the State Grid Corporation of China, makes the energy fairy tale of Denmark true in China. Being a joint venture between the China State Grid and Dragon Power Group, NBE was founded on July 7, 2005, and specialized in the investment, construction, and operation of biomass direct-fired power plants. With advanced biomass direct-fired power generation technology introduced from Denmark, NBE put into operation the twenty-five megawatt Biomass Power Generation Project in Shanxian of Shandong on December 1, 2006, marking the first large-capacity biomass direct-fired power generation project launched in China. Premier Wen Jiabao gave a high compliment to this project: “We should encourage the exploration and utilization of biomass energy, and the practice and experience of China State Grid should be valued.” The Renewable Energy Law of the People’s Republic of China passed by the National People’s Congress in 2005 mentioned the fact that the Chinese government has made favorable policies to biomass power generation in terms of linkage to the state grid, price, and taxes. The Medium-and-LongTerm Development Plan on Renewable Energies issued in 2007 requires that

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the installed capacity of biomass power generation will reach 30,000 MW and the biomass energy use will account for 4 percent of the primary energy consumption by 2020. According to the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2006–2010) for the development of the national economy and society, the installed capacity of biomass power generation is targeted at 5500 MW.

18.2. ANCIENT METHOD VS. BRAND NEW TECHNOLOGY Our ancestors learned to make fire by drilling wood more than two million years ago, which helped them to get rid of the barbaric lifestyle of eating birds and animals raw and to progress toward modern civilization gradually. After going through some two hundred years of industrial revolution dominated by fossil energy, human beings are now left in a dilemma for sustainable development. Renewable energies including biomass energy will become a key option for energy and environmental protection in the postindustrial era. Agricultural and forestry biomass direct-fired power generation is the process in which agricultural and forestry biomass (namely, the agricultural wastes and forestry residues) will be combusted directly in special boilers to produce high-temperature and high-pressure steams that can be changed into clean power through steam turbines and generators, while the afterheat can be used for industrial or civil purposes. The system combines a highly efficient collecting system of agricultural and forestry biomass fuel, a continuous feeding system, special boilers for biomass combustion and supporting machines, steam turbines and generator systems, a transformation and distribution system, and an afterheat utilization system, and more. It is a revival of the traditional usage of biomass energy as well as a perfect combination of the ancient way to get energy and brand new modern industrial technology. The biomass direct-fired power generation technology is a clean method of energy production, as it will not discharge extra carbon dioxide and it releases far less sulfur dioxide and dust than thermal power generation. Moreover, it features the huge consumption of agricultural wastes and forestry residues, direct application, and a high feasibility for scale production and industrialization. Biomass feedstock is characterized by low energy density, discrete distribution, strong seasonality, easy corrosion and storage difficulty, and susceptibility for caking during combustion under high temperature and boiler corrosion, which makes it different from the traditional thermal power generation in terms of fuel purchasing, storage and transportation, feeding system, and in-furnace combustion, and more. Furthermore, decentralized household productions are commonly observed in the rural areas of China with a small production scale and low organization

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and mechanization level. In addition, it is hard to collect widely scattered straw material, and the biomass fuel market is still an immature one at present. All such factors make biomass fuel manufacturing here in China quite different from that in developed nations. Biomass directfired power generation has grown into a mature technology and market abroad; however, it is an emerging industry and technology in China. In the last four or five years, China has made all-around progress in the introduction, digestion, absorption, and reinnovation of imported technologies and equipments based on its own specific national conditions. Longji Electric Group has successfully developed water-cooled vibrating-grate boilers based on technologies introduced from Denmark. By adopting high-temperature and high-pressure parameters, such boilers can work under 9.2 MPa of steam pressure and 540°C of steam temperature, with two types of outputs (130 tons per hectare [t/h] and 48 t/h) and matched turbo-generator units (25 MW, 30 MW, and 12 MW) available for choice. These biomass boilers are the most matured ones in China today, which operates stably with an efficiency as high as 88 to 92 percent. These boilers, which have been made by Jinan Boiler Group, helped reduce the cost of domestic biomass power generation from 13,000 RMB yuan/kW to 8,000 to 10,000 RMB yuan/kW, and they have been sold to the European market as well. Except Jinan Boiler Group, other boiler manufacturers in China, such as Wuxi Huaguang Boiler Group, Beijing Guodian Long, Hangguo Lankun Energy Engineering Company, and Huaxi Energy Industry Group Corporation also developed by themselves water-cooled vibrating-grate boilers for biomass-based power generation, which are either subhigh temperature pressure models or medium temperature and medium pressure models, matched with two capacities, namely, 110 t/h and 75 t/h, and two turbogenerator units, namely, 25 MW and 12 MW. The CFB boiler as jointly developed by the China Energy Efficiency Investment Company and Zhejiang University for biomass power plants, adopting medium-temperature and medium-pressure parameters and a 12 MW turbogenerator, can work under 3.9 MPa of steam pressure and 450°C of temperature, with an output reaching to 75 t/h. The Sifang Boiler Works of Shanghai Electric (Group) Corporation is carrying out innovation for small-sized thermal power units by using chain-grate boilers. Its major products are 75 t/h mediumtemperature and medium-pressure boilers at present.

18.3. BRING FARMERS A HAPPIER LIFE Due to the impact of the worldwide financial crisis, large amounts of migrant workers lost their jobs in cities and had to return to rural areas.

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Meanwhile, issues such as climate change and environmental protection imposed higher requirements on China’s industrial development. In the special seminar held for senior governmental officials under the 2009 International Expo for Energy Conservation, Emission Reduction and New Energy Technology at the beginning of 2009, I made a comprehensive introduction to China’s president Hu Jintao on how the biomass power generation project can make waste useful, bring farmers a happier life, and contribute to new countryside construction. President Hu smiled with content and asked about, among other things, the construction scale of biomass power plants, resources of biomass materials, and the subsidized tariff and profitability of biomass power plants already in operation. Hu also showed great concerns to the issue that some power plants failed to run soundly as the result of a low electricity price. Finally, the president recognized the great social and economic contributions brought by the biomass power generation industry and marveled “great” when I reported that agricultural wastes and forestry residues used in large scale for energy production could drive the industrialization development of agriculture. Indeed, the farmers in China’s rural areas are eager for good opportunities for self-development and jobs with which they can raise their families decently. At present, it is a common practice in rural areas that husbands work remotely in urban cities to earn money while wives stay at home doing farm work and taking care of their parents and children. In China, nearly a hundred million rural couples are living such separate lives. According to the results of the Study on China’s Rural People Left Behind conducted by China Agricultural University in five provinces—namely, Anhui, Henan, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Sichuan—China now has altogether eighty-seven million population left behind in rural areas, including twenty million children, forty-seven million women, and twenty million aged people. Some rural couples leave their hometown for work in the cities, bringing their children with them or leaving them with their grandparents left at home. It results in two serious problems. First, the old people staying behind cannot afford the cost to see a doctor and will not be attended once they are ill because their children are not around them. Second, the children raised by their grandparents are vulnerable to psychological problems due to the remote ties of kinship with their parents. The urbanization and construction of a new countryside in China relies more on the participation of the farmers leaving home than those of the county chiefs with doctoral degrees and village officials with college diplomas. We should create opportunities for them to build their hometowns. While leaving their parents, wives, and children behind to devote themselves to building urban civilization, the migrant workers can

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hardly share a happy and decent life. Though it is an inevitable stage in the process of China’s urbanization, we have to strive hard to bridge the urban-rural gap and realize a common prosperity. The society as a whole should manage to create employment opportunities back at home for the separated rural couples and care about the happiness of their parents, children, and families. Farmers are longing for projects that can bring them stable and sustainable income back in their hometowns. To realize this goal, the projects have to meet three requirements: first, they can generate funds for the sake of rural development; second, they can attract a batch of educated young people staying in their hometowns; third, they are sustainable and environmentally friendly projects that tally with the goal of developing a circulated economy. To generate electricity with agricultural wastes and forestry residues is exactly one good example of such projects. A 25 MW biomass power plant can provide employment opportunities to at least two thousand farmers and bring them at least 50 million RMB yuan as annual total income. It will also raise the level of agricultural mechanization, turn agricultural wastes and forestry residues into valuable materials, and reduce pollution and bring the ash of straw back to the field as fertilizer. With the extension of the industrial chain, more peasants can gain access to local jobs, which will enable them to reunite with their family members and to take care of their parents and children.

18.4. GREAT “BREAKTHROUGH APPROACHES” FOR CONSTRUCTING NEW SOCIALISTIC COUNTRYSIDE In addition to raising the living standard and education degree of peasants, the goals of the Chinese government to construct a new socialistic countryside focuses on developing the rural economy, realizing the industrialized countryside, and promoting the self-development capabilities of the countryside. To reach these goals, the central government has developed a series of policies and guidelines, including but not limited to supplementing farming with industry, spurring rural development with the urban economy, and balancing urban and rural development. However, the implementation of these policies has to rely on tangible breakthrough approaches. Otherwise, they may go by the board. The investment in biomass power generation plants is one ideal approach to bring the new socialistic countryside into being. China has rich agricultural and forestry biomass resources, which may be converted into both industrial strengths and economic advantages for rural areas. The agricultural and forestry biomass direct-fired power generation will facilitate the adjustment of the agricultural structure, the expansion of agricultural

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employment opportunities, and the development of the industrial chain for biomass direct-fired power generation. As estimated, one 25 MW biomass power generator unit needs to consume about 250,000 tons of crop straws or agro-forestry residues. If the purchasing price is assumed at 200 RMB yuan per ton, it can add about 50 million RMB yuan to farmers’ annual income. Besides, about thirty to fifty farmer brokerage job opportunities as well as one thousand to two thousand farmer operator job opportunities will be created in the procedures of fuel purchase, process, storage, and transportation. With fuel process, storage, transportation. and other procedures taken into account, a power plant needs to directly and indirectly pay a total amount of 70 to 80 million RMB yuan as cost. In other words, the fuel cost of a power plant is almost totally converted into the incomes of the farmer operators and farmer brokers. Other than the job opportunities brought about for the farmer operators, such plants will also train a pool of industry service “brokers.” Altogether these people will become the backbones in constructing the socialist new rural areas. Each 25 MW biomass power generator unit will generate more than two hundred million kWh of electric energy, which is comparable to the one-day electricity output of the Three-Gorges Hydropower Station in 2008. This is to say that if 360 sets of such biomass power generator units are built nationwide, the total electric energy output will be equivalent to building another Three-Gorge Hydropower Station. In addition, it will also serve to reduce some 150,000 tons of CO2 emission. Furthermore, a total of ten thousand tons of furnace ash and slag produced during the combustion process will be returned to the fields as fertilizer. In 2009 alone, the nineteen biomass power generation plants that had been put into operation by National Bio Energy Co., Ltd., paid a total of 1 billion RMB yuan to the farmers for the feedstock transaction. During the Twelfth Five-Year Plan Period (2011–2015), China’s installed capacity of biomass power plants will reach 5,500 MW, which is expected to bring more than 10 billion RMB yuan of annual income and 180,000 jobs to local farmers. In China, rural areas are highly scattered. Those farmers living in remote villages are still denied electric power access and rely on fuel wood for daily life that creates a lot of smog with low energy efficiency. By using local straws and forestry residues, small-sized yet widely distributed biomass power plants can raise rural energy consumption to a new level, bring a new look to the countryside, and enhance farmers’ living and environmental quality. In addition, the power generated with biomass can be transferred to the state grid or be provided to end users independently. The construction of biomass power generation plants at the county level is also of great importance to meet the power and heating demands of remote and poor areas across China.

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18.5. TROUBLES AND INNOVATIONS: STRAW COLLECTION, STORAGE, AND TRANSPORTATION During the busy summer and autumn harvest, there are always large amounts of straw crops left piled among the fields and yards in rural areas due to a lack of appropriate and quick treatment methods. Such practice not only occupies vast rural land but also brings the risk of fire disasters. As a result, farmers in some regions resort to burning these straws on a large scale, leading to a common phenomenon of straw burning. In addition to causing serious air pollution and a great waste of untapped biomass resource, it is prone to result in fire accidents and traffic problems, too. Such imperative issues caused by straw burning have aroused great attention from the central government and have become a problem to be settled urgently. In spite of being noticed for many years, the problem remains unsettled properly until now. Then, what are the reasons? Premier Wen Jiabao has once held a special meeting to explore solutions to straw burning, a phenomena that stubbornly persists in spite of being repeatedly banned by the government. My position as an academician of sciences and an academician of engineering sciences led me to point out the sticking point by saying, “If the straws can be changed for money, the farmers will hate to burn them,” which amused Premier Wen a lot. It is true that straws of crops are important useful resources. For thousands of years, they had been used by farmers as household fuels and had never been burned in vain in fields. However, with the development of the rural economy and the living standard of farmers in recent decades, the traditional use of straws as household fuel gradually gave way to coal and gas. At the same time, due to the promotion of agricultural mechanization, cattle were gradually replaced by farming machines. Therefore, the use of straws as feed for cattle was reduced, too. The broad use of chemical fertilizer also has led to the reduced application of straw-made fertilizer. What’s more, in rural areas, where crops are planted twice a year, straws have to be cleared immediately due to the short period left between the harvest season and the planting season. All of these issues have led to the issue of large-scale straw burning. The straw-burning issue once occurred to Denmark, too. According to the Energy Ministry of Denmark, except for a small portion used as fertilizer or feedstuff, most of the crop straws in Denmark used to be burned by farmers in fields, which caused serious air pollution and traffic issues then. The oil crisis in the 1970s forced Denmark, which had relied solely on oil for energy at that time, to implement the policies of diversifying sources of energy and actively developing renewable energies such as biomass-based energy. BWE of Denmark took the lead in developing the

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technique for straw combustion power generation, and the first power plant based on straw combustion was built in 1988. So far, Demark has constructed 130 straw-based power plants, completely solving the problem of straw burning from the root. Apparently, compulsory banning orders fail to work. The key to solving the straw-burning issue is to find a way to make them useful. Since farmers don’t have enough time to transfer straws out from the field in the rush season, this is the key reason behind straw burning, and breakthroughs should be made to help farmers to quickly collect, store, and transport straws. There is an old saying in China, “We have to sharpen our edge to succeed.” To settle the issue, we have to rely on highly efficient mechanized equipments for straw collection, processing, and transportation. Based on technology introduction and independent innovation, all of the crucial equipments required for biomass power plants have realized domestic production, and we have grasped basically the core techniques for biomass power generation. The industry of biomass power generation can impel significantly the development of the techniques for diversified industries along its industrial chain. For example, a power plant with an installed capacity of 25 MW requires an investment of at least 15 to 20 million RMB yuan in agricultural machinery for fuel collection, storage, and transportation. As a matter of fact, most of these mechanical equipments are produced domestically with advanced techniques introduced abroad or upgraded from old domestic machines. Furthermore, these equipments with their high-level of mechanization and automation can be used for general purposes in rural areas and bring new vigor to vast rural areas across China.

18.6. PROSPECT: COMBINED HEAT AND POWER AND INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT Among the multiple techniques available in the nation for the efficient use of biomass, the technology of biomass direct-fired power generation is the most promising one for large-scale commercial operation. At present, the comprehensive heating and electricity usage rate can exceed 80 percent in China’s biomass power plants. Biomass direct-fired power generation can be integrated with other projects, such as greenhouse heating, briquettes, and fuel ethanol manufacturing, in a bid to make full use of the extra heating produced in the power generation process. Biomass joint heat and power generation is quite popular in Europe, with thermal efficiency reaching 97 percent in Sweden. The carbon dioxide released during biomass direct-fired power generation can be channeled to greenhouses for vegetable plantation or

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used for algae cultivation or for biodegradable plastic manufacturing. The dregs of combusted biomass, which are rich in mineral elements such as potassium, are good as raw materials for potassium fertilizer and various compound fertilizers. Biomass direct-fired power generation projects can be implemented together with cellulosic ethanol projects—first, hydrolyze celluloses and hemicelluloses extracted from biomass feedstock for later manufacturing of fuel ethanol; second, feed biomass into furnaces for power generation; third, use the excessive heating resulting from the power generation to produce cellulosic ethanol; and fourth, use waste slag resulting from cellulosic ethanol production as raw materials for fertilizer production. At present, National Bio Energy Co., Ltd.—a leading enterprise in the biomass direct-fired power generation industry—is engaged in experiments for such combined application. NBE is currently conducting tests in Sweden in order to study the economic viability and feasibility of developing such cyclic modes as “cellulosic ethanol—biomass CHP—greenhouse plantation” for its future promotion across China. Power generation through the direct burning of straws and other agro-forestry residues can also be combined with biogas or gasification projects. Biogas such as methane can be used in place of diesel oil to make biomass boilers start to work and maintain better combustion effect. Such replacement not only reduces the consumption of fossil energy but also enables boilers to operate stably when multiple types of biomass with different moisture content and unsteady calorific value are adopted as feedstock. In this manner, methane and other biogas projects can be freed from the trouble of building power generation and grid connection systems, and thus with investment they are substantially reduced. In return, power generation enterprises can compensate methane suppliers in a rational way for a win-win collaboration. Power generation with raw material such as straws and other agroforestry residues as well as future energy forestry biomass is apparently not something of “simple burning”; rather, it will resort to every possible means to make the best use of biomass fuel. The future development trend of biomass power generation will be an integrated and coordinated development of multiple closed-loop technological routes including “energy forest—biomass power generation—bio-diesel,” “energy forest—fuel ethanol—biomass power generation” and “agro-forestry residues—fuel ethanol—biomass power generation—bio fertilizer,” and more.

18.7. NUMEROUS SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS The National Development and Reform Commission has approved three straw-based power generation demonstration projects respectively in

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Shanxian of Shandong Province, Jinzhou of Hebei Province, and Rudong of Jiangsu Province since 2004, kicking off the pilot projects on biomass direct-fired power generation. The industry of biomass direct-fired power generation has made a rapid development since the implementation of the Renewable Energy Law of the People’s Republic of China in 2006. By the end of 2006, there have been nearly fifty large-scale biomass power generation projects approved by the State Commission of Development and Reform and the provincial counterparts, with a total installed capacity over 1,500 MW. Thirty-eight projects were approved, and seven projects were completed and put into operation in 2006. According to the incomplete statistic data, altogether one hundred biomass power generation projects had been approved by the end of 2007 with a total installed capacity over 2500 MW while the installed capacity of the projects completed and put into operation are less than 400 MW in total. The biomass power generation projects are located mainly in Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and more, and the major fuels include straws of wheat, corn, rice, and cotton as well as residues of wood cutting and processing. Being a demonstration project of the state approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, NBE Shanxian Biomass Power Generation Plant is invested by the National Bio Energy Co., Ltd. Running steadily for more than seven thousand hours per year during 2007 to 2009, the plant accumulatively generated electricity up to 664.145 gigawatt hours (GWh) (namely 227.859 GWh in 2007, 211.244 GWh in 2008, and 225.042 GWh in 2009), consumed 250,000 tons of agricultural and forestry residues each year as feedstock, and brought 50 to 60 million RMB yuan to local farmers as annual income. As a company specialized in investing, building, and operating biomass power generation plants, National Bio Energy Co., Ltd., has altogether run forty-six biomass power generation projects approved by the government by August 2009. While ten of these projects have been under construction, twenty projects have been put into production with a total installed capacity of 420 MW. It is expected that NBE’s power generation output in 2009 as a whole was around 3,000 GWh, accounting for nearly 1/926 of the total production of China’s fire power plants in 2008. Other biomass power generation investors such as China Energy Conservation Investment Company, China State Grid, China Electric Power Corporation, and more have also put into operation their demonstration biomass power plants as well. National Bio Energy Co., Ltd., has successively undertaken a series of key projects: “Technology Development and Demonstration for Agricultural and Forestry Biomass Direct-Fired Power Generation in Rural Areas,” which was included into the Eleventh Five-Year National Scientific and Technological Supporting Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

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and “Research of Critical Technology for Biomass Feedstock Solidification and Formation,” which was under the scope of the National High-Tech R&D Program, namely the 863 Program; as well as the “Development and Design of Relevant Equipments for Collection, Storage and Transportation of Feedstock for Biomass Direct-Fired Power Generation,” which was part of the significant service and technology innovation missions launched by the State Grid Corporation. In order to strengthen ties and cooperation with relevant technology and business departments across China, National Bio Energy Co., Ltd., has been cooperating with the Energy Office of the State Forestry Administration of China, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Mechanization Sciences (CAAMS), the North China Electric Power University, the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Agricultural Machinery Promotion Station of the Ministry of Agriculture, and other units in the fields of biomass power generation technology and equipment, comprehensive biomass energy development and utilization, fuel testing, scientific research and technology developments, and more. National Bio Energy Co., Ltd., have set up the National Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Power Generation Equipment, Biomass Fuel and Combustion Technology Laboratory of the State Grid Cooperation, Forest and Woody Biomass Power Generation Demonstration Project Office of State Forestry Administration, NBE-IOBCAS Biomass Energy Development Research Center, and the NBE-CAAMS Biomass Energy Engineering Research Center, and more, in an effort to forge a technology innovation platform for promoting China’s core technology research and development capabilities in the development and use of biomass energy. The success of biomass power generation in China proves that the agricultural production in China, in spite of being highly decentralized, may secure the raw materials required by large-scale power generation by the establishment of a proper biomass raw material collection system under the conditions of the market economy. It also testifies that it is practical to center on a key agricultural county while getting the support from its neighboring counties for the sake of carrying out large-scale industrialized utilization of agricultural and forestry biomass. Both the techniques and equipments required by biomass power generation have been available domestically, and we are capable of independent development and innovation in this field. The Denmark-originated fairy tale of biomass power generation has become true in China.

18.8. PIONEERS WHO ARE THE “FIRST ONES DARING TO EAT CRABS” In fact, dubbed as a “small power plant with significant fuel,” biomass power generation is the combination of two industries: biomass industry

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and power generation industry. In China, power generation is not a novel thing, as we have matured coal power plants for reference. However, as to the industrialized use of biomass, we have to start from the very beginning. There is an old saying in China, “Wading across the stream by groping the stone.” However, we have no knowledge as to where the “stones” are when we are exploring the industry of biomass power generation. We’ll Never Accept Your Test Requests At first, the project team from National Bio Energy Co., Ltd., could not even find a laboratory interested in providing biomass fuel test services for it, and there are no standards available for biomass fuel tests to abide by in the nation. So the project team had to send samples to Spain for laboratory tests. An electric power research institute in Shandong, with a terrible experience of having its apparatus and devices severely damaged while it carried out biomass fuel tests for National Bio Energy Co., Ltd., with its coal-testing apparatuses, declined firmly any request from the biomass generation pioneer afterward. To solve the problem, the project team translated related biomass fuel-testing manuals and reached out with many domestic research and testing organizations for cooperation. Finally, the Coal Supervising and Testing Center of China accepted the challenge. Later on, with the development of biomass power generation and promulgation of related policies, biomass fuel testing was gradually added into the testing service scope of many domestic coal research and testing organizations. CDM or CDMA? When the term of CDM (clean development mechanism) was mentioned for the first time in one project meeting held by NBE, someone mistook it as a cell phone project (CDMA). It sounds like a joke now, but the process to develop and promote biomass power generation in China is really very hard. “We’ll burn your legs if your proposal cannot bring us fuels!” There is an anecdote about what happened at the Shanxian Biomass Power Generation Project during its early stage of demonstration and initial design period. Being an “Outstanding Plain County with Rich Forestation Resource,” Shanxian is famous for its cotton production, and it is rich in forestry residues, too. Therefore, the person in charge of the biomass fuel project to be implemented in the county proposed, based on the firsthand materials obtained through on-site investigation and analysis, to replace the yellow herbaceous straws with gray woody stalks as

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biomass feedstock for the project. Later, during the project demonstration conference, he was challenged by opponents with a teasing: “We’ll burn your legs if your proposal cannot bring us fuels!” The gentleman insisted on his opinions, saying, “If you don’t adopt my proposal, my legs will get more chances to be burned.” His well-grounded insistence aroused many experts’ attention and was finally adopted by the company. It was proved later that his proposal for the replacement of biomass feedstock is correct. “Believing in facts, being scientific, and sticking to the truth” is the magic key for the biomass power generation industry of China to blaze its way through all the difficulties and to forge ahead. We Would Never Give Any IOU The key to doing business with farmers is to win their trust before gaining their support. Since operation, the power plants under NBE have made it very clear to the biomass farmer suppliers that they promise to never give an IOU in return. A stable supply of fuel is of great importance to a healthy development of the power plants under the company in the long run. In 2009 alone, a total of 1 billion RMB yuan of biomass purchase payments has been paid by such power plants to farmers either by cash or through banks. “Wired Parents” There is a “senior” professional for biomass power generation who has been devoting himself to the industry for many years and always travels in haste from one place to another for his work. Due to an extremely busy schedule, he seldom talks too long when calling his parents. Knowing that their son is immersed in the “great cause” to save energy, reduce emissions, and to benefit farmers, his parents, in their seventies, learned to send short messages to their son through mobile phones to express their care and affection while restraining themselves from disturbing his work. The message sent most by the old couple is, “We are fine, don’t worry about us. Keep working hard!” Begging for Straws at the End of the Year During an experiment for a biomass power generation project, several tons of finished fuel samples were demanded as urgent. It was near the Spring Festival then, and everyone was on his or her trip home to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The farmers were either busy or reluctant to work at the end of the year, which made it hard to employ any person that could be helpful. As a result, the manager of the project had to visit the

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farmers home by home to purchase straws, which confused many peasants. With pity, a granny in the village said, “Poor boy! Even begging for food is much better than asking for straws at the end of the year . . . Why not study hard to acquire some skills for a better life?” Those engaged in biomass power generation are a flock of passionate and persistent people who have special feelings toward agriculture and the countryside. During the start-up period of the cause, many of those people kept luggage and clothes at their temporary home offices, and it was common for them to travel continually for work regardless of the advice of their doctors and the fact that they had just gotten a transfusion for a fever suffered as a result of long-term overwork. Facing these enterprising and inexhaustible people, the foreign experts working together with them remarked with respect, “You are really a batch of amazing workaholics!” In the biomass power generation field, there are countless people who gave up excellent working conditions to set foot on the arduous pioneering road for years without any hesitation . . . There are countless people who made great personal sacrifice, with ill parents or crying children left behind for the success of biomass power generation in China . . . There are countless people who have devoted the most creative and passionate years of their life to the cause of China’s biomass power generation industry . . . There are countless people who could not help crying loudly at the success of the first biomass power generation demonstration project despite their being extremely willing to work assiduously without any complaint. Coming from different parts of the nation with a comfortable life left behind, these respectable people are united by an inspiring ideal to strive for the benefits of millions of rural families. They are great promoters and contributors to the development of China’s biomass power generation industry. It is our sincere hope that the industry of the efficient use of biomass will have a brighter prospect in days to come.

NOTE *The author of this chapter is Zhang HuiYong, who is affilated with China Guoneng Biopower Company.

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Sandy Land Control and Green Power

As long as we change our stereotype way of thinking, we can figure out the favorable conditions sandy lands are endowed in developing a new type of agriculture, and pave a new way towards the goal. —Qian Xuesen, 1984

E

nergy plants cultivated on margin lands accounts for half of the total biomass resources in China. The four major sandy lands in North China are the worst domestic marginal lands in terms of natural conditions. If energy plants could grow well in the four major sandy lands, they would have a much easier time in other margin lands. Since 2000, I have toured the western part of China six times. In the beginning, I did not know clearly what I was looking for. Gradually, I came to realize that I should figure out the drought-tolerance limit of the vegetation community in arid and semiarid ecosystems, and especially the relationship between plant growth and annual precipitation. In the early stages of this process, my views on desertification control and farmland restoration to forests seemed somewhat incompatible with the views held by the forestry administration; in the late stages of this process, I, as an avid advocator of biomass energy, was immersed in seeking out raw material capable of both producing biomass energy and guarding against wind and sand erosion. Since scientifically viable rationales were not necessarily feasible in practice, I was not sure what I had been dedicating myself for ten years was practicable or not. I’m lucky. My sandy land complex has proved to be the right pursuit, with substantial results harvested. 385

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I would like to share the thoughts and perceptions I have gained during my six westward tours about ecology in dry land and four major sandy lands in the half part of this chapter. In the latter half part, I will tell a twenty-first-century-version story of “Go to Xikou,” and I will end with the great idea of Qian Xuesen, father of China aerospace and aeronautics science and engineering and also the pioneer of proposing the sandy land industry in China, sandy land treatment.

19.1. ONE PHOTO AND ONE GOVERNMENT WORK REPORT “Stop!” I couldn’t help shouting out. “Anything wrong?” The leader of the delegation who sat with me in the first row of the bus asked me in surprise. “I’m sorry. But I want to take a photo.” It happened in August 2000 when I was one of twenty-odd members of the Investigation Group to the Northwest of China, which was organized by CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), with Mr. Cheng Bangzhu, the former governor of Hunan Province, as delegation leader. On the morning of August 25, the motorcade of the investigation group kept westward from Zhongwei, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and later arrived in Jingtai of Gansu Province, a place not far from Shapotou Region. With my scientific career starting from field scientific investigation, I have fallen into the habit of looking around to observe the changed landscape whenever I am traveling in a car and requesting to get off to take records and photos when I come across a place with scientific value. Therefore, it was natural for me to burst out “stop” unconsciously. The landscape turned out to be quite monotonous, as it was dominated by rolling, low hills and sandy land during our westward journey from Zhongwei to Jingtai, which is parallel with the Baotou-Lanzho” railway along the south edge of the Tungeli Desert. However, lush vegetation appeared unexpectedly in certain sandy areas where the road approached the railway. It looked quite like green ribbons were laced along both sides of the railway. After noticing this phenomenon, I tried to get an answer from the retired chief director of the Forest Bureau of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. “How does the vegetation grow so well along the railway? Is it because the railway workers water them?” “No.” “Did it take long to form such landscape?” “About four to five years!” “What method did they use to achieve such a scene?”

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“Workers erected barriers made with wire netting one kilometer from both sides of the railway to prevent the railway from the threat of sand invasion, and from pasture and wood from goat encroachment.” The method was so simple, but the effect was so pronounced. “What is the annual precipitation in this region?” “About 200 millimeters.” The number shook me a lot. When cars moved into the Gantang road section, I caught sight of a large patch of sand extended in the far distance, while lush vegetation boomed in the near distance with a wire netting barrier faintly visible in the middle. What an amazing scene it was! So, I shouted out, “Stop!” out of my old habit. The delegation leader thus invited everyone to get off for refreshments. I took this chance to take a very good photo. The next February when Premier Zhu Rongji held a yearly routine meeting at Zhongnanhai to solicit opinions from a wide spectrum of people about the Government Work Report Submitted to the National People’s Congress, I presented one enlarged photo of the very scene to Premier Zhu, who just sat opposite to me with four to five meters distance between us during my address as one of the delegates from the science and technology field. “In combating desertification, we put too much emphasis on ‘man-made projects’ while underestimating the ‘self-rehabilitation capability of nature.’” I said: “It leads to only half the result achieved with twice the effort paid.” Then, Premier Zhu asked me, “Where did you take this photo?” After hearing my answer, Premier Zhu loudly asked, “Is anyone from Xinhua News Agency? You would also go there to take several photos for me.” When Premier Zhu talked about issues such as “natural forest resource protection,” “grain for green,” “combating desertification,” and “grassland protection” in the Governmental Work Report in 2001, he added some words: “We should pay special attention to the ecological self-rehabilitation capability of these important projects.” Shu Liu, the expert in combating desertification and the former vice governor of Gansu Province, asked with astonishment in the panel discussion of the China Association for Science and Technology in CPPCC, “How did Premier Zhu’s Report contain such professional glossary?” She smiled upon hearing my story. I got another chance for an nvestigation tour to NingXia and Gansu that June. We investigated desert control experiments and a demonstration area of about 1,197 ha at Liuyangbao, Yanchi County, built in 1997 by the Forest Bureau of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Four years after flight seeding and grazing were banned in the experiment and demonstration area, 70 percent of the area now has been covered with artemisia ordosica plants as well as sophora alopecuroides, pennisetum flaccidum, agropyron

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desertorum, peganum nigellastrum, and more. Once again, I took photos with great delight. This investigation strengthened my viewpoints on “the ecological system has great ability of self-recovery.”

19.2. ONE PROPOSAL AND ONE ARTICLE In the spring of next year, I published an article titled Get Rid of Misunderstandings on Desertification Combating and Farmland Returning in Technology Daily on February 15 (Shi, 2002), and I submitted a proposal to CPPCC with similar content. “Three North Shelter-Forest Project” implemented in the 1970s indicated the commencement of China’s massive efforts on desertification combating, which achieved comprehensive progress across the nation in the 1990s. Besides, “Grain for Green Project” was also implemented in seventeen domestic provinces and cities since 2000. In spite of certain achievements we have made on antidesertification during the thirty years, the whole picture of China’s ecosystem is “comprehensively deteriorated though partially improved” and “the pace of treatment has fallen far behind the pace of destruction.” Generally speaking, 1,560 km2 of land was deteriorated into desertification land each year from the 1950s to the 1970s, 2,100 km2 from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, 2,460 km2 in the first five years of the 1990s, and 3,436 km2 in the latter five years of the 1990s. The increased desertification land in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region alone has reached 1.56 × 104 km2. We felt extremely baffled at the scene—why was it that the more we combated desertification, the more desertification land we got? There are 1.65 million km2 of desert and desertification land in China, among which, 78 percent was caused by geological processes and 22 percent human activities (Wang, 2003). The former one is relatively stable and difficult to control by humans. The latter one is active yet controllable. We should deal with the two kinds of land with different priorities. Desertification land caused by human’s activities should gain our key treatment efforts. We should start our efforts by preventing land from excessive reclamation, overgrazing, excessive cutting, extensive cultivation, and careless management. However, as guided by wrong ideas, past efforts on desertification combating only led to deteriorated results. Since sandstorms raise dust from land surfaces before moving it through air far above, North-Northwest-Northeast shelterbelts (hereafter refers to “Three North Shelterbelt”) only can play a defensive role for dust sweeping near the land surface, but it ceases to be useful for dust willfully traversing through the air. It is the same as a wall defending against the attack of ancient soldiers but can’t defend against airplanes and para-

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chutes. On the other hand, the dust sweeping in Beijing and East China are mainly sourced from four major sandy lands and the Hexi corridor in China, except those traveling through long distance from overseas. While the sandy dust traveling from a foreign country is beyond our manipulation, the sandy dust originating from the four major domestic sandy lands should be given top priority in our efforts to combat desertification. It is a great pity that we didn’t prevent excessive reclamation, overgrazing, excessive cutting, extensive cultivation, and careless management of the four major sandy lands in the wake of the super sandstorm that shocked the whole country in 2000, but rather, we spent a lot of money on the plantation of a windbreak forest belt around the Beijing and Tianjin areas. It is, indeed, at most a makeshift. The Three North Shelterbelt covers an area featured by dry grassland, desert grassland, and desert, where annual precipitation is below 500 mm. Regardless of the fact that such an area is ideal for grass and shrubs compatible with an arid and sandy environment, trees such as arbor were planted here to form a shelterbelt instead. Could such trees survive well without an irrigation supply? Similarly, the project of grain-for-green was also unreasonably implemented in the Northwest, a region even too harsh for millet with great drought resistance. In my westward tour, I was provided with a report on the status quo of Three North Shelterbelt in Gansu province. The report presented that the Three North Shelterbelt in Hexi corridor spans 1,200 km in length. However, patch upon patch of trees in the shelterbelt have died of water shortage and declining groundwater table. For example, only 20,000 ha of trees are survived in Minqin County which have planted about 87,000 ha of trees in total. While the fund in-place rate of third-phase project was quite low, the fourth-phase project will start soon. It is quite common in some forest fields: the more trees planted, the more money lost. Farmers found it was difficult to get compensation back for the money, labor and grass they had contributed. This will severely compromise farmers’ interests and motivation for the project.

Though bringing fact to light, the report received little attention due to the lower social status of its author. There is a saying in Beijing: “The performance in Tianqiao is far from true kongfu.” This phenomenon of “comprehensively deteriorated though partially improved” and “the pace of treatment has fallen far behind the pace of destruction” is caused by the denial of scientific knowledge and resorting to an ineffective remedy. Why did things happen in such a way? Is it something to do with profit stimulation as driven by government and the great allurement of the so-called image project? It is also caused

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by the lack of a scientific and democratic decision-making process. The mission of “preventing excessive reclamation, overgrazing, excessive cutting, extensive cultivation and careless management” is easier said than done, since maybe only a few “stupid” officials will choose to be involved with it. By comparison, it is much easier for officials to engage in an “image project” with substantial investment from the government and quick return to show off. What I try to cry out here and in my proposal and article is that the government should, rather than engage in showy “image projects,” pay genuine attention to promote the self-recovery capability of the ecosystem, put sand sources in good control, and extend a good treatment to the four major sandy lands in North China.

19.3. ACHIEVE A WIN-WIN OUTCOME ON DESERTIFICATION CONTROL AND ENERGY BASE DEVELOPMENT There is a misunderstanding about desertification control and ecosystem and environment protection, since it is commonly believed that economic development can only be achieved at the cost of ecological balance, or vice versa. Then, is it possible for us to realize the missions of sand control and economic development at the same time? I came to understand, during my westward tour, the amazing selfrecovery ability of the ecosystem. And it was also to my delight to know that as long as it is guaranteed with proper measures and ecosystem’s self-recovery capability, more than 50 percent of the land surface in arid and semiarid regions with an annual precipitation of more than 200 mm could be covered with shrub plants that were compatible with dry and desert conditions. Then, with all these encouraging discoveries, I tried to figure out whether such brush plants could be used as a source of bioenergy. The answer came to me in autumn 2007 when I revisited the Baijitan Forest Field of Lingwu County and Yanchi County in Ningxia again. That day was September 24, 2007. In the western margin of Mu Us Sandy Land, which suffers the worst natural condition among the four major domestic sandy lands, the annual precipitation is only 200 mm. If the problem could be solved here, it would be reduced to an easily conquerable challenge in other sandy lands of the nation. Wang Youde, a northwestern man in his fifties, was the head of the Baijitan Forest Field and the famed sand control hero in the country, and he gave us a warm reception during our stay there. Since he served as head of the Baijitan Forest Field in 1985, he has led all staff to consolidate 30,000 ha of sandy land and to stabilize 40,000 ha of shift-

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ing sand by means of afforestation with shrub plants; e.g. Salix mongolica, caragana microphylla, hedysarum scoparium, and so on. My companions and I were deeply impressed by what we saw when Mr. Wang show us around the huge patch of straw checkerboard barriers planted this year. It looked like a giant meshwork placed above the boundless sandy land and an exquisite super carpet spread over the earth. Somehow, the poem written by Emperor Qianlong (AD 1711–1799) of the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644–1911) in admiration of the delicate patterns weaved by hard-working weavers in deep night came to my mind. Later, Wang led us to observe the sand vegetation planted two, three, and more than three years before. All of these plants grew very well, with land coverage up to 40 to 50 percent or even 60 to 70 percent. The straw checkerboard barriers planted in this region with an annual precipitation of only 200 mm are like an infant nourished by a mother’s breastfeeding. One or two years later, the straw checkerboard barriers will take such nutrients deep into the soil to support more sand vegetation. We drove eastward from Baijitan Forest Field that afternoon and reached Yanchi County about two hours later. The natural vegetation here was much better because the annual precipitation is usually up to 250 mm. When our motorcade entered into a sand control demonstration site aided by Japan, the sun was setting in the west. The shrub communities that consisted of Salix mongolica, caragana microphylla, and hedysarum scoparium and planted in January 2006 bloomed in full years after plantation. What a beautiful scene it was under the glory of the golden setting sun. The next day we investigated a 160,000 ha sand control project drilling caragana microphylla sown in Yanchi County. Here, land was featured by sandy soil with a hard surface. The size of sand particles here was smaller than that of the shifting sand at Baijitan; coupled with 50 mm more annual precipitation than it was endowed with than Batijitan, vegetation could grow quite well in Yanchi County even without the straw checkerboard barriers. Sandy shrub produced here can be made into a woven belt, grain feed, and raw materials of bioenergy, too. My perception to make the four major sandy lands into bioenergy manufacturing bases with a win-win outcome on ecosystem protection gradually took shape after this investigation trip. In the summer of 2008, I submitted A Proposal on Building Ecological and Bio-energy Bases in Four Large Sandy Lands in China to the State Forestry Administration. The proposal contained information such as lessons we had learned from China’s desertification control efforts during the past twenty years, analysis over the strategic status and advantages of the four major sandy lands, estimation on the potential of bioenergy production output, and suggestions on the construction of an ecological bioenergy base.

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19.4. A PROMISING LAND IN CHINA There are 1.65 million km2 of desert and sandy land, including eight large deserts; that is, Taklamakan Desert and four major sandy lands—Mu Us, Otindag, Khorchin, and Hulunbuir (table 19.1) in North China—which accounts for 17 percent of China’s land area. As far as physical geography conditions are concerned, the four major sandy lands are located in forest steppe-typical, steppe-desert, and steppe transitional belts, which spreads from the subhumid monsoon region in the east part of North China to the arid climatic region in the west part of North China. The annual precipitation decreased from 500 mm to 200 mm along the transitional belt. It is an ecological barrier between the east and west parts in North China (table 19.1). Great natural environment variations—that is, climate, vegetation, soil, and hydrology—are shown in this region. Notoriously known as the major dust source of the spring sandstorms that happened in Beijing and the east region, the four major sandy lands are featured by intensive sandy land, a vulnerable ecosystem, and environmently sensitive land. As far as social and economic conditions are concerned, the four major sandy lands are characterized by a mixed agriculture and animal husbandry operation, low productivity, a backward economy, mixed ethnic groups settlement, and a mismatch between population and resources. Given suitable treatments, the four major sandy lands will rise as a green ecological barrier between the east and west parts of North China and as a corridor bringing a thriving economy and harmonious society to local people. This region has many geographic advantages as a transitional belt. First, with an annual precipitation ranged from 200 to 500 mm, the region is more likely to get rid of desertification than arid deserts in West China; second, it possesses rich land, light and heat resources, with resources possession per capita significantly higher than that in East China; third, it is adjacent to advanced east regions, enjoying convenient traffic and frequent communication with developed provinces. Therefore, it is in a good position to access advanced technology, funds, human and management resources, and the market in East China (there are convincing cases such as “Yili” and “Mengniu” dairy products and “Erdos” garments to the point); and fourth, as a region settled with multiethnic groups and state-level poverty-stricken counties, it is easier to gain the concern and support of the central government. To achieve a win-win outcome on ecologic protection and bioenergy base development in four major sandy lands, we not only need to discern vegetation with a high coverage rate in such lands, but we also need to guarantee that such vegetation is produced in a sustainable way and is

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2

Degree of desertification

Sandy vegetation on desert steppe, meadows —

Vegetation

Chestnut calcic soil, brown calcic soil, eolian sandy soil Semiarid steppe, thin forest steppe —

100–110 350–400 2,000–2,700 Well-developed rivers and lakes; rich ground water

130–160 250–420 1,800–2,500 Annual runoff 1.4 billion m3 and 40% is available

brown calcic soil, saline soil, sandy soil

900–1,100 0–3 2,000–2,600

2.14 Xilingele, and JU UD of Inner Mongolia

Otindag Sandy Land

3.21 14 cities and counties crossing Inner Mongolia, Shannxi, and Ningxia 1,200–1,600 6–9 2,500–3,500

Soil

Elevation (m) Annual average temperature (°C) ≥ 10°C thermal cumulative temperature (°C) Frost-free days (day) Annual precipitation (mm) Annual evaporation (mm) Hydrologic and groundwater conditions

Area (10 km ) Geographic distribution

4

Mu Us Sandy Land

Figures and facts on top-four sand land of China

Biophysical Features

Table 19.1.

Share of fixed, semifixed, mobile sand dunes is 15%, 24%, and 24%, respectively

Sandy thin forest steppe

90–140 350–500 1,500–2,500 Rich surface and groundwater resources with an annual average 12.4 billion m3 Chestnut calcic soil, eolian sandy soil, chernozems

120–800 3–7 2,200–3,200

4.23 Tongliao, Chifeng, Xinganof Inner Mongolia

Horqin Sandy Land

Stipa L–Leymus chinensis steppe Fixed sand dune area is 5 665 km2, semifixed sand dunes area is 1 515km2

Chestnut calcic soil, eolian sandy soil, chernozems

100–110 350 — —

0–2 1,800–2,000

0.75 Hailar, Inner Mongolia

Hulun Buir Sandy Land

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suitable for industrialized production. It is by no means an easy mission for us to fulfill. Magically enough, maybe it is an arrangement by the God, since the practice of stumping is necessary for dry and sandy shrub to grow well and to prevent it from premature senility. Then, how much biomass can be produced by the practice of stumping? Is there any commerce value for putting such stumped biomass into industrialized fuel production? Obviously, in arid and semiarid areas, it is precipitation, not soil, that decides the quantity of biomass production. It is drawn from a great amount of monitoring data that every 1 mm of precipitation can produce about 10 kg mm–1 ha–1 of dry biomass every year in the four major sandy lands (Li, 2009). It also means that 3.5 tons per ha–1 of dry biomass can be produced by sandy land with annual precipitation of 350 mm. This number is consistent with the data provided by Yin Weilun in chapter 16 (2 to 5 tons per ha–1 dry biomass). The four major sandy lands are 1.033 × 105 km2 in area, of which twothirds are fixed dunes, semifixed dunes, and farmlands between dunes. Based on annual precipitation, Professor Li Baoguo estimated that the average annual biomass production of Mu Su, Otindag, Khorchin, and Hulunbuir sandy lands are 3.939 × 107 tons in total as well as 1.075 × 107, 8.03 × 106, 1.798 × 107, and 2.63 × 106 tons, respectively (table 19.2). Shrub is a high-energy plant, with a similar thermal value as raw coal at 1.6736 × 107 J kg–1. It can generate energy equaling to 2.245 × 107 tons standard coal annually and cut down 5.613 × 107 tons of carbon emission. The four major sandy lands are not only potential bioenergy raw material bases in China, but they are also regions with a rich wind and solar energy resource as well. A comprehensive development base for biomass, wind, and solar energy can be built in areas where conditions Table 19.2.

Biomass output (dry matter) in top-four sand lands of China Mu Us Sandy Land

Items

Min 4

2

Area (10 km ) Annual precipitation (mm) Dry matter (104 ton) Average (104 ton)

Max

Otindag Sandy Land Min

3.21

Max

Horqin Sandy Land Min

2.14

Max 4.23

Hulun Buir Sandy Land 0.75

250

420

350

400

350

500

350

802.5

1,348.2

749.0

856.0

1,480.5

2,115.0

262.5

1,075.4

802.5

1,797.8

262.5

Note: The biomass output is calculated by 10 kg for each mm precipitation on each ha of land; min. and max. are derived from the minimum and maximum precipitation, respectively. Source: Li 2009.

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permit. Driven by the fledging renewable energy industry, these windy and sandy lands will become a golden zone for new energy development, with the old appellation of the state-level poverty-stricken county thrown off. We are capable of converting sand land, conventionally conceived a waste, into a treasure. Now, you might feel doubtful that such a rosy hypothesis could become a reality. Yes, it can! We have witnessed the first successful case happening in reality.

19.5. AN UNEXPECTED SURPRISE FROM PRACTICE As Mao Zedong said: “Revolution relies on pens and guns.” “A regime could only be out of guns!” The articles and proposals I delivered out of six western investigation tours are just something like “pens.” In spring 2009, a director from the State Forestry Administration introduced Mr. Li Jinglu from Shanxi to me. He was firing the bioenergy “gun” on the sandy land. We both started our involvement with the bioenergy field back in 2004. He is a fortitudinous, shrewd, quick-thinking, and talkative man. His dedication and experiences in the “battle of biomass” make me remorseful over our late acquaintance. Li Jinglu has made a lot of money from the real estate business. When he was approaching fifty years old, he came to realize that great fortune meant little to him as a thrifty man. Therefore, he decided to use all of his money, except a small portion left to his daughter, to do something useful for society. He hoped he could do something of great significance that would make him feel proud when he looked back on his life at seventy years old. Sure, he is a businessman, but not tacky. He has deep insight into the true meaning of life and money. Maybe that is one of the reasons behind his ambitious mind and modest bearing. With an expert’s advice, he set foot in Inner Mongolia to combat desertification in 2004. At the beginning, the more than thirty thousand poplar trees planted in Kubuqi desert grew well; however, almost nothing remained in the next year. All of a sudden, millions of investments got vaporized from the sandy ocean. However, the man did not waver and cower in spite of great adversity. Xu Jianhua, a man who fought the biomass battle together with Li Jinglu, once wrote a poem recording their life in the remote desert: The vast desert falls into still silence deep in the night, The water flowing in Tianhe River also becomes chilly cold. As surrounded by local frontier people in place far from hometown, Peers speaking Henan dialect is so hard to find.

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Chapter 19 Earthly fate and fortune are not what I care about, Simple food is good enough for me to stay a happy health. We might still feel painfully short even if we live up to 100 years old, While tree might be content with a life of only one decade long. Seeing wild goose disappeared into floating cloud far above, I bow again to take care of plants grown out from vast sandy land. Why not go after a simple and carefree life, For the sake of a peace mind and a happy existence? My tree-planting life started from the last ten days of October, Though tired in body but eased in heart. —Written on October 26, 2006

After the great failure in his first attempt, Jinglu visited a lady named Baori Ledai, who was renowned for her great achievement in combating desertification back in the 1960s and whose unique “Caokulun” method for Salix mongolia plantation in sandy land still enjoys great popularity to date. As a result, Jinglu mastered how to plant Salix mongolia, a plant with a high survival rate in sandy land. Li Jinglu did not rest on this initial achievement, since he knew it was only the first step of a long journey. Only with the sandy industry formed could his career achieve sustainable development. Later on, Jinglu visited Liu Chongxi, head of Meili Paper Corporation, who successfully put several hundred thousand hectares of sandy land under good control and produced 250 thousand tons of paper every year in Zhongwei County, Ningxia. He also called on Zhao Yongliang, the chairman of the Board of Dongda Monglian King Corporation, which applied several hundred thousand hectares of Salix mongolia into industrial application for paper making. He also paid a visit to Wang Wenbiao, who is renowned for his achievements in the licoriceprocessing industry and tourism in the desert. Among others, Li Jinglu made the acquaintance of lots of experts in sand controlling—Yin Yuzhen and Wang Guoxiang, as well. As a man good at thinking independently and learning from innumerable great minds, Li Jinglu struck on an idea— to generate power with Salix mongolia as raw material—in August 2005. Since sandy soil holds water, it would make the plantation of Salix mongolia possible in water-containing soil. As matured Salix mongolia needs to be stumped for better growth, the stumped branches can then be used to generate power, which will lead to the poured capital inflows. The sandy industry would then snowball. It is wise to unify desertification control, green power generation, poverty elimination, emission reduction, and carbon trading all together. With such great ideas, Jinglu cannot help claiming excitedly: “I found the way to reconcile desertification control and green power development, to change the old ‘blood-transfusion-style’ desertification control method to the new

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‘blood-formation-style’ method, and to produce gold from Salix mongolia planted on the sandy land.” In August 2005, he founded the “Inner Mongolia Mu Us Biomass Power Generation Corporation” in the heart of the Mu Us sandy land with a preliminary investment of 60 million RMB yuan to cultivate Salix mongolia woodland. Li Jinglu harvested 0.2 million tons of stumped branches in return. In May 2007, with capital support given by the China Development Bank, Li Jinglu invested 350 million RMB to build a power plant with a 2 × 12 megawatt generator based on 40,000 ha of sandy shrub forest. From then on, the practice of “power generated by Salix mongolia” and “power generated from the desert” have secured a firm foothold in vast Erdos and sandy lands. When Jinglu was nominated as one of “Top Ten Accomplished People in China’s Sandy Industry 2008,” Baori Ledai, the heroine of sand control in the 1960s, invited him to her sandy land treatment base, giving him Mongolian costumes to wear that she had made herself and proposing a toast to him strictly in light of Mongolian courtesy. On his fiftieth birthday, his friend and venture partner, Xu Jianhua, offered him a poem in admiration of the great personal sacrifice he had made for the sake of bringing benefits to all people.

19.6. NEW STORY ABOUT “GO TO XIKOU” IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY In June 2009, we paid a visit to Li Jinglu’s sand control and bioenergy base for an up-close study. I was surprised by the not-big-but-luxurious Erdos Airport after we landed in the city. Then, I thought to myself: not fussy, although Erdos was a small city, but with the famous Shenhua Group located here, nothing was impossible. After two hours’ drive, we reached the Inner Mongolia Mu Us Biomass Power Generation Corporation. Though not huge in size, the company was tidy, clean, and orderly. Li Jinglu’s office only occupied twenty-plus square meters, without the commonly seen huge boss table and splendid furniture. With a bed set near window, the office was used as his bedroom, too. Later, we visited the field planted with Salix mongolia, herdsmen Wulan Danai’s home, the site for biomass resource collection and a biomass power plant equipped with a 2 × 12 megawatt generator. After years of operation, the biomass power plant has accumulatively turned out 1.8 kilowatts hours of power, with 20,000 ha of sandy land brought under treatment and 0.25 million ton of biomass raw material consumed. Local farmers have gained more than 70 million RMB yuan cash as income and worked at more than seven thousand newly created job posi-

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tions. What’s more, the biomass power plant has helped reduce 0.2 million tons of CO2 emission for a sound ecosystem protection. This was a vivid example on how enterprise strives to realize joint missions of desertification control, green power development, poverty elimination, emission reduction, and carbon trading. Through long-term lease cooperation, more than two hundred nearby farmer households were busying themselves with growing Salix mongolia for the plant, which has set more than 130 sites for biomass resource collection from local farmers. This has greatly changed the production pattern and lifestyle of the local farmers and herdsmen. The less sheep the shepherds herded, the more Salix mongolia farmers planted, the better the ecologic and economic results achieved. That evening, when I talked with the core management of this corporation, I felt an urge to say “you detonated a ‘green bomb’ in Erdos, the black kingdom (China’s coal base). This is a battle between ‘green and black.’” Then, I joked to Jinglu, “You are ‘Qiao Zhiyong’ in the 21st century.” Seeing he was puzzled by my joke, I added that “You Shanxi businessmen had a tradition of ‘go to Xikou’ in Inner Mongolia for a long time. Qiao Zhiyong was a representative for such a custom in the Qianlong Emperor Period (AD 1736–1796). He went to Baotou to do a tea and leather business. With a lot of money earned, he came back to Shanxi to build the famous ‘Qiao’s Grand Courtyard.’ Now, you and your colleagues also ‘go to Xikou’ as modern businessmen. However, what you do is quite different from your predecessors. You use Salix mongolia to control desertification and to produce green power. It reminds me the saying of ‘every generation has its own talents’!” Embracing the common virtues as held by Shanxi businessmen— diligence, assiduity, and prudence, Li Jinglu is determined to push his biofuel undertaking to a new high level. Far from his predecessors, who customarily came back to their hometowns to build grand residential compounds after becoming rich in Xikou over the past five hundred years, Jinglu has a brand new plan for his Xikou venture. He has no intention to build Li’s Grand Courtyard back in Shanxi. Instead, he wanted to pay for his ancestors’ debt. He ran a real estate project dubbed Huhe Jiadi worth 1.65 million square meters in Hohhot. He planned to invest 5 billion RMB yuan to the project over ten years, with profit channeled back to the domain of desertification control. Therefore, we can see a banner with the catchphrase “you buy one set of suite, I green one patch of sandy land” hung on the wall of the sales lobby. In celebration that the project was warmly received by purchasers as the best-sold commercial house in Huhehot in 2007, a celebration gala that lasted three days was held in the splendid Mongolian-Shanxi Merchant Hall in Huhe Jiadi. The old customer of “Go to Xikou” takes on a brand new look in the twenty-first century.

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19.7. WHAT IS LI JINGLU THINKING ABOUT? What is Jinglu thinking about now? In the summer of 2009, he sent me an article he wrote (Li, 2009) and a manuscript of Jinglu’s Story written by his wife (Fan, 2009). The following excerpts are taken from them. Great Dedication to Salix mongolica Power Generation “Among all on-going projects run by biomass energy companies, it is the only one that can combat, in large scale, desertification, and is the only one free from worry about market prospect.” “Biomass power generation is still at the start stage. However, when we make the intermediate goal, we should aim higher to combat desertification in Inner Mongolia through promoting demonstration projects, absorbing outside investment and attracting resources from the whole nation.” “It is to our great delight that not only ash can be used as good raw material for composite potash manufacture, the carbon dioxide discharged from chimneys also can be used as high quality and inexpensive materials for spirulina production in Erdos. The so-called 3-carbon economy is good at absorbing, reducing and capturing carbon dioxide.” “We hope, with three-decade dedication, we can put the four major sandy lands under good treatment, producing 2.1 billion KW h of electricity annually, reducing 25 million tons of carbon emission, bringing handsome income and 0.4 billion job positions to local farmers and herdsmen.” Attach Great Importance to Capital Attraction “Biomass energy will provide a new opportunity to turn the desert into magnet of capital. The damage induced by the desert would be metamorphosed into blessings bestowed by desert, and the biomass energy will enjoy a fast growth thanks to the boundlessness of desert.” “When it comes to Salix mongolica generation, what makes the international venture investors especially interested is that the drainage is clean, the exhaust is harmless, and the ash is useful.” Eagerly Looking Forward to New Policy “According to the nature of government, it is proper for government to make way for enterprises as a major force to combat desertification in line with market rules. On the other hand, government is responsible to put forward more favorable policies to underpin the undertaking.” “Sandy shrub stump residue has not been included into beneficiary lists for both national tax preferential policy and national energy forest

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preferential policy. Enterprises pay rent and management fees to combat desertification, but they are not compensated with forestry ownership in return. Substantial policy support such as access to financing channels is eagerly expected by desertification combatants.” Worries about Malignant Competition The biomass stock is limited in any given sandy land. Therefore the principle of Ecology First must be duly respected. Once rushing to compete for biomass stock from each other, enterprises engaged in biomass-energy-production-based desertification-control efforts will deteriorate into killers of ecology. A market hot spot may cause an “enclosure movement” that will hit a hard blow to the implementation of policy advocating the “combat desertification through new energy, and develop new energy through combating desertification.” A time span of seven to ten years is needed for sandy shrub to get ready for use after plantation. If we don’t obey this rule and implement strict management, the desert might be subject to the repeated occupation and exploitation of rivaling enterprises, with the high possibility that followup capital from venture investors will be greatly reduced. So enterprises are forbidden from entering into the malignant competition in this field. “3-Carbon” New Work Li Jinglu is a man of courage to think and act so boldly. Only one year later, he showed his new work of “3-carbon economy” to me in the summer of 2010. First, he channeled the carbon dioxide and waste heat discharged from his power plant into a tank for feeding spirulina. Then, he sent the samples of spirulina, whose output doubled in the tank, to a government quality inspection authority for quality assurance. With positive feedback from such authority, Li Jinglu signed a Cooperation Agreement with a spirulina farm. Afterward, he built two experimental greenhouses of 600 m2 for production data collection. Spirulina was cultivated in late August and harvested one week later with good results (figure 19.1). As scheduled, everything developed quickly and orderly. With market research and prestage promotion well underway, Li Jinglu feels confident that the new attempt will bring considerable economic and social benefits. Some five hundred similar greenhouses for feeding spirulina are expected to be set up before next spring, since there is enough land in the sand area for further exploitation. Virtually, he still stuck to his original intention—desertification combating. He said that by planting Salix mongolica to absorb carbon, generate power, and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and by feeding spirulina to capture carbon, an unceasing capital

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Figure 19.1. Algae cultivation greenhouse immediately beside a biomass-based power plant in desert. Source: Li Baoguo taken in 2010.

flow would pour into the sandy area, like an ever-growing snowball. He is now raising 1 billion yuan in funds so as to have the “3-carbon” model spread to the four major sandy areas. In fact, his practice in desertification control is a good demonstration of national strategy in response to global climate change; his spirulina venture is an advanced form of CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) as advocated by Barack Obama. He had been active in the forefront of the global biomass industry. Let us wait for more good news from this enterprising pioneer.

19.8. THE WOMAN BEHIND THE SUCCESSFUL MAN It is often said that there is always a great woman behind every successful man. Li Jinglu’s wife, Fan Meizi, has not only succeeded in supporting her husband but also does well on her own. As the chairman of Huhe Jiadi Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., Fan Meizi is planning to invest 400 million RMB to help Li Jinglu to bring his successful desertification combating and biomass power generation experience to the four major sandy lands. The following text is quoted from the forward of Jinglu’s Story, which is authored by Fan Meizi. One day, Jinglu told me he would go to Inner Mongolia, I said I wanted go with him because garments there are especially magnificent.

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He added he would go to the desert, I said I wanted go with him more since there is a magic mirage. He disclosed he would go there to combat desertification, I laughed and joked I would go to desalinate sea water. Days later, he did go to Inner Mongolia. When he came back, he was eager to share with me all he had seen and thought here all day long. I want to go there, too. In the cold wind of Kubuqi Desert, I was deeply shocked by what I was catching sight of when I stand on the top of the sand dune with vast sand sea rolling behind my feet. I talked excitedly with my friends over the phone for forty minutes in a breath, inviting them to join us to bring out something big and important! That year, we celebrated our New Year Day in the depth of desert. Jinglu and I will celebrate our 30th marriage anniversary this year. We have lots of memorabilia to recall, bitter and sweet. However, the most impressive ones fall upon the period after Jinglu goes into the desert. The book of Jinglu’s Story is the present I send to him for his fifty-third birthday.

19.9. UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF QIAN XUESEN’S THOUGHTS The sand industry was first proposed by Qian Xuesen in 1980s. Qian had published two papers titled Build Agricultural Knowledge-Intensive Industry: Combination of Agriculture, Forestry, Grass, Ocean and Sand and The Sixth Industrial Revolution of Science and Technology, respectively. He also predicted, based on his thorough and meticulous analysis over the previous five industry revolutions, that the sixth industrial revolution would be “agricultural-knowledge intensive industry,” namely knowledge-intensive plant cultivation industry based on solar energy and photosynthesis. The sand industry was thus proposed under such contexts. Mr. Qian indicated that there is plentiful solar energy and a pollution-free natural environment in the northeast region. We can find a new path to develop new agriculture as long as we change our stereotypical way of thinking (Fu, 2009). Both my six westward tours and Li Jinglu’s venture of “Go to Xikou” echoed the ideas of Qian’s sand industry theory. As enlightened by his theory, we have shaken off the stereotyped thinking and combined both ecological and economic elements together for mutual development. Based on the first step we have made in the sand industry, we should, in our next step, strive to unify vegetal production and combined heat and power generation (CHP). The mission for our third step is to build a new industry based on solar energy and photosynthesis mechanisms and featuring a highly active material flow. We are aware that compared

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with what was proposed by Qian’s knowledge-agriculture intensive industry, the technologies we adopted during sandy biomass production are still quite traditional and conventional. Modern technologies such as biotechnology still remain untapped. Our biomass energy production now is far away from being called a technology-intensive one. We should, under the guidance of Qian’s Theory, spare no effort to build a new type of sandy industry and make it the core of the upcoming Sixth Industrial Revolution. At the beginning of 2008, China president Hu Jintao paid a visit to Qian Xuesen and said: “I have seen the quick development of sandy industry in Ordos during my visit trip here a few days ago: the sandy plant processing has been carried out here, with ecology under recovery. The living standard of local people here also has been improved. Your theory is coming into reality now.”

REFERENCES Fan, M. Z. Story of Li Jinglu, 2009. (unpublished; in Chinese) Fu, Y. F. “The Distinguished Scientist Qian Xuesen Pointed Out New Ways of Combating Desertification—An Interview with Mr. Liu Shu, the Director of Qian Xuesen Sand Industry Foundation.” China Science and Technology Daily, November 8, 2009. Li, J. L. “Using Sandy Shrub to Generate Bio-Energy as a Way Out of Desertification,” 2009. (unpublished; in Chinese) Shi, Y. C. “Stepping Out of the Erroneous Zone in Grain for Green Policy in Combatting Desertification.” China Science and Technology Daily, February 25, 2002. Wang, T. Desert and Desertification of China. Shijiazhuang: Hebei Science and Technology Press, 2003.

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20

Biofuel Ethanol in China: China’s Fuel Ethanol Blazing Trail Hard

Innumerable horses race to the battlefield with unconquerable force. Ten thousand years are too long, seize the day, seize the hour. —Chairman Mao Zedong

A

mong all modern biomass energy products, fuel ethanol represents a landmark product. With an ambition to replace fossil oil, the most limited and sensitive resource in the world today, it enjoys a development momentum, scale, and impact unrivaled by its counterparts. Coal served as a major energy resource behind industrialization from the nineteenth century through the early twentieth century, whereas oil became a predominant energy hegemon in the mid-twentieth century. To date, coal consumption in the energy mix has been reduced to 30 percent in developed countries, with oil accounting for more than 50 percent of the total energy consumption. Spurred by soaring demands, competition for energy resources is an inevitable thing in the global arena. Oil crises and oil battles also become a common scene. Under such a backdrop, oil, the principle fossil energy resource, is doomed to be replaced by new alternatives in the twenty-first century. Many countries, such as those in Europe, the United States, and Brazil, have been seeking alternatives such as coal-based oil, coal-produced methanol and dimethyl ether, natural gas, and electromobile and hydrogen vehicles to substitute for fossil oil since the eruption of first world oil crisis in 1973. Before fuel ethanol was eventually considered as a chief replacement to oil, enormous tests had been done for various 405

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replacement options, and thousands of vehicles powered by different fuels appeared on the roads. As is the case with all novelties that need time to grow ripe and mature and to be known and accepted by people, fuel ethanol is not exceptional. Within a short span of less than one decade the global production volume of fuel ethanol had jumped from millions of tons to approximately sixty million tons, though amid discouragement from some opponents. At the turn of this century, the United States and Brazil made themselves the global leaders in developing biomass-turned-fuel-ethanol. Countries keenly following in this race are China, the EU, India, and Japan. China, the quickest latecomer, which had once secured third place only after the United States and Brazil, suddenly came to a halt in this hot race. Then, what happened? This chapter will reveal the uneven trip fuel ethanol has been through in China.

20.1. WAKE UP EARLY BUT GET UP LATE In 2005, an Expert Advisory Panel was established under the leadership of the State Energy Office (SEO) of the State Council. I was given the honor of being one of the thirty panel members. The panel meeting first convened in September 2005 witnessed the unprecedented gathering together of the first-rate technical elites and research institute heads in the fields of coal, oil, natural gas, hydropower, and nuclear power. Among the representatives of the deep-rooted tycoons in the energy family, I appeared to be out of place as a spokesman for seemingly much less significant energy recycling and agriculture domains. If this was a grand meeting of generals, I had to compare myself to a minor soldier, or to put it in another way—“a dessert served before a meal.” As everybody understands, you have to “speak louder” to make yourself heard if you are insignificant, otherwise your “voice” might be drowned. So, I prepared some slides for my PowerPoint presentation (no one else bothered to do so, since it seemed unnecessary for them). With one slide introducing the status quo and trend of fuel ethanol development in countries such as the United States, Brazil, the EU, Japan, and China, I prepared the audience with a hope to stimulate the interest of the panel members and the State Energy Office (SEO). I found immediately that I was too naive. As a technician I might overvalue the strength of data and curves. Such things as data and curves are in fact too pale to be appreciated by people who have power and interests at hand. When I look at that figure today, four years after that panel meeting, it is really “a plain dessert” that no one bothers to even smell or taste. What’s more, fuel ethanol had a worse time during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period

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(2006–2010) then ever. Even so, I still want to have this “plain dessert” open to the public, regardless of its poor popularity. Ironically, while China’s incumbent premier was worrying about food safety and security, its predecessor was troubled by an excessive crop harvest and less storage space for the previous years’ grains. Thanks to grain growth for several consecutive years, China’s crop output registered a record five hundred million tons as of 1996. Premier Zhu Rongji declared in his annual Government Working Report that “China is finally able to sustain its own basic need for food, even with surplus of food stored in harvest years.” This indicated that the old days were gone when China’s food supply was insufficient. However, news coverage on complaints about difficulties in crop selling was also frequently seen during that period. Crop harvest became an unpleasant burden for officials in major crop production provinces such as Jilin and Henan. How to dispose of a great amount of stored stale crops weighed heavily on the ex-premier’s mind. As a measure to alleviate pressure from the excessive crop harvest, the ex-premier decided to push the policy of converting cultivated land into forest and offering farmers a generous sum for their crops to compensate for their loss due to abidance to the policy. And the ex-premier even claimed that “this compensation policy will last as long as it is required.” I still remember clearly that in 2000, when addressing academicians attending the joint convention for the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Premier Zhu Rongji said: “If the U.S. could produce fuel ethanol with maize, why can we not make good use of our abundant stale crops to produce fuel ethanol? By doing this, we can kill two birds with one stone.” I was very excited upon hearing the wise solution proposed by the premier in addition to his previous policy of “green for grain.” As far as I know, the passion to develop fuel ethanol energy on a worldwide scope was ignited by then U.S. president Clinton when he signed Executive Order 13134: Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy in August 1999. Immediately following the United States and Brazil, China joined this race in 2001, with countries such as the EU, India, and Japan left far behind. Nobody can deny that China then was an ambitious latecomer given the fact that four stale-grain ethanol projects were approved by the government with an output skyrocketed to over one million tons in a short period of time, and China made itself the number-three fuel ethanol maker in the world. In retrospect, these four fuel ethanol plants represent a milestone for China’s modern biomass-energy industry. With the impetus to accelerate China’s fuel ethanol development during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2006–2010), as I mentioned before, I delivered a well-prepared address at the panel meeting spon-

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sored by SEO. Ironically, while the United States increased its output of fuel ethanol from 16.50 million tons to 31.56 million tons (a net increase of 15.60 million tons) during 2006 to 2009, Brazil grew from 14.34 million tons to 19.80 million tons (a net increase of 5.46 million tons), and the EU rose from 1.19 million tons to 3.13 million tons (a net increase of 1.94 million tons); by contrast, China’s output of fuel ethanol only grew from 1.30 million tons to 1.62 million tons (a negligible net increase of 0.32 million tons), or a stagnated growth at best. China’s fuel ethanol output in 2009 was no more than 2 percent of that in the United States, and it only equals to 12 percent of that in Brazil. Maybe the phrase “get up late though wake up early” is suitable to describe the fact that China was indeed among the first to realize the importance of developing fuel ethanol as a national strategy but failed to stick to it with consistent and solid actions.

20.2. FROM THE BRILLIANT FALL INTO COLD WINTER Why did fuel ethanol enjoy such a smooth development during the Tenth Five-Year Plan Period (2001–2005)? The reason is that it was listed as one of the ten national key projects in that period. In 2001, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) approved four trial projects for fuel ethanol production with a total investment of 4.65 billion RMB yuan. These four projects, which were aimed for a total annual production capacity of 1.02 million tons, were undertaken by the following corporations: Anhui Fengyuan (0.32 million tons), Jilin Provincial Fuel Ethanol Company (0.3 million tons), Henan Tianguan Group Company (0.3 million tons); and Heilongjiang Huarun Company (0.1 million tons). With the four corporations put into operation one after another, E10 ethanol gas also went into the market of the four hosting provinces and the Liaoning Province before it was further sold to another twenty-seven cities in Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Hube provinces. Annual sales of fuel ethanol and ethanol gas in 2006 reached 1,520,000 and 15.44 million tons respectively (Xiong, 2007). In an effort to promote the production of fuel ethanol and the sales of ethanol gas, the State Council issued national standards (GB) for “denatured fuel ethanol” and “ethanol gasoline for motor vehicles.” In addition, it approved the Plan for Development of Denatured Fuel Ethanol and Ethanol Gasoline in the Tenth Five-Year Plan Period and saw to its implementation. On top of these, the State Council also promulgated preferential policies such as tax exemptions and refunds to encourage fuel ethanol consumption. When it comes to marketing, an array of favorable policies were launched with a view to promote ethanol devel-

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opment; for example, fuel ethanol should be sold at the uniformed sales price stipulated by the government, ethanol producers were required to provide oil companies with fuel ethanol at a price of only 91.11 percent of the factory price for #90 gasoline; and in return, financial subsidies were given to fuel ethanol producers to compensate for losses they suffered in the process of manufacturing, allocation, and sales, and retail prices of ethanol gasoline were allowed to fluctuate with that of gasoline accordingly. In August 2006, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the State Forestry Administration jointly held a conference on the development and application of biomass energy. Later, in November of the same year, the Ministry of Finance and National Development and Reform Commission together with three other authorities promulgated Opinions on the Implementation of Favourable Financial Policies for Bio-energy and Biochemical Industry. All through the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2001–2005), China’s fuel ethanol industry was progressing briskly, with a benign environment. It seemed that in China, no hurdle would be in the road to compromise anything that the government set its mind to accomplish. Unfortunately, such rosy days did not last long before things changed abruptly. It came in the fall of 2006 when a miscalculated report (or a groundless charge) accused that fuel ethanol might endanger the national food security (please refer to chapter 14 for detailed information). As a result, the NDRC joined the the Ministry of Finance, issuing the Notification on Tightening Governance on Biomass Fuel Ethanol Projects with a View to Ensure a Sound Development of Biomass Fuel Industry (NDRC [2006] 2842) (referred to as Notification for short hereinafter) (NDRC, 2006). The Notification pointed out that, “along with the growing demand for fuel ethanol around the world, China also faces an inadequate supply and hiking prices in fuel ethanol. Ever since this year, the nation has seen a fever for fuel ethanol projects. This unprecedented enthusiasm for fuel ethanol projects also contains risks of overdevelopment.” Yes, the government was right in its assessment of the overall situation at that time. However, its administrative strategy ceased to be a flexible one with proper proactive measurements for reasonable adjustment. Rather, the fuel ethanol industry was completely suffocated by four heavy blows dealt by the government that featured rigid administrative governance, strict control for industry access, and so on. Consequently, the terrible aftermath of such reckless policy loomed large in the past four years. Along with the overwhelming authoritative instruction given by the Notification, “NDRC offices and financial departments of all levels are expected to spare no effort to guarantee the smooth development of the local biomass energy industry in light of the spirit of the Notification and actual situation of local cities,” the fuel ethanol development confronted a chilly winter all across the nation. The warm sunshine

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that the industry once basked in during the Tenth Five-Year Plan Period (2001–2005) was nowhere to be found. In fact, even the goal that nongrain ethanol would increase by two million tons during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2006–2010) as set by the NDRC in the Notification as a gesture to encourage the development of nongrain ethanol was far from being realized, even fulfilling one-tenth of the targeted goal only.

20.3. “THE LAST DINNER” In late October 2009, Beijing soared to an abnormal high temperature at 30℃ before it was attacked by strong, cold air that brought it with an unexpected snowfall. The capricious weather also seemed to be a metaphor for what had happened to China’s fuel ethanol industry. After the cold wave that threatened China’s fuel ethanol development took its initial shape in the winter of 2006, insiders of the fledging industry still, with great cheer, gathered together at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on June 9, 2007, for the Summit on Development Strategies for China’s Biomass Fuel Ethanol Industry, which was jointly organized by the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Novozymes China. In retrospect, this gathering is something more like “the last supper.” However, everyone who presented in the event still stayed in high spirits, encouraged by the hopeful prospect of the surviving nongrain ethanol. Xu Dianming, vice director of the State Energy Office (SEO), even passionately recited a poem he wrote in his speech to express his high regard for biomass energy (Xu, 2007). Xiong Bilin, a senior ranking official who spoke on behalf of NDRC, elaborated on the status quo of China’s fuel ethanol industry and what could be done under the framework of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (Xiong, 2007). I also delivered a speech focusing on the ongoing development and prospect of China’s biomass energy (Shi, 2007). Yu Xubo, CEO of COFCO, also addressed the summit and introduced the ambitious goal COFCO aimed for fuel ethanol development within the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2006–2010). He was confident that COFCO would make itself the major player of China’s national strategy for biomass energy development and, by 2010, COFCO would produce 3.10 million tons of ethanol energy per year (corn 34 percent, cassava 26 percent, sweet potatoes and sweet sorghum 40 percent). With all of these upbeat signs, it was natural for the CEO of Novozymes, Steen Riisgaard, who sat beside me, to turn to me and say that he was full of optimism and confidence about China’s future development in fuel ethanol. Of course, Mr. Xu of SEO and Mr. Xiong of NDRC also conveyed in their speeches messages that China’s State Council was determined to exercise strict regulation in the industry of fuel ethanol; new applications

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for grain ethanol projects would not be given consent for operation; and that grain ethanol manufacturing would be replaced by nongrain ethanol manufacturing eventually. In fact, everyone present was supportive of the State Council’s decision on bringing an end to grain ethanol projects and promoting nongrain ethanol projects as a sustainable solution. To this change, I also concluded in my speech remarks such as, “with grain ethanol projects run as a piloting start, non-grain ethanol projects will lead to a triumphal result” (Yu, 2007). COFCO also raised the nongrain ethanol ratio to as high as 66 percent for its development plan during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2006–2010). Alas! It turned out beyond everybody’s wild imagination that only a nongrain ethanol project with an output no more than 0.2 million tons was approved throughout the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period in the nation. Anyway, this “last supper” sort of bustling gathering together was worthy of memory. When I mentioned this “last supper” some time later to Yue Guojun, CEO of COFCO in charge of the ethanol project, he commented, somewhat helplessly, “When the authority above closes the door for fuel ethanol development, you can do nothing but face the reality.” Yes, that is true.

20.4. A HARD STRUGGLE FOR TUBER-CROP-BASED ETHANOL Why are root plants such as cassava acclaimed as an excellent nongrain raw material for ethanol energy production? It is not only because such plants have excellent resistance against adversity and rich starch but also because their starches are stored in roots, namely a vegetative body, which explains why they boast higher output with lower input compared with grain crops. Normally speaking, the starch generated from a hectare of corn can produce 2.25 tons of fuel ethanol, while the figure for cassava is 6.75 tons, threefold that produced by corn. China is the biggest producer of root plants in the world. It harvests 150 million tons of root plants each year, namely three quarters of the global total output, from around ten million hectares of field. Root plants can be grown in low-quality farmlands without access to irrigation, and they are mainly used as raw material for alcohol, starch, or animal feed. However, due to the lack of meticulous cultivation, root plant output per unit is quite low in China. However, if root plants can be used as raw material for energy production with high economic value, farmers would be pleased to put in more man labor and fertilizer application. In such cases, it is out of the question for root plant output per unit to be doubled. That is to say, an increase of approximate twenty million tons of fuel ethanol could be possible even without investments such as an expanded planting area or an upgraded root plant variety.

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I put up a rather bold and influential notion of “growing a new green oil empire in China” back in 2005 when the term biomass energy still remained a novel concept. To my delight, many provinces in China then including Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Shandong, Guangxi, and Hainan all were keen to develop fuel ethanol energy. Meanwhile, an array of private enterprises showed greater interest in this area after they understood it could bring them huge business profits. In early 2006, an agreement was signed between the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Guangxi Province on the development of biomass energy. During our visit to some local plants in Guangxi province, such as a starch plant located in the suburb of Nanning City, and a cassava ethanol plant with 0.1 million tons of annual output, and the Qinzhou Xintiande cassava ethanol plant with 0.15 million tons of annual output, Du Xiangwan, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and I were full of confidence for our cooperative prospects with local enterprises. Guangxi Province is historically famous for its sugarcane and cassava production, as well as sugar, starch, and alcohol processing. Based on that fact that the existing fuel ethanol and edible alcohol productivity had approached 0.5 million tons in Guangxi then, the autonomous region was highly hopeful that it could produce as much or more than one million tons of fuel ethanol during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period as long as they put in a little additional investment. I still remember what the board of directors of a local ethanol plant said to me during my visit there: “I am quite confident that our ethanol will be warmly received by the market, if only we are given official approval for admission into the market.” Unfortunately, he was right in what he said. Now, most of these pioneering private enterprises are nowhere to be found, after their applications for admission into the ethanol market were turned down or their produced ethanol was forbidden to be sold in the open market. The only private enterprise that is struggling for a lonely survival was the Qinzhou Xintiande cassava ethanol plant, which is waiting for its time to be merged into a large state enterprise in the field. I am full of sorrow whenever I think of the pale reality. The only enterprise that was allowed to engage in the nongrain ethanol production field and managed to live through the cold winter of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period was Guangxi COFCO Bio-energy Co., Ltd. It not only had a forty-thousand-hectare cassava cultivation base available for ethanol production, but it also turned sixteen thousand hectares of marginal land ready for expanded ethanol production. As a lonely pioneer in the nongrain ethanol production field, it has successfully produced two hundred thousand tons of cassava-turned-ethanol in 2009. It wasn’t until 2009 that a second player—CNOOC New Energy Investment Company, Ltd.—was allowed to enter into the field with official approval. The new-

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comer was expected to generate 150,000 tons of cassava-turned-ethanol in the Guangxi Autonomous Region. Having its parent company as a super oil company in the nation, the newcomer did not come unprepared. It had devoted three years to building a powerful cassava production base with efforts such as actively promoting a high-yield variety of cassava with rich starch content, extensively applying effective and cost-efficient techniques for cassava plantation, and transferring 350,000 hectares of barren slope and marginal land into cultivatable land. At the same time, this company also produced ten thousand tons (fifty thousand tons for the second phase of the project) of degradable plastics annually through the comprehensive use of six thousand tons of carbon dioxide, which is a by-product from the process of fuel ethanol production, and 6,800 tons of propylene oxide purchased additionally. Last but not least, 32.67 million cubic meters of methane and biofertilizer were produced by the company with highly concentrated organic wastewater and activated sludge from wastewater treatment as raw material. Though sweet potatoes had a long history of being made into alcohol, the attempts to convert sweet potatoes into fuel ethanol only started years before. With an annual output of sweet potatoes reaching twenty million tons, Chongqing City had on its agenda a project to use sweet potatoes to produce fuel ethanol energy. Chongqing Global Petrochemical Co., Ltd., already had a production line capable of producing two hundred thousand tons of sweet potato ethanol per year in place. Moreover, several sweet potato ethanol energy plants have been built with investments from entities such as Chongqing Tongda Invest Co., Ltd., and Chongqing Changlong Group (Liu and Guo, 2008). While root-plant-based ethanol production was on its way to being industrialized, problems related with root plant cultivation, such as an inadequate and unsteady supply of root plants, undesirable plant varieties and backward plant cultivation techniques, ineffective storage and transportation systems, and chaotic market regulations have compromised the industrialization of ethanol production (Li et al., 2008). It therefore highlights the importance of coordinated development all throughout the whole production cycle.

20.5. A DOOR OPENED FOR SWEET SORGHUM–BASED FUEL ETHANOL (1) As one kind of nongrain energy plant, sweet sorghum exhibits many valuable characteristics—strong resistance against environmental challenge, great adaption to both north and south regions, high yield, rich sugar content in stalk comparable to sugarcane, variety of usages of seed,

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and fermentation in the absence of starch saccharification. Besides, sweet sorghum–turned energy products also have attracted people’s attention for a long time. Countries such as the United States and India were reportedly engaged in sweet sorghum stalk experimentation earlier than China. China also has cultivated sweet sorghum for more than twenty years, during which China had developed dozen of varieties with self-owned intellectual property. Then why has sweet sorghum not yet been used for the industrialized production of ethanol? Less-developed fermentation techniques are the bottleneck, as the traditional basement fermentation method is far from being efficient enough for large-scale industrialized production, nor is the liquid-state fermentation technique suitable for sugarcane appropriate for sweet sorghum stalks. Professor Li Shizhong, a biochemical expert returned back to China from Oxford University in 2004, has long been dedicated to the commercial fermentation technology of sweet sorghum stalks. He noticed that India had set up a set of demonstration facilities with an annual ethanol output at ten thousand tons in 2006 (CIRISAT, 2007), with an actual ethanol conversion rate from fermented sweet sorghum stalk juice being 90 percent of the theoretical value; the United States set up a sweet sorghum ethanol factory with annual output reaching ten thousand tons in Florida in 2008, whose actual ethanol conversion rate was 85 percent of the theoretical value. By contrast, the sweet sorghum ethanol factory set in China can produce forty-eight tons of ethanol with a 99.5 percent concentration rate each day (Xiao and Yang, 2006). According to Professor Li Shizhong, since sweet sorghum stalks are harvested only once every year, the time span left for pressing sorghum juice is too short. Also, the pressed juice needs to be condensed before being stored, and juice-pressing machines are both costly and energy consuming (21 kilowatts per hour should be consumed for every one ton of sorghum stem). In addition, there is also no easy way to dispose of the wastewater thus caused. The currently prevailing solid-state sweet sorghum fermentation technologies in underground cellars can hardly meet the requirements of commercial production. To solve the problem, Professor Li worked hard to put forward innovated solid-state sweet sorghum fermentation technologies that can be easily adapted to commercial use by simplifying the pressing process, decreasing time and energy consumption, bringing down capital investment, and enabling facility operation and waste treatment to be more easy and convenient. After achieving the desired results in the laboratory, Professor Li conducted a pilot scale experiment for his invention with a 5 m3 rotating drum bioreactor (RDB) in Wuyuan County of Inner Mongolia in the winter of 2006 (Li, 2010). By using the carefully selected yeast TSH-SC-1 to produce fuel ethanol from sweet sorghum stalks, the

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experiment turned out to be another success, with encouraging results as follows: after twenty-four hours of fermentation duration (half of that required for corn ethanol fermentation), one ton of fuel ethanol with a 99.5 percent concentration rate can be produced for every fourteen to fifteen tons of sweet sorghum stalks that contain 13 to 15 percent fermentable sugar. The whole experiment process was mechanized and automatically controlled. This biochemical conversion technology termed by Li as solid-state fermentation (SSF) has been among the first class methods in the world today. After that Li was busy with scaling up his SSF bioreactors. For this purpose, he invested more than one million yuan of research funds into the design and manufacture of a 127 m3 SSF bioreactor, twenty-five times bigger than the early model. It’s a real pity that no ideal investor showed up for his newly manufactured bioreactor, which had to be locked behind doors for over a year. In the winter of 2009, the Inner Mongolia Tehong Company finally turned out to be the long-awaited cooperative partner for Li’s SSF bioreactor experiment. This giant bioreactor was finally settled down—it was installed and put into operation at a chilly temperature of 20 degrees below zero Celsius that winter. It was said that four cranes had to be hired to move it a step at the installation site. Though Professor Li Shizhong himself was full of confidence about the success of this scaled-up SSF bioreactor experiment, I could not help but cross my heart. To me it was like a ten-month pregnant woman ready to give birth to a new life, a crucial battle aimed at breaking through the bottleneck of sweet sorghum ethanol commercial production. It was a very chilly winter that year in Inner Mongolia. Good news at last came over a phone call on the night of December 22 from the freezing cold China North of Inner Mongolia, when I was in Shenzhen in warm South China attending a conference. The experiment performed in the scaled-up bioreactor yielded a result similar to that obtained previously in the 5 m3 bioreactor, with the major technical parameters described below: solid-fermentation time duration less than thirty-six hours, ethanol recovery efficiency greater than 90 percent, and the apparent energy input-output ration at was 1:3. If granularresidue fuel is used to replace coal to produce steam and to heat up air, then the energy input-output ration will jump to 1:21.8, a quite impressive feat indeed (table 20.1). While the cost of ethanol produced by a 5 m3 bioreactor is around 3,400 RMB yuan per ton, ethanol costs will decrease by 10 to 20 percent with a scaled-up bioreactor adopted for mass production. The second phase of the SSF scaled-up bioreactor experiment is underway. With a diameter at 3.6 m, body length 55 m, and total size at 550 m3, this latest bioreactor is five times larger than its predecessor used in the first phase, a real gigantic Tarzan! It is not only larger in size but can also

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Table 20.1. Energy balance sheet in producing one ton of 99.5 percent sweet sorghum ethanol using ASSF method (Li) Energy Input

Energy Output Energy (106 Joule)

Item Electricity consumed in ethanol production Electricity consumed in dreg pressing and molding 4.52 ton vapor Heating 50-ton air Input total

828 514.8 11,922 2,467.5 15,732.3

Item

Energy (106 Joule)

Dregs particle fuel 1.25 tons*

18,508

Fuel ethanol 1 ton

29,295

Total output

47,803

* absolutely dry

enable fermentation continuously to generate eight tons of fuel ethanol each day, with sweet sorghum stalks coming in from one side and ethanol flowing out from the other side. We are expecting to hear more big news from this gigantic Tarzan.

20.6. A DOOR OPENED FOR SWEET SORGHUM–BASED FUEL ETHANOL (2) Comprehensive use of resources and resource recycling are good ways toward sustainable development. Sweet sorghum ethanol provides us a convincing option in this regard. In plants, we can find compositions of sugar, starch, protein, fat, hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin, and more. Among these composing elements, only sugar and starch are applied to ethanol fermentation, and the rest of them still remain in waste water. In 2007, besides producing twenty million tons of corn ethanol, the United States used the leftovers of the fermented sweet sorghum stalks produced from the 11.9 million tons of high-quality DDGs animal feeds, which contained 26 percent or higher protein and 10 percent or higher fat. Such animal feeds could substitute 12.72 million tons of corn animal feeds, and they were exported to Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East in great quantities, beside their use for domestic dairy farming (PRX Grain Database, 2007). In other words, three tons of corn can not only produce one ton of ethanol but also 0.6 tons of high-quality DDGs animal feeds. The leftovers of fermented sweet sorghum stalk contain not only nutritional elements but also leftover yeast, whose fragrance gives animals a good appetite and which enables easy digestion for animals. Therefore, it

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is comparable with stored fresh corn. From forty-five tons of sweet sorghum stalks, we can get one ton of sorghum ethanol as well as 2.6 tons of leftovers, whose nutritional value is equivalent to 2.6 tons of stored fresh corn. While half of the 2.6 tons of ethanol leftovers can be used to feed one cow or ten goats, whose dung can in turn help produce methane or organic fertilizer, another half of such ethanol leftovers can fuel the steam boiler. Some 2.5 tons of water can be extracted from sweet sorghum stems for the production of one ton of ethanol. The extracted water can be recycled for production use. Therefore, solid-state fermentation technology neither consumes large amounts of water nor gives out wastewater. In addition, a hectare of sweet sorghum stalks can turn out approximately 2,250 kg of seeds, which can be used for human consumption or animal feed. If a breakthrough occurs in cellulosic ethanol technology, leftovers from a hectare of sweet sorghum stalks can also produce 5,625 kg of cellulosic ethanol, which will increase the productivity of sorghum ethanol from the current 6.7 tons to 12.3 tons per hectare. As a typical example in resource comprehensive use and recycling, sorghum ethanol production works in a somewhat “sucking the marrow and grinding the bone” manner. By the entropy balance conversion, Professor Li Shizhong invented an efficient and low-carbon agriculture-industrycombined production mode with ten thousand tons of sorghum ethanol, six thousand cattle, 2.8 million meters of methane, and 0.06 million tons of organic fertilizer produced from two thousand hectares of land, as illustrated in figure 20.1.

Figure 20.1. Diagram of a conceptual high-efficiency-low-carbon-emission industrial and agricultural production chain with an annual output of 10,000 tons of sweet sorghum ethanol (Li, 2010).

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20.7. WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL OF NATIONAL LAND RESOURCES? The following two sets of data are provided to answer the question as to whether China has enough lands in stock for growing nongrain ethanol feedstock. First, I would like to introduce the set of data I proposed at the conference for a consultation program undertaken by the Chinese Academy of Engineering on recyclable energy. According to my estimation, there is a total of 28.4 million hectares of marginal land in stock, including 8.4 million hectares of fallow farmland left barren and 20 million hectares of low-yield nonfarmland. Detailed information can be found in chapter 15. The second set of data comes from the Ministry of Agriculture, which proposed in its report on the survey of barren land appropriate for the growth of liquid-state fuel plants that such land with a total size volume of 26.8 million hectares can be classified into three categories; namely, the first-class land immediately available for use, or second-class land demanding rehabilitation, or third-class land that requires perennial auxiliary infrastructures (Kou et al., 2008) (table 20.2). Calculated at 60 percent of the land cultivation index, there can be 16.08 million hectares of land available. These targeted barren lands for energy plant growth are concentrated in geographic locations. Intensive exploitation for such lands can be carried out in eight major regions. This survey is the most updated and highly valuable one. In addition, Wei also suggested that some seventy-four million hectares of marginal lands could be used for ethanol fuel production, leaving great potential for bioenergy development (Wei et al., 2009). When it comes to the sum of marginal lands, the two sets of data are quite close to each other. However, the data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture referred to all marginal wastelands available in the nation, Table 20.2. Ranking, area, and potential production capacity for energy-plant-suited deserted lands

Ranks Rank I Rank II Rank III Total

Area of EnergyPlant-Suited Deserted Land (104 ha)

Net Area for Reclaimable Land* (104 ha)

433.33 873.33 1,373.33 2,679.99

260.00 524.00 824.00 1,608.00

Production Capacity for Bio-based Liquid Fuel Unit Area Productivity* (ton ha–1)

Total Output (104 ton)/

3.5 3.0 2.5

910 1,572 2,060 4,542

* Source: Kou, 2009. Net area for reclaimable land is calculated by timing the area of energy-plant-suited land by 60 percent, the reclaimable factor. The factor is uniformly set as 60 percent.

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while my data is confined to “available but not used” wastelands as survived by the Ministry of Land Resources and therefore is much less than the one provided by the Ministry of Agriculture. I deem that the data given by the Ministry of China Agriculture would have a higher reference value. The total marginal land that I proposed includes twenty million hectares of nonfood, low-productive farmland (which comprises ten million hectares of existing tuberous crop land). Given 26.8 million hectares of marginal wasteland and 20 million hectares of marginal farmland available in the country, China is endowed with 40 million hectares of land for liquid fuel production. One might raise a question like this: Would the marginal farmland violate the ban of “no competition with farmland”? My answer is “no.” The overall quality of Chinese farmland is relatively poor, one-third of which has been categorized as low-yield lands, where only some barren-tolerant crops such as potato, sorghum, sugar beet, Jerusalem artichoke and other nonfood crops (most of them are considered to be high-quality energy crops) could survive. Chinese farmers have stuck to an inefficient cultivation mode for too long, which is featured by less fertilizer application and labor input and extensive management as well as very low income as a consequence. This scenario has lasted for many thousands of years. If such low-yield energy crops are given the chance to become high-added-value commodities with a sustainable market demand, farmers would be motivated to reach to all possible means, such as investing more man labor and fertilizer, improving cultivation technologies, ameliorating soil quality, and substantially improving the yield and commercialization of those low-yield energy crops, thus creating a economically and ecologically benign cycle. If so, why don’t we spare no efforts to make it happen? Moreover, for thousands of years, what and how Chinese farmers have cultivated in their fields is not immutable, but it often is subject to reasonable alteration according to their own needs and market demands. This common phenomenon is agriculturally termed as “planting structural adjustments.” The cultivation of bioenergy plants in China will not involve grain-producing lands and new crop species; in turn, such practice can extend the use of plants as energy sources, stimulate farmer’s enthusiasm for agricultural activities, and increase farmland output and farmers’ income. One might be concerned that less plants are available for their primary usage purposes as a result of the development of bioenergy production. I strongly believe such worry is not necessary since the increased unit yield of farmland resulting from the enhanced enthusiasm of farmers will make more plants readily available for multiple usages. What’s more, the resource allocation would be adjusted by market economy as an “invisible hand.”

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We can be confidently assured that one hundred million tons of fuel ethanol could be produced yearly given the fact that China is home to 16.08 million hectares of wasteland available for the cultivation of liquid fuel plants (according to the survey conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture), and ten million hectares of nonfood low-yielding farmlands currently used for the cultivation of potato, sorghum, and other plants. Thus, is it not suitable for us to regard the twenty-six-million-strong hectares of marginal lands as a super green oil field that is capable of producing more than one hundred million tons of fuel ethanol each year in a sustained way and bringing farmers hundreds of billions RMB yuan as an income annually?

20.8. THE BIG CHALLENGE OF CELLULOSIC ETHANOL Drawbacks in relation to corn-converted fuel ethanol, such as the imbalance of corn provisions for traditional markets, price increases, the high cost of raw materials, shrunken and unsustainable sources of the raw materials, and more, were disclosed gradually in the United States when its fuel ethanol annual output rose from several to ten million tons. Since cellulose is free from such vexing problems, it is regarded as a “savior” for the development of fuel ethanol. However, cellulose molecules exhibit complicated and stable structures with a natural resistance to hydrolysis, something like an extremely rare treasure that often hides in a mountain cave, hard to be detected. To date, people all over the world are seeking keys to the treasure house by tackling the technical problems of cellulose degradation. In the early twentieth century, cellulose was broken down by the highconcentration acid hydrolysis method, and then by advanced enzymatic hydrolysis technology discovered in the 1970s. However, the cost of hydrolytic enzymes was fairly expensive. From 1999 to 2005, although the expense of cellulase was reportedly reduced by thirty times, the enzyme cost of cellulosic ethanol was still as high as US $0.3 per gallon, with little space left for further deduction. In 2007, the United States invested US $385 million to set up six cellulosic ethanol demonstrative factories, and US $375 million to build three national research centers in Wisconsin, Tennessee, and California. In 2006, in the State of the Union address, Bush swore to achieve the commercial production of cellulosic ethanol in six years. The Energy Independence and Security Act proposed in 2007 a grand objective of cellulosic ethanol production at 0.3 and 6.3 million tons as of 2010 and 2022, respectively. Obama’s administration has strengthened the investment for advanced cellulose-based biofuels. For instance, only in 2009, more than US $2 billion was invested for related

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research and development. However, what happened later seemed not so upbeat yet. In July 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it would bring the production quota of cellulosic ethanol from 820,000 to 21,000 to 84,000 tons for the year 2001, implying great difficulties in developing such biofuels. Canada’s Iogen Corporation, a company specialized in producing cellulase, constructed the world’s first pilot plant with an annual output of three thousand tons of cellulosic ethanol in Ottawa by the end of 2004, but the cost of $0.6 to $0.7 dollar per liter of cellulosic ethanol was still fairly high. Europe, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Austria, France, and Italy are also intensively seeking ways to solve the problem of the high cost for cellulosic ethanol production. Nevertheless, it is commonly believed that lowering the production cost and commercializing the production of cellulosic ethanol is just a matter of time. In the Tenth Five-Year Plan Period, the demonstration project for acid hydrolysis–based cellulosic ethanol production was included in the “863 Program” by the Ministry of Science and Technology. In the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period, a government-supported technology program titled “Selection and Construction of Technological Research of Effective Microbe Decomposing by Biomass” was conducted by the top higher-education institution in the nation—Tsinghua University—which was the first one commissioned to carry out systematic researches into lignocellulose pretreatment, isolation and selection of cellulases, hydrolysis of cellulose, pentose cometabolism, and engineering of bacteria for hexose production to the fermentation and purification of ethanol in the nation. This program led to the invention of a novel technology called “SMEHF”—the simultaneous multienzyme hydrolysis (bacteria-) fermentation—by which the expense of cellulosic ethanol production can be markedly lowered. Dalian University of Technology developed a liquefaction pretreatment technology to generate fuel ethanol from stalks, with advantages such as low energy consumption, no environmental pollution, and being conducive for cellulose hydrolysis (Li et al., 2008). Besides universities, some fuel-ethanol companies in China also have actively taken part in the research and development of cellulosic ethanol production technology. For instance, COFCO Zhaodong Fuel-Ethanol Company in collaboration with a Danish company Novozymes built a cellulase experimental device capable of producing three hundred tons of cellulosic ethanol annually. By using cellulase-based solid-state-fermentation technology, Anhui Fengyuan Group constructed a test apparatus with an annual output at three hundred tons of cellulosic ethanol. The Tian Guan Group in Henan Province created a kiloton-scale cellulosic ethanol experimental device. Moreover, Shandong Longli Biotechnology Co., Ltd., developed a device to produce xylitol intermediate-formed

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cellulosic ethanol at an annual output of over ten thousand tons (Qian, 2008). Because such pilot projects are still in their test stages, great efforts still need to be made to overcome many tough technical problems. Worldwide, campaigns for technology advancement of cellulosic ethanol production are in full swing, with the dawn of success around the corner. According to an optimistic estimation, the United States might start to commercially produce cellulosic ethanol around 2015, but recent progresses seem not so exciting as expected. Though China has also joined the worldwide campaign for cellulosic ethanol exploitation, the overall investment from China is still negligible and incomparable to that of the United States and European countries.

20.9. DIALECTICS OF THE 1ST , 1.5, AND 2ND GENERATION OF BIOETHANOL As mentioned above, there are three types of bioethanol according to their production materials, namely the food (e.g., corn and sugarcane)-based ethanol, the nonfood (e.g., potato and sweet sorghum)-based ethanol and cellulosic ethanol. They are also referred as the 1st generation ethanol, 1.5 generation ethanol, and 2nd generation ethanol. Recently, microalgae were deemed the 3rd generation biofuel. Cellulosic ethanol, endowed with many unrivaled merits, brings us great hope for a booming development of bioethanol. However, a long period of time is still needed for China to go into the large-scale production of bioethanol and to supplement fossil oil with biofuel in wide scope. Thus, how to better deal with the 1st, 1.5, and 2nd generation ethanol would be our current issue. As a nation with a high demand and great import pressure for vehicle fuel, and encountering great difficulties in further enlarging their cornbased ethanol scale, the United States has an urgent desire to develop cellulosic ethanold. However, even if its advanced biofuel outnumbers corn ethanol, the United States still keeps its corn-ethanol production at an annual level of forty-five million tons. That is because the technology advancement process needs to be done step by step; besides, the profit of farmers in corn-production regions also needs to be taken into full consideration. Wise enough, the United States sticks to the following strategy to develop its biofuel: stabilize the output of the 1st generation biofuel, accelerate the growth of the 2nd generation biofuel, and make the production of the 3rd generation biofuel well ready. As for Brazil, things are quite different. Brazil does not need to aspire after cellulosic ethanol as zealously as the United States does, for the following reasons: it enjoys sufficient farming land resources to produce sugarcane ethanol at low cost, its sugar and alcohol production are complementary to

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each other, and what is more important is the great economic benefit sugarcane ethanol production brings to Brazilian farmers, as Brazil has established an integrated system for ethanol production, processing, and marketing services throughout the country, and its sugarcane ethanol has become the first pillar industry in that country. In Europe, diversified systems for the development of biomass energy, including biomass heating and power, cogeneration of heating and power, molding fuel, and industrial biogas, biodiesel, and ethanol fuel have been established. Although European countries also attach great importance to the development of cellulosic ethanol, they seem not so imperative in developing it as compared with the United States. It is quite a natural thing that countries with different situations and at different development stages will vary in attitude and urgency for the research and development of the 1st and 2nd generation ethanols. Thus, concrete analysis is demanded for each different country, and any simplified treatment could not solve complicated economic and social problems. In China, we once produced stale-grain ethanol as a way to counteract excessive food storage, and then timely proposed to develop nonfoodbased ethanol when the grain supply became tight years later. The highly flexible and feasible approach was really unique in the world. However, such a brilliant idea did not come true. The discouraging fact is that neither food-based ethanol nor nonfood-based ethanol gained development in the passing years. Recently, Chinese leaders started to show interest in cellulosic ethanol, but no concrete action has been taken. As a matter of fact, they hesitated about how to stipulate policies on the 1st, 1.5, and 2nd generation ethanol fuels. Actually, it is quite clear that food-based ethanol in China is unfeasible (the existing food-based ethanol projects should be transformed to nonfood ethanol ones as quickly as possible). And it is hard for cellulosic ethanol to be commercialized within ten years in spite of its excellence; therefore, cellulosic ethanol cannot play a significant role in helping China meet the goal of producing ten million tons of ethanol fuel as of 2020. Apparently, the 1.5 generation became the only option left for us to develop biofuel. The development of nonfood (e.g., sweet sorghum, potato)-based ethanol is expected to motivate farmers’ enthusiasm in China to exploit tens of millions of hectares of marginal lands and to cultivate those nonmainstream crops as a good way to increase farmers’ income and to create more job positions for them. In additional, nonfood-based ethanol production is easy to grow into a large-scale industry because of its technology maturity and the availability of domestically produced equipments. It will facilitate China to meet its ethanol-fuel annual output target of ten million tons as of 2020. Therefore, nonfood ethanol is highly suitable for China’s situation. Even if cellulosic ethanol realizes commercialization in

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the future, its production will mainly happen in stalk-rich grain cultivation regions, whereas the 1.5 generation ethanol production will boom in areas of low-yield farmlands and reclaimed wastelands, where potato and sweet sorghum are planted as major crops. Though the world focuses its sights on the 2nd generation ethanol at present, it is not feasible for China to confine itself to the production of the 2nd generation ethanol because it is hard for it to industrialize in a short period of time. Therefore, 1.5 generation ethanol is the best option for China, which can promote China’s rural economy and help increase farmers’ income. On a long-term strategic viewpoint, however, China should still have to pay close attention to developing the 2nd and 3rd generation ethanol fuels, because only diversified ethanol fuels can compensate for a huge gap in the oil requirement. A key dialectic principle is “to start from reality.”

20.10. PINES REMAIN AT EASE THOUGH CLOUDS FLY WITH NO STAND Fuel ethanol is the most special and important member in the biomass energy family, but it is also the one suffering the most difficulties and tribulations, reminiscent of Xuanzang, a Buddhist monk of the Tang Dynasty, who made a perilous journey on foot from China to India to obtain Buddhist sutras. In the United States, the development of corn ethanol is sometimes accompanied by a demonlike phenomena—negative energy efficiency, an increase in carbon dioxide emission, the elevation of food price and competition for food against an eight hundred million hungry (world) population. However, from a viewpoint of the overall national interest, the U.S. government goes against all dissenting views to unwaveringly push corn-ethanol production, and it explores intensively the 2nd generation cellulosic ethanol and even intends to produce it more than corn ethanol around 2020 as a target. The U.S. Renewable Fuels Association has recently published Fuel Ethanol Industry’s Contribution to the National Economy in 2009 (The U.S. Renewable Fuels Association, 2010). It reported that the United States has fulfilled its aimed fuel ethanol production target of 31.8 million tons in spite of the financial crisis. Although twelve production factories were closed due to financial turbulence, eleven factories were newly set up during the same period of time. In 2009, the use of fuel ethanol helped to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 33.745 million tons, reduced the oil import by 364 million barrels (accounting for 5 percent of oil imported), and saved US $21.3 billion for oil purchase. Consequently, this effort

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helped consumers spend US $16 billion less and created four hundred thousand work positions nationwide. In the same year, with US $7 billion invested as subsidy and research funds, China harvested US $19.3 billion as financial proceeds and saved US $21.3 billion for oil payments, a very positive economic return. “Only the toughest grass can stand strong winds”—it seems that fuel ethanol secures a more firm foothold and develops even faster in the United States after having gone through several rounds of world food and financial crises. In Brazil, fuel ethanol development becomes especially prospering and flourishing, which I would not want to restate further. As a country extremely short of fossil oil resources, China has seen its ratio of storage capacity to production decrease to 11.4 (Jiang, 2008) and its import dependency elevated up to 53.7 percent. But on the other hand, China’s consumption for auto fuel has soared in the recent twenty years, at an annual rate of 12.7 percent, and its automobile output also has enjoyed a quick growth rate as high as 60 percent; that is, the output jumped from 1.44 million in 1995 to 13.64 million in 2009. In order to fill the gap between limited resources and growing demand, China set its sights on foreign countries for fuel import, an approach highly similar to the oil policy adopted by the United States in the 1960s and the 1970s. However, under the shadow of many resulting troubles and conflicts with the Gulf region, the United States has altered its oil policy since the 1990s and has moved to a safe and independent energy resource path by actively promoting biofuel development with a view to substitute fossil fuel for transportation purposes. Energy problems occurring in China in the future may not be less than what happened to the United States in the past. Sooner or later, China will also go on this safe and independent energy resource path, which will be characterized by the transformation of energy resources and the development of biofuels as a dominant power resource. Sure, it is necessary for us to learn from but not copy from the United States. Instead, we should proactively push our energy resource transformation as early as possible. In the United States, fuel ethanol is questioned in most cases by the academic circles, while in China, energy authorities are the major opponents to fuel ethanol development. Such government organizations had scored a brilliant achievement of fuel ethanol production but promulgated a notice to force out biomass energy in 2006 by strongly supporting wind and solar energy in 2008, resulting in the failure of fuel-ethanol projects scheduled during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan. If the energy authorities could be sober-minded enough to process things objectively, they would push aside the “mist” of energy resource alternatives such as coal-derived oil, coal-based methanol, and electric vehicles, and get

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rid of the misunderstanding and prejudice about fuel ethanol to make it the major resource substitute for fossil fuel. It is believed that the next several decades (say, thirty to fifty years) will see marked changes in the growing demand for vehicle fuel, the gradual depletion of fossil fuel, a steep rise in oil prices, the volatile international situation and high risk caused by dependence on overseas fossil fuels, as well as the predominant role of liquid biofuels in the replacement of fossil fuels for transport purposes. Thereby, fuel ethanol, which has been snubbed currently in China, would come into the limelight again, and China also will return to the right path of exploring its domestic “green-oil field.” During the eventful years between the end of the 1950s to the early 1960s, China had suffered from various troubles such as Great Leap Forward, the Sino-Soviet Relation Deterioration, and the Three Hard Years. Now, I would like to cite a poem written by Mao Zedong in 1961 as he came across a photo of the Lu Mountain Fairy Cave as a conclusion to this chapter: Dim in the fog we see pines firmly stand; They remain at ease admist flying cloud. The Fairy Cave is a miracle out of Nature’s hand; The grand scenery is revealed at perilous peak.

REFERENCES CIRISAT. “A Working Paper: Pro-Poor Biofuels Outlook for Asia and Africa [R].” ICRISAT’s Perspective, March 2007. Jiang, Z. M. “Reflections on Energy Issues in China.” Journal of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Science) 42, no. 5 (2008): 345–59. Kou, J. P., and X. Y. Bi, and L. X. Zhao. “Investigation and Evaluation on Wasteland for Energy Crops in China.” Renewable Energy Resources 26, no. 6 (2008): 3–9. Li, Y., Y. F. Sun, W. M. Zhang, and Y. C. Zhang. “Research on Fuel Ethanol Production by Straw Waste.” Liquor-Making Science & Technology 11 (2008): 105–7. Li, S. Z. “Feasibility Analysis Report on Demonstration Project of Producing Ethanol via Sweet Sorghum Stalks using ASSF Technology,” 2010. (unpublished) Li, Z. C., Z. M. Huang, and D. F. Yang. “The Harmful Factors and Countermeasures Influencing Development of Cassava Fuel-Alcohol Industry.” Renewable Energy Resources 26, no. 3: 106–10. Liu, J., and L. Guo. “Discuss on Non-Grain Feedstorks of Raw Material of Fuel Ethanol in China.” China Brewing 14 (2008). NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission) and Ministry of Finance. “The Notice about Strengthening the Construction Management of Biofuel Ethanol Project and Promoting Healthy Development (Industrial Development and Reform Commission [2006] No. 2842),” December 14, 2006. PRX Grain Database. Section I. Ethanol, Corn, & DDG, October 2, 2007.

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Qian, B. Z. “Advances in Cellulosic Ethanol Exploitation in China.” Advances in Fine Petrochemicals 9, no. 6 (2008): 54–58. Shi, Y. C. “Current Situations and Prospects of Biomass Energy Development in China (PPT).” Presentation at Faculty of Energy and Mining Engineering of Chinese Academy of Engineering, June 9, 2007. U.S. Renewable Fuels Association. 2010. The Contribution of the U.S. Fuel Ethanol Industry to the Economy in 2009, February 12, 2010. Wei, W., J. H. Zhang, and L. Wang. “Prospects of Biofuel Ethanol Industry in China.” Natural Gas Technology, 3, no. 2 (2009): 70–72. Xiao, M. S., and J. X. Yang. “The Industrialization Demonstrating Project of Producing Ethanol via Fermentation of Sweet Sorghum Stalks.” Journal of Agricultural Engineering 22 (supp. 1) (2006): 217–20. Xiong, B. L. “Development of Biofuel Ethanol in China and the Eleventh National Five-Year Plan (PPT).” Faculty of Energy and Mining Engineering of Chinese Academy of Engineering, September 6, 2007. Xu, D. M. “The Speaker Corpus of a Symposium of Chinese Biofuel Ethanol Industry Development Strategy.” Faculty of Energy and Mining Engineering of Chinese Academy of Engineering, June 9, 2007. Yu, X. B. “Current Situations and Prospects of Technologies for Fuel Ethanol Production in COFCO (PPT).” Presentation at Faculty of Energy and Mining Engineering of Chinese Academy of Engineering. June 9, 2007.

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Biogas: Today and Tomorrow*

“C

ombustible gas” refers to syngas (through thermal pyrolysis of biomass), biogas and hydrogen made by the anaerobic fermentation of biomass. Biogas is the first variety of modern bioenergy that has already been used by mankind for about one hundred years. It is a mixture gas of methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide, and others, with methane accounting for 50 to 65 percent of the total components. Once the content of methane is upgraded to more than 95 percent, biogas is converted into bionatural gas (BNG), which has same quality as natural gas. Biogas engineering is a technical system in which organic wastes can be anaerobically fermented on a large scale and then converted into biogas before it is further purified and upgraded into BNG suitable for civil and automobile usage. Such a manufacturing model represents the mainstream of the current biogas industry.

21.1. BIOGAS AT THE VERY BEGINNING: A SUBSTITUTE FOR KEROSENE As derived from petroleum, kerosene found its way into China at the beginning of the twentieth century. Since the kerosene lamp was far brighter, cleaner, and safer than candles and rapeseed oil lamps, Chinese people have used it for generations, and it was highly sought by most people in China back then. However, due to its higher price, common

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people could not afford kerosene. Therefore, biogas rose as a replacement to kerosene. At the end of the 1920s, Mr. Luo Guorui invented the first water-sealed flotative cap biogas digester in China, which was also dubbed the China Guo Rui Gas Vessel later. It can provide a six-member family with sufficient fuel for daily cooking and lighting. In 1930, the National Guo Rui Lighting Company emerged in Shanghai with a patent for biogas lighting. At that time, those biogas-engineering establishments were called watersealed gas vessels, either in cuboid or bucket shape. With a volume usually around six cubic meters, such vessels were made of iron, timber, and cement, and they converted dung/urine and manure into valuable biogas. Since 1957, the Chinese government has advocated a policy of seeking new energy through multiple approaches. Small household biogas ponds in rural areas have been attached great importance again, with numbers up to 5.28 million by the end of 1993. Biogas then was mainly used for illumination and as a cooking fuel in areas not reached by the nation’s grid system. In particular, when the grave oil shortage happened at the turn of the 1960s, biogas was used to fuel tractors in some places. Since the number of newly set up household biogas ponds were counteracted by that of newly annulled ones, the total number stagnated around seven million without apparent growth, then as a result of obstacles in technology, the economy, and a subsiding in policy. In addition, due to the high temperature required by anaerobic fermentation, rural household biogas ponds were mainly concentrated in a few southern provinces such as Sichuan. Such a situation has remained fundamentally unchanged until the 1990s.

21.2. BIOGAS AT PRESENT: CORE LINK OF CHINESE ECOLOGICALLY RECYCLED AGRICULTURE At the beginning of the 1980s, some scholars pointed out, during the discussion about China’s approaches to agricultural modernization, that the Western “petro-agriculture” model should not be copied by the nation because of a petroleum shortage. Instead, the way out is to stick to the essence of the traditional Chinese agriculture; that is, agro-substance recycling and multilevel use of bioenergy. With such enlightenment, people in the cycle endeavor to tap more ways for the comprehensive use of biogas, except as fuel. Biogas slurry was found to be unexpectedly effective as raw material for renewable feed, crop fertilizer, and fungus as well as bioactive compounds to adjust plant growth and inhibit the propagation of bacterium and secondary metabolites. All such “ecological agriculture” elements are then magnified through biogas engineering into a series of industries such as organic fruit/veg-

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etable cultivation, renewable energy, quality organic fertilizer, regenerative feed and additives, and more. Manure contains many unused biomaterial and energy. If it is not properly treated and piled up in discretion, or intensively applied onto a small plot of land, then an eutrophication effect will be caused along with a great deal of nutrients such as ammonia and phosphate flowing into a water body. Also, methane, with a greenhouse effect twenty-one times stronger than that of CO2, will be released into the air. Besides, manure will worsen the environment of rural areas with its bad smell. Manure contains 20 to 30 percent of undigested organic energy (for example, 40 percent of lysine and 70 to 90 percent of phytate phosphorous contained in feedstuff can be sourced from manure). Manure is the material basis of microbial activities in the fermentation process. Under the anaerobic fermentation mechanism, the majority of manure can be degraded and dissolved into substances with simple forms and be ready for further application such as methane and biogas slurry. Biogas slurry contains 30 to 40 percent of organic matters, among which, 8 percent is crude protein, 1.5 percent nitrogen, 0.5 percent phosphorus, and 0.8 percent potassium. Thus it can be used as an ideal substitute for chemical fertilizer in improving soil and an agro-product’s quality, as well as reducing the application of pesticide. In general, the anaerobic bioreaction accelerates the substance recycling and raises the use rate of photosynthesis; thus the overall effectiveness and economic benefit of agricultural manufacturing can be greatly optimized. Along with the advances in the ecological agriculture campaign launched across the country in the 1980s, biogas ponds gradually become a common thing in the nation. However, the real breakthrough occurred at the beginning of the 1990s, when two biogas-related agricultural models emerged in southern and northern China, respectively. The socalled four-in-one model was invented in North China around the end of the 1980s, and it refers to the smart integration of three establishments, namely the solar-powered greenhouse, the pig house, and toilet. With such a smart combination, vegetables can be cultivated even in the cold spring and winter. Also, the weight loss problem cattle have in winter due to the cold weather is solved in the meantime. Besides, CO2 emitted from biogas burned as heating fuel in greenhouses can be used to give vegetables a “gas-fertilization,” which is effective in improving photosynthesis so that the yield and quality of vegetables are raised. Almost at the same period, a similar “pig cultivation–biogas pond– fruit tree” model appeared in South China and the southern part of Jiangxi Province, in particular. Farmers in such areas gradually came to understand that the substance generated by a biogas pond is sufficient

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to cultivate two pigs, 667 m3 of a citrus tree, a fish pond, and a plastic tunnel of vegetables. By sticking to such a multiple beneficial cultivation mode, each rural household can gain nearly 10 thousand yuan as pure income each year, with the natural environment well protected. In addition, citrus quality can be greatly improved after the biogas slurry is applied as the fertilizer for fruit trees. Southern Jiangxi also make itself the hometown of Chinese citrus. Rural household biogas application has multiple functions. First of all, it helps to prevent forest and bush vegetation from being damaged, since rural households are traditionally dependent on wood and grass cuttings as domestic fuel, a root cause for overcutting and soil erosion. Among those people who use wood/grass fuel for daily life, almost one-half reside in China. One biogas pond can save two to three tons of fuel wood, which means that 333 to 667 m3 plot of forest land could be protected. Besides being more thermally effective than fuel wood, biogas can make good use of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus contained in plant straw, which otherwise would be burned. At present, four hundred million tons of crop residues are burned at very low thermal efficiency in China every year, with about five million tons of plant nutrients lost as a result. According to Zhu Zhenda, researcher from the Desert Institute, Chinese Academy of Science, anthropogenic activities are the major driving force of desertification. Among the five kinds of anthropogenic factors that are responsible for desertification in North China, overcutting ranks the first. In Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (province) of South China, the vegetation coverage rates were always below 22 percent due to the overcutting practices out of the severe fuel shortage for cooking and lighting. Since 1985, the household biogas pond has been actively promoted throughout the province as represented by Gongcheng County, whose population rate was up to 90 percent. After other countries quickly adopted such practices, Guangxi became the province with most rural biogas ponds in the nation. Its provincial forest coverage rate rose up to 41 percent on average as of 2011.

21.3. ATTRIBUTE AND FORMATION OF BIOGAS Biogas is formed during a microbial process under specific conditions and consists of 50 percent to 65 percent methane, 25 percent to 30 percent carbon dioxide, 2 percent nitrogen, 1 to 2 percent hydrogen, 0.2 percent hydrogen sulfide, 0.5 percent carbon monoxide, and 0.5 percent oxygen. Biomass should go through three stages of hydrolysis—acidogenesis, acetogenesis, and methanogenesis—to be turned into biogas. The reaction formula of degradated carbohydrate is as follows:

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Acetogenesis: C6H12O6 + 2H2O → 2CH3COOH + 4H2↑ + 2CO2↑ Methanogenesis: 2CH3COOH → 2CH4 + 2CO2↑ 4H2 + 2CO2 → CH4↑ + H2O Raw biogas contains lower methane and thus a lower thermal energy value. Its gross calorific value is 30 MJ m–3, and its net calorific value is 26 MJ m–3. After raw biogas is upgraded to bionatural gas (BNG); namely, methane content is raised up to 97 percent, the net calorific value of biogas could reach 31.5 MJ m–3, a quite similar standard as natural gas. There are five approaches to upgrading biogas: water scrubbing, scrubbing with organic solvents, pressure swing adoption, membrane separation, and cryogenic separation. Water scrubbing is the most frequently used method. Only the desulfur procedure, which now is guaranteed with mature technology, is needed if biogas is provided to rural families for cooking purposes, or to specialized biogas generators as fuel. Upgraded biogas can be compressed in a tank with a high pressure of 20 Mp (like CNG), and then shipped to or directly connected to the natural gas grid. Different feedstocks will lead to different biogas yields. In general, those materials containing more protein and fat will generate more biogas. The top four common feedstocks of biogas are pig manure, cattle manure, human dung, and crop straw, with their carbohydrate content standing at 0.4 percent, 0.3 percent, 0.4 percent, and 0.6 percent; and biogas output per kilogram 0.3 m3, 0.2 m3, 0.3 m3, and 0.25 m3, respectively. However, crop straw, and dry straw in particular, are not suitable as biogas feedstock, or they have to be pretreated and at best codigested with manure. As a temperature-sensitive microbial process, biogas fermentation can be classified into three types: psychrophilic (≥ 10°C), mesophilic (28 to –35°C), and thermophilic (48 to 60°C). Different microbes are demanded for the three types of biogas fermentation. The output of biogas fermentation under normal climate conditions (≥ 10°C) is unstable, with a lower conversion rate as a result of unstable temperatures. As to mesophilic fermentation (28 to 35°C), its output is stable, with a higher conversion rate. However, warm-up measures should be taken for seasons with low temperature. The thermophilic fermentation (48 to 60°C) is known for the quick degradation of feedstock and high biogas output; however, it also demands energy consumption to heat the digester.

21.4. EFFECT AND LIMITATION OF RURAL HOUSEHOLD BIOGAS As to the majority of Chinese rural families, which are highly dispersed in location and lack access to convenient public transportation and sufficient

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cash to buy energy commodities, the paramount thing in their daily lives is to find firewood for cooking and heating. Even if the nation has seen an enhanced supply of coal and power nowadays, the government still attaches great importance to the role played by biogas in rural areas and the supplementary relationship among multiple energies, including coal, biogas, small hydropower, solar energy, and wind energy. The development of rural biogas has been speeded up in recent years, along with the considerable investment earmarked by the government. Until the year 2009, a total of 30.5 million rural households had been provided with biogas supply. During the period of 2003 to 2009, the central government had earmarked 19 billion RMB yuan of funds to enable 14.06 million households to gain access to biogas ponds, 13,000 biogas-based poultry cultivation projects, 1,776 big biogas plants, as well as 63,600 rural biogas service centers put into operation. The resulting 385 million tons of biogas slurry generated annually can save the consumption of woodfire, which needs to be collected from 110 million hectares of forest land and provides rural households with additional income up to 150 million RMB yuan. According to estimations, the existing 30.5 million biogas ponds and thousands of biogas engineering projects produce 12.2 billion cubic meters of biogas, equivalent to seven billion m3 of bionatural gas annually. Household biogas ponds are an ideal choice for China’s countryside, since peasants’ living quality can be obviously improved with relatively less input. In recent years, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) has executed an “eco-farmyard project” in rural areas of Western China, and it has enjoyed great success. The National Development and Reform Commission and MOA have aimed to increase the number of household biogas ponds to sixty million around 2015. However, small-sized household biogas ponds have innate weaknesses in term of structure and technology, such as a short life span, frequent malfunctioning, and unstable gas production in the winter. These problems are partially attributed to simple, even poor, raw materials and the absence of construction standards. The average rural biogas productivity, based on digester volume, is 0.11 m3 x m–3d–1, only one-fifth of the normal level. Since the output of the rural biogas pond is susceptible to many factors and is less reliable, peasants are longing to gain access to the centralized gas provisions similar to those available in urban areas.

21.5. FIVE TRADITIONAL FEEDSTOCKS OF BIOGAS PRODUCTION Traditional feedstocks for biogas production are livestock excretion, crop residue, municipal solid waste (MSW), sewage sludge, and industrial

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waste/wastewater. However, two kinds of new feedstocks have emerged in EU countries and the United States in recent years. First is the dedicated energy crops grown on fallow land or rehabilitated land as part of the natural environment conservation program. Second are specially cultivated energy crops of unique breeding, such as corn, sugar beets, Miscanthus grass, rye grass, and sudangrass. In Germany, dedicated energy crops constitute the major part of feedstock, with livestock excretion following behind. In 2007, the industrial and urban sewage discharged in China reached 55.7 billion tons containing twenty million tons of COD, which is theoretically capable of producing 11 billion m3 of biogas. Manure produced by livestock and poultry farms amounted to an even higher level of 3.087 billion tons (fresh weight), with more than 70 million tons of COD contained, a level three times more than that of the discharged industrial and urban sewage. In 2000 alone, 120 million tons of MSW had been buried with the potential to produce about 9 billion m3 of landfill gas (LFG) or 5 billion m3 of BNG. It is projected that by 2020 the MSW will be increased to four hundred million tons, which, if fully used, could produce enough biogas to substitute 16 billion m3 of natural gas. The total COD resulting from livestock farm wastewater, industrial wastewater, and urban sewage amounts to more than one hundred million tons at present, and will rise to two hundred million tons around 2020. If their potential bioenergy is completely tapped, at least 86 billion m3 of biogas (equal to 70 billion m3 of BNG) could be produced. In addition to the 20 billion m3 of BNG biogas equivalent generated from landfill gas, the total BNG generated will amount of 86 billion m3, capable of replacing 90 billion m3 of natural gas, a level 20 billion m3 higher than the natural gas consumption of the nation in 2008 (at 70 billion m3 then). Planting energy grass and crops on marginal land is also a feasible solution for China to adopt. It is calculated that at least thirty million tons (dry weight) of biomass could be harvested annually on thirteen million hectares of land available for such cultivation. Together with biogas generated by ten million tons of crop residues, 8 billion m3 to 10 million m3 of biogas can be brought out annually.

21.6. BOUNDLESS PROSPECTS OF BIOGAS Let’s start from the so-called gas shortage event, which happened to many cities by the end of 2009. During January to October in 2009, the national consumption of natural gas increased by 8 percent compared with same period of the last year.

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Upon entering November, many big cities such as Wuhan, Chongqing, Xi’an, Nanjing, and Hangzhow felt strained by the short natural gas supply. In order to guarantee the household gas demands of residents living in such cities, the central government had no choice but to cut down the amount provided to industry and other public domains. Among many factors leading to such a “gas shortage,” the inadequate supply of natural gas is the most decisive factor. In fact, it had long been predicted by experts, who also pointed out that the situation would be worse in the future. Annual natural gas consumption of each urban resident per capita was 6 m3 only in 2008, far below the world average (40.3 m3), while the remaining 60-plus percent of natural gas was provided to chemical fertilizer and power generation industries. China was entering a fast-growing period of natural gas consumption, with an annual provision at 80 billion m3 in the year 2008 and 110 billion m3 in the year 2010. The annual gap between demand and supply is projected to reach 90 billion m3 in 2020. To meet its enormous domestic consumption, China has enhanced its import of natural gas through pipelines from neighboring Mideast countries, as well as the import of LNG and LPG from Australia, Malaysia, Qater, and more. Under such a perspective, it is natural for us to ask: Can biogas alleviate the tight supply of natural gas in the nation? And the answer is yes. Rather than sticking to old patterns of providing biogas only to rural households on a small scale, we should endeavor to provide upgraded and commercialized biogas commodities, especially BNG, to all ranges of consumers on a large scale. The so-called industrial biogas refers to scaled biogas production and purification activities. Same as natural gas and liquid gas, biogas will be transported by pipeline or gas cylinder along well-deployed routes, as part of an all-inclusive industrial chain. Industrial biogas features a big volume of anaerobic digester (≥ 500m3), higher biogas productivity (4 to 10 m3 x m–3d–1), and stable and fast operation (waste liquid and waste dreg treated ≥ 500 tons per day). And the purified biogas after compression treatment can substitute for gasoline or diesel directly to fuel cars or to be introduced into the natural gas grid. In short, it is a commercial model quite different from rural household biogas applications in terms of scale, service quality, operation way, and others. The concept of industrial biogas was proposed in 2006 by Professor Cheng Xu of the China Agricultural University and his two colleagues, Professor Zheng Hengshou and Liang Jinguang, as a result of their longterm dedication toward the treatment of high-strength organic wastewater. Ideas as advocated by the concept have been well demonstrated in two plants, which are specialized in alcohol production and brought

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about 30,000 m3 of biogas each day through the fermentation of highstrength organic wastewater. China has a long history in using wine-making residues to produce biogas for household use on a large scale. For example, the Henan Nanyang Alcohol Plant, which produces fifty thousand tons of alcohol on a yearly basis with 2,700 tons of dregs released every month, started to attempt converting such dreg residue into biogas as early as 1964. At present, 40,000 m3 of biogas produced by the plant every day is used to replace coal to power its staff dining hall and boiler, as well as being channeled to more than twenty thousand families in Nanyang City as domestic fuel. With an aim to develop clean energy and to enhance energy self-reliance, EU countries have shifted their organic waste treatment paradigm, and more and more biogas plants have been built for combined heat and power (CHP) production. In Germany, super biogas manufacturing complexes appear there. The core of such a complex is a few huge modules that are comprised by many separate anaerobic digesters with an accumulative volume of 1,000 m3 for each module. The biogas manufacturing complex is formed by connecting such huge modules with establishments such as farmland, poultry houses, storage pots, CHP power station biogas purification workshops, and more. The power generated by biogas in Germany was as big as 10 to 30 MW and was usually merged into the electricity grid before being commonly used as auto fuel. BNG projects in Sweden are mainly used to replace natural gas as motor fuel or are merged into the natural gas grid. In the past decade, traditional biogas technologies have been upgraded to a new generation in EU countries. The new generation of biogas technology boasts the following improvements: First, the steel anaerobic digester, which is embedded with a heating tube and demonstrates sound airproof performance, is adopted to replace the traditional ferroconcrete anaerobic reactor. Contained with a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), the innovative steel anaerobic digester is capable of greatly improving biogas output. Second, the costly traditional big steel gas tank is replaced by an economical integral biogas pond, which combines a small gas-reservoir bag with an anaerobic digester together and is used for on-site power generation or biogas purification. Third, an array of professional companies came into being specialized in providing related technical consultation services, engineering design and construction services, after-sales services, maintenance services, and more. Fourth, large amounts of digest sludge, which contain a great deal of plant nutrients and organics, are further processed into high-quality organic fertilizer. Finally, different from the past, biogas feedstock has not been limited to the five traditional ones. Dedicated energy crops become major feedstock and are stored as a form of silage for further usage.

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21.7. NEW RESOURCE, DEDICATED ENERGY CROPS Manure is the traditional biogas feedstock in China. As to crop residues, they cannot be used directly, particularly in small household biogas ponds. Crop residues have to go through complicated pretreatment and fermentation procedures before entering into an anaerobic reactor. Straw (cellulosic) ethanol is a hot subject drawing great attention from both the academic and enterprise circles in the world. A great amount of formerly dissoluable and decomposed carbohydrates such as sugar and fruit glue will be transformed into hemicellulose and lignose, which are hard to be or even cannot be discomposed at all. What’s more, cellulose might be wrapped by such hemicellulose and lignose and be transformed into a crystallized substance that is hard for further exploitation. Therefore, many high-energy-consuming pretreatments such as intensive acid and alkaline treatments, boiling treatments, and high-pressure blast treatments are needed to make valuable cellulose separate from a mix of cellulose, semicellulose, and lignin. Energy crop–based biogas production is quite different from cellulosic ethanol production. Before the majority of carbohydrate in the corn straw is converted to an indissoluble substance, plants are ensilaged into lactic acid and acetate acid through anaerobic fermentation. Lactic acid with four carbon molecules is easy to convert into acetic acid with two carbon molecules and then methane with one carbon molecule. Besides, since lactic acid is highly antierosion, silage can be conveniently piled and stored all year around, which is quite significant for biogas industrialization. The appearance of energy crops alleviates the scarcity of biogas feedstock for many EU countries that had depended upon traditional feedstock heavily. In addition to plant grains, energy crops, and feedstuff crops in rotation, EU countries also make full use of fallow land and grassland. According to an optimistic estimate, if the potential of biogas resources are totally brought into play, biogas could substitute for all imported natural gas around 2020; that is, 500 m3 billion every year from Russia. According to the study done by Professor T. Amon et al., EU-25 countries have ninety-three million hectares of arable land. In a rotating system with the best consideration for grain and energy crop and feedstuff crop deployment, energy crops should cover 20 percent of the total land area, with the annual production of biomethane (BNG) reaching 120.9 billion m3, equaling to 104 million tons of oil.

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21.8. BIOGAS AND GHG EMISSION REDUCTION In recent years, greenhouse emission is an intensively discussed topic all over the world. Big climate change problems are an inevitable grave aftermath of the reckless action of releasing a great amount of carbon dioxide into the air by burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil for several hundred years. Compared with coal and petroleum, biogas emission is much more insignificant. Biogas GHG emission stands at 748 g CO2 per kg and 0.023 g CH4 per kg, far lower than coal (2280 g CO2 per kg and 2.92 g CH4 per kg). Therefore, the promotion of bioenergy and biogas in particular is an effective measure for the realization of a“low-carbon economy.” With 30.5 million household biogas ponds and thousands of biogas engineering projects well in place, China has seen its CO2 emissions decrease by forty-five million tons annually. During the period of 1990 to 2005, China’s rural biogas output has reached ninety-eight million tons, which equals to 240 million tons of CO2 emission reduction. In light of the national biogas development plan, annual biogas production will reach about 60 billion m3 as of 2020, equal to 440 million tons of CO2 emission reduction. NOTE *The author of this chapter is Professor Cheng Xu, who is affiliated with China Agricultural University.

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22

On Ten Major Relationships Governing Biomass Industry Development in China

Every non-fabricated development process of movement in the universe is not homogeneous and different from each other. This has to be emphasized, and to be begun within our research work. —Mao Zedong

A

mong the eleven chapters included in Focus on China—Part II of this book—the first five chapters are centered on issues China faced in terms of energy consumption, rural area, farmers and agriculture, and the biomass industry; the following five chapters depict, with cases and informal essays, the development of bioenergy products of all forms in China. It is common for a book to end with proposals on things such as development strategy, development routes, and policy orientation. However, I do not want to put an end to the book in such a flamboyant yet useless way. Such empty talk is not what readers are interested in and leadership lends an ear to. Rather, I choose to target current malpractices, and explore ten major relationships concerning the development of China’s biomass industry based on the questions I have raised in the previous chapters. The relationship is abstracted, in essence, as the “rules of the game” based on the universal rules and truths, since the social attributes of mankind become more and more profound along with human evolution from a primitive society to a slave society and to a feudal society. Some rules were embraced by human society as a way to adjust the relationships

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among social members as well as people and society. Some well-known classical Chinese sayings, such as Tian Ren He Yi (nature and man in One), Tian Di Jun Qin Shi (the order of the Heaven, the Earth, the Sovereign, the Parents and the Teachers), San Gang Wu Chang (a Confulegalistic hierarchical ethical order), and Li Yi Lian Chi (a sense of propriety, justice, honesty, and honor), as well as some ancient wisdom such as the Rules of Tao and the Ideas of Confucian, were targeted to rationalize such relationships and define the limits of activities. According to ancient Chinese sages, if such rules and relationship are destroyed, it will result in Li Beng Yue Huai (collapse of happy) and Tian Xia Da Luan (widespread chaos and disorder). The relationships between man and nature and among human beings should develop synchronously. It is natural that certain time is needed for new elements to be harmoniously integrated with the existing system and for new rules to be established to govern new relationships occurred thereby. This is true for the appearance of novel substances such as fossil fuels, renewable energy, and bioenergy, too. “Game rules” over relationships concerning such novel substances are also desired to be established. If properly managed, the integration of new things to the old system will be a smooth process, and a promotion to social development. If rules on greenhouse gases mitigation had been worked out before fossil fuels entered into the life of human society more than a hundred years ago, global climate change would have not occurred as severe as it is. It is a pity that human beings lacked such foresight then. With a view to sum up the experiences the new country has gained from the implementation of its first five-year plan, heads of thirty-four ministries were summoned to brief Mao Zedong about their work. With deep contemplation, Chairman Mao wrote a famous article titled “On Ten Major Relationships,” summing up how to deal with the relations among heavy industry, light industry and agriculture, between economic development and national defense, between central government and regional government, the Communist Party with other parties, the Han people with other minority groups, and more. He emphasized that thorough analysis should be given to each specific problem, as he demonstrated in his work On Contradictions (1937) that “every non-fabricated process of movement is not homogeneous and different from each other. We must bear it in mind and start from it in our research endeavors.” The bioenergy industry has already developed in China for almost ten years. In this chapter, I would like to follow Mao’s steps to figure out ten major relationships governing bioenergy development in China as the closing remarks for the part Focus on China.

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22.1. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BIOENERGY AND OTHER ENERGY In the industrial epoch, fossil fuel was the sole energy pole sustaining human’s civilization, and in the postindustrial epoch, energy resources are highly diversified with fossil fuels, nuclear energy, various renewable energy sources, and hydrogen energy co-existing. In the processes of substitution, one’s loss is another’s gain. This is true for inner competitions among clean energy, too, as each clean energy rivals with each other based on their own advantages in terms of technological maturity, economical efficiency, market competence, ecological impact, and social effect. Among clean energies, both hydraulic power and nuclear power are highly mature and industrialized with a quick investment return, so that they should be given priority for development to meet the urgent energy demand. However, most of the hydropower resources are crowded in the southwest of China, where the easily accessible hydropower resources have been explored and further development in the area will become very difficult or will incur unavoidable environmental consequences. In addition, nuclear power resources are not renewable, and it mainly relies on importation. These two resources could only serve for short- and middleterm demand, and it could not satisfy long-term consumption. Nonhydropower renewable energy resources, which are endowed with such advantages as abundance and universality, cleanliness and safety, and sustainability and independence, should be considered as a key strategic energy resource of the country. The efforts to strike a balance between hydropower and nuclear power energy resources as well as nonhydropower renewable energy resources will help build a sound, scientific, strategic layout for the nation. Among nonhydropower renewable energy resources, wind and solar energy are rich in the northwest regions of China, and they are suitable for urban heating. It is a good supplementary to other power and heating resources in the nation. Biomass, which are ample in quantity and are widely spread in the east and south regions of China, are diverse in both raw materials and product. The liquid fuel and industrialized biogas, in particular, have great potential to substitute transport-purposed fossil fuel and natural gas, thanks to its matured technology, domestically manufactured equipment, low risk, and high social effects in increasing farmers’ incomes and in promoting industrialization and urbanization of rural areas. Bioenergy, as one of the nonhydropower renewable energy resources with unparalleled advantages over its counterparts, deserves key attention for strategic development.

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Only with a clear idea about the relationships among fossil fuel, traditional hydropower, nuclear power, nonhydropower renewable energy resources, as well as the relationship among wind, solar power, and biopower, could we have a large and clear picture about China’s energy strategic development. Unfortunately, what the nation now is heading for is quite contradictory to what I am advocating.

22.2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCE AND BENEFIT TO THE RURAL SOCIETY Though wind, solar, and biomass energy all are clean energy, bioenergy is unique in its benefit to farmers engaged in agricultural activities in rural areas, but, however, it has been mostly ignored. I would like to reserve the topic of the importance of the roles that farmers, agriculture, and rural areas play to bioenergy development to section 8 of the chapter and explore the beneficial effects brought by bioenergy to China’s modern agriculture now. The root cause of plagues suffered by China’s rural areas lie in the fact that eight hundred million people in the rural population are bound to less than 0.1 hectare of land per capita to produce low-value-added grain and farm produces. It is not strange that the income gap between the rural farmer and urban worker has increased as a result of the deep-seated farmer-worker and urban-rural dualization policy. It was pointed out by the Third Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of CPC (2008) that the “deep-rooted structural imbalance caused by the dualization policy loomed large in current rural reform”; therefore, “we must spare no effort to build new rural-urban, farmer-worker relationships as a key important strategy in promoting modernization.” Though policies such as grain subsidy, agricultural tax exemption, and new village construction are necessary for China’s rural development, it is more important for China’s rural society to develop a self-reliance “hematopoietic” mechanism and learn “how to fish.” For this purpose, efforts should be made to enable primary-agricultural-product-centered production chains to extend to high-valueadded-product-centered production chains, namely food processing and biomass industry. This is a far-reaching agricultural revolution ongoing in developing countries, and it has been achieved in the developed countries. With a high market demand and added value, biomass industry will work as a strong engine to promote agricultural development; bring handsome income to farmers; relieve the problems China faced regarding agriculture, rural areas, and farmers; and speed up the urbanization and industrialization process in rural areas. How can we ignore the immeasurable social effect the biomass industry brings to the nation as a

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significant national strategy? State policies and agendas worked out in the absence of such awareness will fail to be sound ones. The National Energy Commission, which was chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, was established in January 2010 with members from a wide range of society, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the People’s Liberation Army General Staff Department. However, the Ministry of Agriculture and State Bureau of Forestry are excluded from the commission. On the one hand, the nation has always emphasized that rural issues are the most important tasks for the party to solve, and we must double our efforts to build new relationships between rural and urban areas and farmers and workers as a very important strategy for China’s modernization. On the other hand, I cannot help feeling confused about why the bioenergy industry, which is critical to the solution of the overwhelming problem, has not been valued. Where does the problem lie?

22.3. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RESOURCE SHORTAGE AND RESOURCE ABUNDANCE When bioenergy made its debut in China, it was confronted with questions like “Does China have enough biomass for energy production?” Sure, it is natural for people in China then, who were greatly impressed by the large-scale corn- and sugarcane-based ethanol production in the United States and Brazil to worry whether China had a lack of extra grain and land to develop bioenergy in consideration of its already highly tight supply. Some people even confronted me with the forthright question: “Where could you find land to produce energy crops?” With the passage of time, people gained more understanding about biomass, with the realization that bioenergy is not just corn-based ethanol nor sugarcane-based ethanol. Based on researcher’s data of biomass resources, China can produce 565 million tons of standard coal equivalent of bioenergy from plant residue, animal waste, woody residue, and other organic waste. Of which, the energy generated from plant residues alone is equivalent to that produced by ten Shendong coal fields, the biggest coal producer in China. Animal wastes can produce 122 million tons of standard coal. All of these are bioenergy raw material, capable of producing solid, liquid, and gaseous fuel or other bio-based products, which have nothing to do with grain and land area. Now, let’s turn our sights to marginal land and energy crops. Marginal land was not suitable to grow grain crops or other field crops in general, but it can grow some energy plants of high adversity resistance. China’s marginal land amounts to 137 million hectares in area, larger than the existing arable land, and it can produce 549 million tons of standard coal

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equivalent of energy. Based on a recent survey made by the Ministry of Agriculture, the land suitable to grow plants as raw material for liquid biofuels is 26.8 million hectares. Together with root crops grown on lowproductive soils, one hundred million tons of ethanol are expected to be produced in the nation. According to the Bureau of Forestry, there are fifty million hectares of firewood, oleaginous forest, and shrub land, as well as fifty-seven million hectares of barren wasteland in mountain or hill areas that can be used for energy forestation. President Hu Jintao suggested that forty million hectares of forest planted as carbon sink in the nation also can be cultivated into a base for bioenergy development. Marginal lands available in China are quite huge. Though only with 0.9 million hectares of arable land available, The Netherlands is the second biggest exporter of agricultural products in the world only after the United States. Similarly, though Israel only owns 0.35 million hectares of arable land, its imports in agricultural products are up to $15,000 per farmer. Though its marginal land is 150 times and 390 times larger than that owned by The Netherlands and Israel, China failed to make good use of such valuable land resources, which was highly promising to bring great fortune to farmers. If we only set our sights on corn-based or sugarcane-based ethanol, it will be easy for us to jump to the conclusion that China has a shortage of bioenergy resources. However, if agricultural and forest wastes are taken into consideration, it is amazing to find that bioenergy resources in China are so abundant. As the saying “Da Dao Zhi Jian” puts it, the nature of the universe can be the simplest. Sometimes, a simple thing will be made into a quite complicated one due to rooted biases. With a changed perception on bioenergy resources, we can come to realize that there are tens of thousands of green oil fields available for us to tap. However, what happens now in the energy supply domain resembles something like begging for food with a golden bowl in hand.

22.4. RELATION BETWEEN THE 1.5 GENERATION AND 2ND GENERATION OF ETHANOL Ethanol is a symbolic product of modern bioenergy, since it substitutes the quickest-growing and most energy-consuming fuel oil products. In China, ethanol delivers a “three-step dance” featured by a good start, stagnant growth, and then baffled about the next step. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan Period, the production of aged grainbased ethanol was promoted as a countermeasure against the excessive reserve of aged grain in the nation. When aged grain was used up during the Tenth Five-Year Plan Period, nongrain-based ethanol was

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proposed as a replacement to grain-based ethanol. Actually, it is a wise proposal. However, what happens in reality is that while the production of nongrain-based ethanol was brought to a halt, the production of grainbased ethanol still continued. In May of 2010, Premier Wen visited the Fengyuan Ethanol Plant in Anhui Province, and in June, the China-USA Forum on Advanced Biofuels was held in Beijing. All of these events somewhat disclosed that the state government had paid great attention to cellulose-based ethanol, expecting a leap over grain-based ethanol forward to cellulose-based ethanol. To take a shortcut is the central idea of the state government’s mentality on the ethanol issue. It is absolutely inapplicable for China to continually go after grainbased ethanol. The existing manufacturing establishment for the production of more than one million tons of grain-based ethanol has to be transformed as well. And it is very difficult to achieve the desired technological breakthrough for the conversion of cellulose to ethanol and related industrialized production in a short time. With huge funds having been invested into the research of cellulose-based ethanol, the United States and the European Union had high hope that industrialized/commercialized cellulose-based ethanol production would start in 2015. However, people are not that optimistic anymore, and the production target of cellulose-based ethanol in 2011 has been lowered from 820,000 tons to 21,000 to 84,000 tons. As China has not dedicated itself to cellulose-based ethanol production in real earnest, how can we expect a fortune to fall from the sky? Based on the Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies, China is expected to meet the ten million tons of ethanol production goal in 2020. However, up to now, only ten years are left for us to attain the goal, and it turns out to be an impossible mission no matter whether we resort to cellulose-based ethanol or grain-based ethanol. I proposed a concept of the 1.5 generation of ethanol in the China-USA Forum on Advanced Biofuels in June 2010, with the intention of encouraging China to make the best use of its abundant nongrain plants such as sweet sorghum, the roots of root crops, and girasole for ethanol production. Backed with advantages such as matured technology, domestically produced equipments, and great potential for quick commercial production, the 1.5 generation of ethanol will play an active role in invigorating the deeply sleeping marginal land and stimulating farmers’ enthusiasm. It is the only and best way for us to reach the goal of producing ten million tons of ethanol in 2020. Putting high hope on grain-based ethanol and cellulose-based ethanol are anything but a feasible and down-to-earth solution for China. By indulging in such a wrong-headed path, we will miss opportunities and lose correct direction for ethanol development. On the one hand, we should discard our fantasy ideas about grain-based ethanol and

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cellulose-based ethanol and dedicate ourselves to the development of nongrain-based ethanol. On the other hand, concrete efforts should be made for the research and development of cellulose-based ethanol, so as to make us technically ready for its development in the future. This is a right path we should stick to.

22.5. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIVERSIFIED AND KEY SOLID BIOFUEL RESOURCES Solid biofuel takes up the majority of bioenergy resources. Crop residue, wood waste, and energy forest biomass alone have the potential to produce more than seven hundred million tons of standard coal, accounting for two-thirds of the total bioenergy resources. Among which, 40 percent are crop straw and 60 percent are woody material. Mainly concentrated on farm field and forestry land, they can be used for power generation and/or heating by either burning them alone or with other materials or by making them gasified or by making them into briquettes, commercial biogas, cellulose-based liquid, and more. A flexible approach should be taken in our efforts to diversify the application of bioenergy resources. Since no development pattern is absolutely right or wrong, the selection of the development pattern should take factors, such as resource type and availability, technology maturity, and industrialization and localization levels, into consideration. For the time being and in the near future, direct power generation and/or heating by burning biomass alone or with other materials, or by making biomass into briquettes, will be the key bioenergy development domain we focus our efforts on, thanks to their highly matured technology and great industrialization degree. And it is also important for us to foster new power generation and/or heating technologies based on straw briquettes and commercial biogas that are now either in industrial demonstration or pilot stage phase. The solid bioenergy is loose in structure, with low energy density and difficulty for transportation, which are shortcomings against its development. The problem has been overcome along with the appearance of briquettes that make compressed plant residues comparable with coal in terms of bulk density and calorific value, clearness, and transportability. It is generally viewed that briquettes are only a kind of heating material. In fact, it can be used for manufacturing various energy or nonenergy products and is easy to transport, like what we do with grains—we cannot sell freshly harvested wheat or maize directly to the market without going through the necessary processing procedures such as threshing, drying, selection, and packaging. Briquettes are also made through rough

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processing. While nobody complains that grain has low density and is difficult to transport, biofuel, as something new, is bombarded with charges about the necessity to go through a processing procedure, the socalled low density argument, and being difficult to transport. Starting with the collection of raw materials to the formation and transportation of straw briquettes, all of the intermediate links of biomass production demand the completion of a series of basic infrastructural projects. In addition, industrial chains concerning material collection, machine manufacture, mold compressing, and transportation will be created to cater to biomass production, all of which might attract poured-in funds, technology, labor, management, and service. For the sound development of solid bioenergy, we should on the one hand endeavor to diversify its application scope, and on the other hand pay enough attention to consolidate the processing market so as to solve bottleneck problems.

22.6. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOUSEHOLD BIOGAS AND INDUSTRIAL BIOGAS When China started to develop biogas for household purposes during the 1970s, Germany and Sweden endeavored to commercialize and industrialize its biogas production, namely the so-called industrialized biogas. Now, thirty years has passed by. China has thirty million biogas plants established with 1.2 billion cubic meters of biogas produced on a yearly basis, while in Europe, the raw materials for commercial biogas production have been changed from sewage sludge and organic trash to animal waste and some specific energy plants. Its traditional anaerobic fermentation technologies also have been updated to more advanced ones such as continuous stirring fermentation, medium- to high-temperature fermentation, and sole or mixed silage material fermentation technologies. The application scope of biogas in Europe has also extended from direct-combustion power-generation to the substitution to natural gases under various circumstances. While rural household bioreactors only use scattered animal waste and other organic waste as raw materials to produce biogas, the much more concentrated dung generated by animal farms and organic waste by processing factories in the suburban areas are left untapped and finally reduced to environmental pollutants. Waste and sewage sludge from medium- to large-sized animal farms, processing factories, and urban cities in China have a potential to produce eighty-three billion cubic meters of biogas or seventy billion cubic meters of natural gas on a yearly basis, equivalent to the total national consumption of natural gas. The buried solid wastes and specific energy plants represent another important

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source of biogas, and these highly concentrated materials can be easily collected for large-scale production in an environmentally friendly way and free from competing against household biogas for raw material. Along with the sharp increase in demand for natural gas, it is imperative for us to diversify raw material for biogas production. Both household biogas and commercial biogas ought to be developed in parallel and complementary with each other. For such purpose, efforts in three aspects are desired: expend the sole rural household biogas system to a combined rural household biogas and industrial biogas system through concept inspiration and policy guidance; promote technological upgrades from small, separate fermentation tanks to commercialized large-scale anaerobic fermentation technology; and enlarge the application scope from rural household use to commercialization use, and, especially, for substitution of natural gases.

22.7. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENERGY PRODUCTS AND NONENERGY PRODUCTS Pressed by depleted fossil energy resources and a polluted environment, people are more concerned about substituting fossil fuel with biomass energy and, in the meanwhile, somewhat neglect other bio-based products. Among thousands of petrochemical products, plastic, chemical fertilizer, and chemical ones make up one-third of the total petroleum consumption. Such energy guzzlers can only be substituted by biomass, rather than other clean energies such as wind or solar energy. For instance, ethanol is a basic organic raw material, which can be derived into more than a dozen chemicals, including ethylene, butadiene, ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol ethanol amine, acetaldehyde, paraldehyde, butyraldehyde, and more. Based on biodiesel, symbiotic glycerol, fatty acid methyl ester, and ester derivatives can be produced as surface-active agents, industrial solvents, plastic and plasticizers, industrial chemicals, agrochemicals, lubricants, adhesives, and more. The production cost of bio-based ethylene, which is produced by the dehydration of ethanol, is close to that of petro-based ethylene. It is also well known that there are good prospects for the substitution of petro-based plastic by bio-based plastic. There is no gap between bio-based products and bioenergy, since they share complementary and uniform biochemical systems. The scientific and rational cogeneration model of both bio-based products and bioenergy can apparently bring down the cost of bioenergy products. For instance, the manufacturing facilities in Shandong Longli Bio-Tech Co., Ltd., for the cogeneration of cellulose-based ethanol and xylitol are capable of producing ten thousand tons of cellulose-based ethanol in a highly

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economical way. Along with further scientific and technological development, more bio-based products will appear before us with more wonder. Though energy resources can be highly diversified, the nonenergy products can only be substituted by biomass. The importance of biobased products will become more and more evident in the following two to four decades, along with the resource depletion and price hike of petroleum and natural gasses. Visionaries’ investments today will certainly bring them good returns tomorrow. The same is true for a country.

22.8. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROCESS MANUFACTURING AND RAW MATERIAL PRODUCTION The short supply of raw material is the common problem China faces in terms of bioenergy development. In addition to scarce raw material commonly observed in biopower production, the Guangxi-located ethanol production base has to import cassava from overseas for its manufacturing activities. The processing line aimed to churn out sixty thousand tons of biodiesel each year as was built by the China Oilfield Service, Ltd., in Hainan was forced to cease sound operation in want of raw materials. PetroChina’s Jatrofa-based biodiesel project in Panzhihua also was brought to a halt due to lack of supply. All of these mentioned have something to do with a lack of raw materials. Though people engaged in the industrial sector know well about the processing technologies of bioenergy production, they often pay much less attention to raw material supply, knowing little about its difficulties. So it is not strange for them to complain that the collection of raw materials is quite troublesome, and the same is true of making deals with farmers. The problem they complain about does exist, but more importantly, it is the problem of recognition. It is true that biomass raw materials are scattered, farmers’ manufacturing activity is poorly organized, and biomass production is highly susceptible to agricultural harvest. However, as long as a well-conceived system for production, collection, and transport of raw materials is established step by step, the problem will be solved. As demonstrated by the cottonbased textile industry, sugarcane-based sugar companies, wood- and straw-based paper mills, and dairy production by the Mengniu Group, such problems are solvable with the existence of an efficient collection system after years of operation. It is difficult for sure for a single enterprise to engage in a novel thing, as bioenergy is a pioneer. Confidence and efforts are badly needed, especially at the initial stage. It is clear that every processing industry needs a supporting system. As the thermal power plant should be supported by the coal industry,

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metallurgic plants by the core-mining industry, and petroleum plants by the oil extraction industry, biomass plants also need the support from the agriculture and forest sectors for raw material provisions. The only difference is that while other plants have all their activities happen in the industrial system, bioenergy plants should have its raw material cultivated in the agricultural system, and its processing activities take place in the industrial system, thus demanding better coordination. No matter its operational problem or recognition problem, all of them could be easily solved as long as support from the government and the issue concerning profit distribution is well solved. Established in 2000, the Bio-based Product and Bioenergy Coordinative Committee and its executive office were cochaired by the Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of Energy in the United States, and the head of the U.S. delegation to the Sino-USA Advanced Biofuel Forum was the then Under Secretary of Agriculture, also. However, bioenergy is under the supervision of the Ministry of Industry rather than the Ministry of Agriculture in China, which is one of the administrative factors leading to the disconnection between biomass cultivation and bioenergy production.

22.9. STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR Large state-owned enterprises are entrusted for the production of fuel ethanol and biopower in the nation, thus setting a high threshold for entry, with small- and middle-sized private enterprises largely excluded from admission. PetroChina and SinoPec monopolize the sales of transportation fuel in the nation, while ethanol produced is not allowed to be sold freely in the market and is deadly suffocated by a tightly closed market door. The official explanation for such circumstance is that the private sector is low-risk resistant, thus it cannot guarantee a stable supply. As demonstrated by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2006, the state policy regarding ethanol development still remained unchanged, as it was dependent on the leading forces, it enforced strict control on market entry, and it enhanced market management. Biomass is diversified in resources, scattered in deployment, and localized in traits, therefore it would be more suitable for small- and middlesized private enterprises located near the source of the biomass raw material to engage in the sector. This is quite different from the traditional energy industry, which is more suitable for large enterprises. Several small- and middle-sized private enterprises, including Longji Electric Group, Maowusu Biopower Plant, Jilin Huinan Hongri New Energy Cooperation, Guangxi New World Energy Cooperation, and the Beijing Deqingyuan Biogas Power Plant, were introduced in chapters 17 to 21 due to

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their successful practices. Such enterprises, based on their own funds and bank loans, have overcome many hardships to reach what they are today. The exclusion of the promising private sector from the bioenergy business will be a big loss and a mistake the nation cannot afford. Compared with state centralized enterprises, private bioenergy enterprises is just like a small boat to a super aircraft carrier; therefore, it is easily neglected by authorities in the nation. However, things are quite different overseas. More than two hundred fuel ethanol plants in the United States and almost four hundred fuel ethanol plants in Brazil, together with the majority of enterprises engaged in biopower, heat and power cogeneration, briquettes, and transport biofuel fields in Europe, are all private companies. In contrast, China’s heavy reliance on state enterprise and planning economy system are counteractive to bioenergy development. Bringing both state-owned large enterprises as well as small and middle private enterprises into full play, and making the best use of the market mechanism for resource distribution and adjustment under the guidance and support of the state, should be the right choice for China to make.

22.10. DOMESTIC AND ABROAD Bionergy in Europe, the United States, and Brazil has run onto a rapid growth track. Though not a latecomer in this sector, China is left far behind Europe, the United States, and Brazil due to many problems and institutional barriers. China did learn a lot from such frontrunners; however, such studies was just focused on technological aspects. Decision makers in China are drowned out by the voice of officials around them and pay no solid efforts to trace international trends in bioenergy development and to summarize the successful experiences of overseas countries. This is the leadership factor behind the retarded bioenergy development in China. Circumstances vary with countries, but we share a common goal in carbon mitigation and clean energy development. What strategic experiences can we learn from the outside world? How do we put “independence and security” as an important national strategy and take the substitution of fossil fuels by clean energy sources as a basic national policy? The key of clean energy sources is renewable energy sources, which are centered on bioenergy for development, whose function in promoting rural economic development should also be addressed. What technological advantages we can learn from other countries? First, the focus should be put on the introduction of matured technology and technology innovation. The first key point of eight findings as

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proposed by the U.S. Energy Futures Committee in its 2009 report titled America’s Energy Future stated that: “Technology and Transformation: With a sustained national commitment, the United States could obtain substantial energy efficiency improvements, new sources of energy, and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through the accelerated development of existing and emerging energy-supply and end-use technologies.” Second, technologies for fuel ethanol, biopower and cogeneration of heat and power, briquette, and commercial biogas are quite mature and industrialized both at home and abroad, and what China needs most is the technology for the cogeneration of heat and power and industrialized production and purification of biogas. Third, China’s investment in the second and the third generation of bioenergy as represented by cellulosebased ethanol and microalgae is far less than its Western counterparts. Therefore, more investment and international cooperation should be put in place. Fourth, bio-based products, though with huge potential and prospects in the future, does not receive high attention except from the United States, and it remains a breakthrough for China to achieve.

CONCLUDING REMARKS OF THE SECTION— BIOMASS: TO WIN THE FUTURE After entering the twenty-first century, countries in the world have paid great attention to upgrading their energy mix and addressing global climate change. Energy, as the symbol of national strength, is sought after by all countries in the world, since the “state which masters the clean, renewable power, will be in a leading position in the 21st century” (Obama, 2010). China has followed the world trend, but the pressure brought by rapid development of the economy and the lack of a national energy strategy as a broad and long-term view leaves renewable energy development less well grounded, with the major focus still put on fossil fuels and traditional energy, and little attention extended to cleaner energy and nonhydropower energy resources. Similarly, the nation also puts much more effort on wind and solar energy than bioenergy. Why are things like this? The reason is that Chinese fossil fuel groups, with excessive foreign exchange reserves at their command, are at a good position to set a foothold in the energy market abroad, while ignoring the development of renewable energy resources back home. The change in energy structure will inevitably result in a change in the profit distribution pattern. And whether the national strategy on energy development can regain its rationality is decided by the impartiality of profit redistribution. China now is underway to work out its Twelfth Five-Year Plan. Judged by many factors, we can predict that the prevailing policy for bioenergy de-

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velopment will remain basically unchanged during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan Period. In the year 2020, renewable energy will only occupy less than one-tenth of the big energy “cake,” and bioenergy will account for much less. Bioenergy development in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan Period (2011 to 2015) will follow its old path in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2006 to 2010). The occurrence of the following elements will make bioenergy be in great demand and bring change to the old path: 1) the sharply increased oil and natural gas price will force China to significantly reduce its importation of oil and natural gas from abroad, 2) the channels for oil and natural gas imported into China are partially blocked, so that the resulting oil and natural gas shortage will compromise social and economic instability, or 3) China will find it difficult to meet its emissions reduction commitment. Although we do not want to see such things happen, there are still the possibilities for their occurrence, and the most important thing for us to do is to take precautionary efforts in advance. Another possible driving element is the inner change of biomass itself. Once by chance I talked with an economist, who suggested that there were two hands manipulating the Chinese economy: one is the government’s visible hand, another is Adam Smith’s “invisible hand.” In his opinion, China’s growth into a world factory is not the result of the government’s visible hand, and the current real estate market is not something planned and expected by the government. What he said inspired me a lot. If bioenergy is as good as I state, Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” will show favor to it. Of course, this does not mean that we should sit passively and wait. I am eager to see the breakthroughs solid, liquid, and gaseous biofuels will obtain in terms of technology advancements and industrialization progress, and with which, the public opinion and decision makers’ ideologies will be positively affected. How eager I am to expect Chinese entrepreneurs in the bioenergy field to be able to conquer various impediments they are confronted with and win a big success in the end. To my knowledge, a number of enterprises have done some great jobs in this field, including Longji Electric Group, Maowusu Biopower Plant, Jilin Huinan Hongri New Energy Cooperation, Guangxi New World Energy Cooperation, Beijing Deqingyuan Biogas Power Plant, and more. I believe, inspired by such avant-couriers, that more and more bioenergy enterprises will emerge across the land of China. The book title, Biomass: To Win the Future, has dual meanings. That is because first, I believe that the biomass industry, as a newborn baby of the era, will bring benefits to mankind, so we should acclaim its arrival and make it known to more people. In this sense, the book is a proclamation for the new baby. Second, I sincerely hope that people who are interested in biomass industry and come from all walks of life, including entrepreneurs, scientists, educators, farmers and foresters, government officials,

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journalists, writers and artists, will pick up the tools on hand and knock over every difficulty to enhance public awareness and inspire decision makers. In this sense, the book is a mobilization to all. As for myself, I have been involved in the field of biomass industry for six years, and I have fought for it with articles and speeches as weapons for six years. My fight will be unending. As I mentioned in the opening of this chapter, empty words such as development strategy and road map may be flamboyant to talk about yet pointless to use, so I decided to explore the ten major relationships governing the development of the bioenergy business. When I came across the outline of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011–2015) for Energy upon completing of this chapter, I sadly found out that it is me who indulges in idle advocacy. How ridiculous I am! However, once I think about how great the bioenergy undertaking is, I realize that the Twelfth Five-Year Plan is not worth fretting about. It is just a small battle toward the final victory. Whether or not the leadership reads the ten relationships, and how they interpret the ten relationships, is their own business, about which I do not need to care much. What is truly important to my book is that it is written for the public. This thought will make me comfortable, yet helpless, in certain sense.

REFERENCE Obama, B. H. The State of The Union Address. January 27, 2010.

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III

A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE

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Ultimate Beauty of Green Civilization

O

f the 4.6 billion-year history of earth, life evolution has lasted for 3.8 billion years. During its long evolution, life has gone through numerous extinction events, with the most profound ones taking place around 250 million years ago, namely at the end of the Permian Period and the early part of the Triassic Period, in which 95 percent of terrestrial plant and animal species died out and half of the marine species became extinct. Another great extinction occurred at the end of Cretaceous Period about sixty million years ago, and in the aftermath 75 percent of plant and animal species disappeared from the earth. Afterward, gymnosperm came into being to replace angiosperm, and mighty dinosaurs were substituted by mammals. The modern geographical landscape took shape in that period. The most recent geological period is the Quaternary Period, which witnessed the geological historical events in the recent three to four million years. The two biggest events are prominent. The first is the occurrence of many glacial periods. The second is the emergence of mankind. The last glacial period started some seventy thousand years ago, and it reached its prime during seventeen thousand to twenty thousand years ago, and it ended around ten thousand years ago. After this glacial period, the global climate became warmer and wetter. Human beings first appeared around four million years ago and evolved quite slowly afterward. Around one hundred thousand years ago, Homo erectus finally evolved into Homo sapiens. From Homo sapiens to modern mankind, it took only ten thousand years for a warmer and wetter climate to occur. The best period for 459

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human evolution took place some six thousand to nine thousand years ago at the end of the last glacial period. In China, Yangshao culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River and the Hemudu culture in East China all appeared at this stage. In the favorable climatic conditions of the late ice period, plants flourished and animals thrived. No longer satisfied with collecting and hunting for food any more, Homo sapiens kicked off a great feat—they cultivated plants and domesticated wild animals, hence bringing about agriculture. A typical butterfly effect resulted from the rise of agriculture in human history. Agriculture enabled human beings to inhabit vast fertile plains instead of shabby, cold caves, and it changed their lifestyle from hunting to raising, from collecting to planting, and from migrating to residing. The primitive settlement pattern led to clustering villages, growing population, and residual production and living materials that were accumulated over time. Labor was thus divided into physical and mental jobs as well. The material basis for the above butterfly effects was then more nutritious food, which was enjoyed by human beings and thus enabled the rapid development of the human brain and intelligence. The basic need of human beings is the pursuit of survival and reproduction. And it is the intrinsic pursuit that drives human beings to create splendid agricultural and industrial civilizations. Everything has two sides. While more supplies of better food resulted in the rapid growth of population, less land was left for human beings to tap. Conflicts thus happened between the growing population and an insufficient food supply. Similarly, rapid industrial development resulted in accelerated resource depletion and deteriorated environment degeneration, which makes industrial society hard to sustain. However, it is exactly such conflicts that work as the underlying force to drive society to evolve. In return, such conflicts will get resolved gradually in the evolvement process. Then, how to address the problem of the unsustainable development mode of industry society? What does the postindustry society look like? At last, I would like to end the conclusion chapter of the book with a vision into the future scene of the postindustrial society.

23.1. MAGNIFICENT AGRICULTURAL CIVILIZATION Around four thousand years ago, when great Hammurabi, the king of Babylon, boasted of his military feats, he didn’t forget to flaunt his equally great achievements in canal digging and irrigation, which ensured the bountiful harvest of his great kingdom along the river. Some two thousand years ago, M. T. Varro, who was ever amnestied by Augustus Caesar, wrote a book titled On Agriculture at the age of eighty, in which he did not hide his deep admiration for the achievement of agriculture.

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Agriculture in its infancy had created numerous splendid civilizations in the ancient world (i.e., ancient Babylon, ancient Egypt, ancient China, ancient India, ancient Greek, and ancient Rome). Literature masterpieces such as Homer, Book of Odes also emerged during this period. A number of great thinkers and philosophers of this period (i.e., Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Laozi, and Confucius) have enlightened human history for several thousand years with their great thought. China has long held dear the idea that food is the first necessity of the people, agriculture is the cornerstone of the country. Favorable climate, a bountiful harvest, and an overflowed granary were things dreamed of by emperors and ordinary people alike. The nine saintly temples in Beijing (i.e., Temple of Heaven, Temple of Earth, Temple of Sun, Temple of Moon, Temple of Land and Grain, Temple of Praying for Grains, Temple of Taisui, Temple of Agriculture, and Temple of Silkworm Breeding) are all intimately associated with agriculture-based principles and practices. Since the Song Dynasty forward, Chinese emperors formed a tradition to have poems and paintings made each year by themselves or others upon their edicts so as to encourage framing and weaving practices and skills across the nation. During the reigns of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors in the Qing Dynasty, the three emperors led their ministers to the Temple of Agriculture every springtime to till the farmland as a token of their great respect for agricultural activities. The nature of traditional agriculture is to covert natural factors such as light, heat, water, air, and nutrients in soil into botanical and zoological products through photosynthesis mechanisms. By feeding human beings through planted crops and raised animals, farmers returned all residues (i.e., straws and stalks, human and animal manures, plant ashes, and kitchen wastes) directly or indirectly back to the soil, through which agricultural recycling activities are made possible with land fertility well kept for several thousand years. With solar energy as the sole external energy input, traditional agriculture is a closed natural system in which material and energy are recycled. The core of traditional agriculture, which attached great importance to fine tilling and cultivating in technical aspects so as to bring the maximum efficiency of recycling materials and energies, is the harmony between heaven and human. Chinese traditional agriculture is the typical representative of world agricultural traditions. The rising of agriculture accelerated the transition from stone-made to iron-made tools, and it promoted the development of numerous science and engineering subjects (i.e., astrology, mathematics, geography, land use, water engineering and tools, silkworms and cocoons, mineralogy and forging, and pottery manufacture). In an agricultural society, agriculture and the associated science and technology were the representatives of advanced productive forces then. Agriculture, together with other related industries, constituted the firm foundation of agricultural civilizations.

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Rich food sources brought about booming population growth. China’s population was kept around forty-five million to sixty million from the Early Han Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty (namely first to fifteenth century), and it sharply rose to two hundred million from the golden time of Kangxi-Yongzheng-Qianlong’s reign in the Qing Dynasty. The number had since been continuously growing. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the number reached 436 million. In the period between 1949 to 2000, the population continued to grow from 540 million to 1,300 million. With the population growth, the cropland area per capita dropped from 2.81 ha in the Sui Dynasty (580) and 1.80 ha in the Tang Dynasty (around 600–900) to 0.77 ha in the Ming Dynasty (1490–1640), and 0.15 ha in the Qing Dynasty (1640–1911), and 0.08 ha in 1994 (Lin, 2000). As for the global population, the number five hundred million in seventeenth century, eight hundred million in eighteenth century, and over 1,300 million in nineteenth century. In the twentieth century alone, the world population rocketed from 1,600 million to 6,000 million. Yet the population boom that happened in the nineteenth century had already consumed the majority of land available for crop cultivation. When the agricultural civilization reached its prime, the population skyrocketed and land dwindled. Traditional agriculture, as a closed cycling system of material and energy, had exhausted most of its potential. The room left for crop yield improvement was highly limited. Traditional agriculture plunged into a dilemma. However, agriculture gave birth to the Scientific and Industrial revolutions. In return, the Scientific and Industrial revolutions reciprocated traditional agriculture with advanced biological, agricultural, and chemical technologies, as well as quality seeds, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, tractors, and electric power. These external inputs broke the closed cycling system of traditional agriculture, helping the crop yield to double and even triple, and easing the tensions between the supply and demand of agricultural products. As noted by a philosopher, everything in the world has its birth and death. After something is born, its growth will be inhibited by growing destructive factors until its demise. So, too, for the agricultural civilization. Just as better health care can slow down senescence, efforts in controlling the population growth and increasing farm product output can slow down the fall of the agricultural civilization.

23.2. SPLENDID INDUSTRIAL CIVILIZATION The greatest contribution made by the five-thousand-year-long agricultural civilization to human society was driving efforts for the birth and growth of the Scientific and Industrial revolutions.

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Skyrocketing buildings and electricity-powered tools are just tokens of industrial civilization. Its nature and core rest with modern scientific and industrial revolutions that started from the sixteenth century as driven by Newton and Copernicus as representatives. • Hargreave’s textile machine (1764) and Watt’s steam engine (1776) trumpeted the modern technological and industrial revolutions, ushering in the era of the automobile (1900), tractor (1904), and jet plane (1939). • Armed with atomic theory proposed by John Dalton, element theory by Robert Boyle and geological evolution by Charles Leyll, and driven by mechanical manufacturing, the industries of mining and metallurgy and the chemical industry were able to develop rapidly, thus bringing about the era of coal, oil, natural gas, chemical fertilizer and plastics. The law of electromagnetic induction proposed by Michael Faraday and the uniform electric field theory by James Clerk Maxwell paved the way for the invention of electrical machines (by Werner von Siemens in 1866), the telephone (by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876), the electric lamp (by Thomas Alva Edison in 1879), wireless communication (by Heinrich Hertz in 1888), and the microelectrical technologies of the twentieth century. Radios, televisions, and computers are also the direct or indirect fruit of such scientific laws and inventions. • The information theory and application of double-digits by Claude Shannon drove the booms of information technology, photofiber communication, the Internet, and mobile communication, which were widely enjoyed by the modern world. • Charles Darwin’s theory on evolution (1859), Gregor Mendel’s genetics (1865), together with the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA (1950), opened a vast field for the modern biological sciences (i.e., embryo engineering, enzyme engineering, cell engineering, protein engineering, and genetic engineering) and modern agricultural and medical sciences. • The Manhattan Project had greatly pushed nuclear science and technology, in the same way as the Apollo Project had driven the rapid development of aerospace science and technology. When Dr. T. D. Lee, Nobel laureate in physics, talked about two great discoveries of the twentieth century (i.e., special relativity, quantum mechanics), he said: “Had not the two great discoveries been made in the first half of the twentieth century, such breakthrough discoveries and inventions as atomic structure, molecular structure, nuclear energy, lasers, S rays, semi-conductors, superconductors, and super computers

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would not be possible. Almost all materials of the twentieth century were derived from the two great discoveries.” Modern science and technology undergoes constant progress, and industrial civilization is just the outward expression of it. When we feel amazed by the splendid side of industrial civilization as supported by energy, metallurgy, manufacturing, chemical industry, construction, transportation, information, aerospace and aeronautics, and public service, we have to examine another side of it (i.e., natural resource depletion, ecosystem and environment deterioration, and the unsustainability of its development patterns looming ever large). Human beings began to realize that more advanced technologies and booming production would do greater harm to the ecosystem and environment. They have been aware that science and technology is a doubleedged sword that is lauded for promoting social economic development on one side and is condemned for depleting natural resources and deteriorating ecosystems on the other side. As a blessing is sometimes followed by a curse, the negative feedback of industrial society is a root cause of its own destruction, just like the population-land conflict in the agricultural society. People now are caught between the vexation caused by abnormal climate change and ecosystem degradation and the blessing brought by industrial civilization. What should we do in the postindustrial society?

23.3. ENERGY CRISIS AND THREE-STEP TRANSFORMATION Fossil energy is the cornerstone for industrial civilization as well as the most consumed, unsustainable, and environmental contaminate resource in the world. On top of what has been discussed in previous chapters, now, I would like to present a group of data to reinforce the aforementioned argument. A report on the world energy outlook, which was released by USGS in 2000, indicated that 87.5 billion tons of oil and 49.6 billion tons of natural gases have been used up as of 1998, accounting for 67 percent and 42 percent of exploitable storage in 2000. A report released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in 2005 indicated that during the period from 2002 to 2025, the global annual growth rates for oil, natural gas, and coal consumption were expected to reach 1.9 percent, 2.3 percent, and 1.3 percent on average (USEIA, 2006). And it also predicted that the three resources might be exhausted in fifty-three, sixtythree, and ninety years later. What alarming numbers are they! With a close look, we can find that both the new deal adopted by the United States on clean energy and the Three 20% Plan applied by the EU all put focus on the substitution of fossil energies by clean energies as the major measure to respond to climate change, and they proposed

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an accelerated energy mix, in addition to other means such as increasing energy efficiency and decreasing emissions. Then, what progress have they achieved? Let us first examine countries that took the lead in energy transition. As the number-one energy consumption country in the world, the United States consumes about one-fifth of the global energy each year. According to the latest report by EIA, American energy consumption will grow slowly around the year 2035, with clean energies taking up 24 percent of the total energy mix then. Of the increased power generation, the report estimates, 41 percent will be contributed by hydro sources; the extra demand for liquid fuel will be met with by bio-based ethanol. By 2020, the share of renewable energy consumption in EU countries will be 20 percent of the total energy consumption, while in 2006 bioenergy already accounted for 25 percent of the total energy consumption in Sweden. In 2009, biofuel accounts for 56 percent of the transportation fuel in Brazil. The above figures indicate that clean energy consumption in both the United States and EU member states will exceed one-fourth of their total energy consumption around 2035. For countries such as Sweden and Brazil, which consume much less energy, the ration will be well above that level. According to the above data, I herewith propose a three-step or three-stage energy transition assumption as follows. The first stage will fall in the early one-third part of the twenty-first century (single-energy stage), which will still be dominated by fossil energy, despite a quick growth of renewable and nuclear energies as substitutions. The second stage will fall in the middle one-third part of the twenty-first century and be called the double-energy stage. That is because global energy consumption will be equally dominated by fossil and renewable energies. The third stage will fall in the last one-third part of the twenty-first century and be called the triple-energy-stage. It is predicted that a tripod situation jointly dominated by fossil, renewable, and novel energies will take shape along with the commercialization of hydrogen and nuclear fusion energies (figure 23.1).

23.4. EVER-SEVERE NONENERGY CRISIS Fossil energy is first and foremost, but not the sole, factor that should be held responsible for resource depletion, environmental degradation, and the unsustainable development of human society. In addition to energy, enormous amounts of mineral resources are also required for the realization of the industrial civilization. However, the shortage of mineral resources has not received enough attention. Most of them can find nothing as a substitute. It is a real concern of human society.

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Figure 23.1. century.

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Three-stage evolution for energy production and consumption in 21st

The problem was first raised by Donella Meadows in The Limits to Growth, a report by the Rome Club released in 1972 (Meadows et al., 1972). The book presented known reserves for nineteen types of nonrenewable minerals. In addition, the book also tabulated the number of years left until the exhaustion of such minerals as measured by the average annual consumption growth rate and as measured by a presumed newly found resource, which is sixfold of the known reserve. According to the report, except that chromium, coal, cobalt, and iron can be sustained over one hundred years, the rest of the types of nonrenewable minerals would be exhausted in less than one hundred years (table 23.1). Also, it is highly noticeable that such estimations were made in the year 1971, and forty years have passed since then! Twenty years later, in the new book Beyond the Limits, Meadows reviewed the data and conclusions made two decades ago and insisted that even though mankind progressed remarkably in science, environmental awareness, and policies, quite a number of natural resources still exceeded their limits of sustainability (Meadows et al., 2001). Time is fleeting, and another twenty years had passed by since the publication of Beyond the Limits. It was pointed out in the thematic report of the Eighth Congress for the International Association of Geology of Ore Deposits (August 2005): It will become more and more difficult for human beings to find new mine and resource beds due to their intensifying exploitation activities, since such left beds are buried in much deeper and remoter places. In contrast, shallow

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Table 23.1. Reserve and number of years to use up major nonrenewable resources (Meadows, 1997) Years of Use-up

Resource

Known World Reserve

Aluminum

1.17 × 109 ton

Chromium

7.75 × 10 ton

Coal

5 × 1012 ton

Cobalt

1.9 × 10 ton (4.18 × 109 pound)

8

6

Fixed Index (Number of Years) 100

Exponential Index (Number of Years)

5-factor Exponential Index of Know Reserve (Number of Years)

31

55 154

420

95

2300

111

150

110

60

148 48

Copper

308 × 106ton

36

21

Gold

1.10 × 10 ton

11

9

29

Iron

1 × 10 ton

240

93

173

Lead

9 × 106 ton

26

21

64

Manganese

8

8 × 10 ton

97

46

94

Mercury

1.15 × 105 ton

13

13

41

Molybdenum

4.9 × 10 ton

79

34

65

Natural gas

3.2 × 10 m

38

22

49

Nickel

6.67 × 107 ton

150

53

96

Oil

7.23 × 1013 liters

Platinum-like

1.34 × 104 ton

Silver

1.71 × 105 ton

16

13

42

Tin

4.37 × 10 ton

17

15

61

Tungsten

1.32 × 106 ton

40

28

72

Zinc

123 × 106 ton

23

18

50

4

11

6

13

3

6

31

20

50

130

47

85

mine and resource beds are approaching exhaustion due to their proximity to the human world.

Though China is the number-three owner of mineral resources in the world and its industrialization efforts have just lasted for less than half a century, it has experienced enormous gaps between the supply and demand of major mineral resources. Its dependence on imported iron ores and aluminum was well above 50 percent in 2003, copper 71 percent, and potash 80 percent. Liu Jiansheng, vice director of the Industrial Trade Department of the State Council, referred to this fact when drafting the Eleventh Five-Year Plan: China’s per capita share of 45 types of major minerals is less than half of the world average. Its per capita share of iron, copper and aluminum was just

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⅙, ⅙ and ⅟₉ of the global average. Most of the metal minerals in China have poor natural endowments, thus making exploitation difficult and separation and refinement costs high. . . . As to the supply of the 45 major minerals in the nation, 24 will be sufficient, 2 will be modestly sufficient, 10 will be in shortage and 9 will be in severe shortage. (August 2005)

In September 2005, China State Commissioner Chen Zhili also mentioned the following fact in a speech he delivered in Urumqi, Xinjiang Province. China’s coal consumption accounted for 31% of the global sum in the year of 2003. The figures for iron ore, steel, and cement were 30%, 27%, and 40%, respectively. The price of iron ore rose by 71.5% on the international market due to China’s rising demand. Moreover, the price of crude oil on the world market has already hit record high, Chinese firms had to pay billions of additional money on that. If the dependence on foreign resources cannot be reversed in long run, both Chinese firms and governments cannot bear the heavy burdens any more.

Industrialization in advanced industrial countries has lasted for two hundred years, and in China only about half a century. Now that countries in the world have already been short of nonrenewable mineral resources, if the situation keeps going on, how can they sustain rapid development?

23.5. TRANSMIGRATION OF HYDROCARBON AND CARBOHYDRATE In the long run, oil will definitely be exhausted. With the advent and boom of renewable bio-based energy, hydrocarbon-derived fossil energy will be substituted partly by carbohydrate-derived biofuel. Hydrogen and solar energy will also replace some of the hydrocarbon-derived fossil energy. Let’s dedicate more efforts to bio-refinery and prepare for the arrival of the carbohydrate era. (Min, 2006)

These words seem nothing special at first glance, but they were written by Min Enze, a distinguished scientist in the petroleum chemical engineering field as early as 2006. As an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academy of Engineering, he was also the laureate of the most prestigious science award, the China National Science Medal, in 2007. He has engaged in petroleum chemical engineering for over fifty years, and he has published a series of papers on biofuel development, advocating the substitution of petroleum by bio-based fuels. He ever wrote an article titled “Pushing the Chemical Industry into the Carbohydrate Era by Using Refinery Fed with Renewable Bio-based Materials.” With great insight on biofuel development, the article impressed me a lot when I was

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still a newcomer to the field. Out of the same passion for biofuel development, I paid a visit to and made his acquaintance quite soon. As a matter of fact, the modern chemical industry started with plantbased hydrocarbons. Celluloid, as the first plastic product in the world, was converted by nitrification of natural cellulose. The chemical product sold most in the 1880s was plant-based ethanol. Peanut oil was used as fuel for the internal-combustion engine on display at the 1900 Paris Expo. The fuel for Ford’s first automobile was ethanol. Shortly after carbohydrates came into prominence, it was soon driven out of the market by oil and oil-based chemicals, which boast a higher performance-price ratio. Plant-based products accounted for 25 percent of U.S. industrial products in 1925, and only 16 percent in 1989 (Energetics Inc., 2003). Pressured by the depleted reserves and soaring prices of oil resources, and inspired by enhanced awareness of environment protection, some chemical manufacturers have begun to shift their manufacturing focus from hydrocarbon chemicals to carbohydrate chemicals. Half a century ago, polymer-based nylon and plastics were prevalent and dominated the market. Fifty years later, when people realized the harms brought by white pollution, some scientists and entrepreneurs experimented to produce biodegradable plastics by using starch-based feedstuff through lactic acid fermentation and polymerization techniques. The production facilities built by Cargill in 2002 with its annual polylactic acid output up to 140 thousand tons was a milestone achievement. BiobalanceTM, a bio-based polymer line produced by Dow Chemical, has successfully replaced polyurethene, and it has become the standard in carpet making. Though at present, the performance-price ratio of bio-based plastics was far inferior to that of oil-based plastic, the latter will be replaced by the former gradually, thanks to improved technology, reduced cost, and the introduction of policy incentives in favor of environment protection. Similarly, soy-based printing ink gained growing popularity when people found that chemical-based printing materials can emit poisonous chemical compounds. Green substitution is still finding its way into many products such as detergent, lubricant, surfactant, and organic fertilizer. Green production and green consumption have become a fashion of the era, as the government has supported carbohydrate-based chemical products in terms of publicity and supervision. Consumers also show great preference for green products. It was predicted by a report released by the U.S. National Academy of Science ten years ago that bio-based products will satisfy over 90 percent of the organic chemical raw material demand and 50 percent of the liquid fuel demand in the United States, and the United States itself will also secure a leading position in bio-based production in the world (NAS, 1999). If we take into consideration the fact that hydrocarbon and bio-based material currently constitute 70 percent

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Table 23.2. Hydrocarbon- and carbohydrate-derived products in the United States (based on data in 1992) Product Adhesive and Binders Fatty Acids Surfactants Acetic Acid Plasticizers Activated Carbons Detergents Pigments Fuel Wall Paint Ink Plastic

Total Output (104 ton)

Share of Plant-derived Products (%)

500 250 350 230 80 150 1,260 1,550 450 780 350 3,000

40 40 35 17.5 15 12 11 6 6 3.5 3.5 1.8

and 15 percent of total raw materials used in the U.S. chemical industry, and the trend that oil-based hydrocarbon has been gradually replaced by sugar, we will find the bold prediction made by NAS is feasible. Table 23.2 indicates the percentage of hydrocarbon and carbohydrate taken in major chemical raw materials produced by the United States in 1992. The theory of transmigration in Buddhism is also echoed by the ups and downs of hydrocarbon and carbohydrates. In his report titled “Bio-based Products: Today and Tomorrow,” Roger Conway, director of Energy Policy and New Ways of the USDA, says that “everything old is new again” based on his observation of the ups and downs of hydrocarbon and carbohydrates. The report also predicted that market sales of bio-based chemicals will be US $21.2 billion in 2005 and reach US $48.3 to $61.4 billion in 2025, a twenty-three- to twenty-nine-fold increase in 2025 (table 23.3). The U.S. Congress passed the Biomaterial R&D Act in 2000, mandating that 12 percent of U.S. chemical products and materials will be derived from bio-based feedstuff in 2010, 25 percent in 2020, and 25 percent in 2030, while the baseline number was 5 percent in 2002. Table 23.3. Forecast on global bio-based chemical products (NAS, 1999) (108 USD) Product General chemical products Special chemical products Fine chemical products Polymers Total Times of growth

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2005

2025

9 50 150 3 212 1

500–860 3,000–3,400 880–980 450–900 4,830–6,140 23–29

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In the past one hundred years, the shift between hydrocarbon and carbohydrate is not a simple return and repeat; instead, it represents the progress of technology along with the passage of time.

23.6. BIOREFINERY The petroleum chemical industry has well progressed into its technical maturity after one century of development and accumulation. While the petroleum chemical industry is equipped with a complete refinery technical and facility system that is capable of producing a thousand kinds of energy and nonenergy products, industrialized carbohydrate production is still at its infancy stage as far as its technology and equipment are concerned. In an article titled “Biomass Refinery” published in Science, the concept of biorefinery was proposed out of the term oil refinery, marking the arrival of the carbohydrate era, in which a well-developed technology and facility system will also be established for carbohydrate production given time. Biorefinery holds the same idea of that of an oil refinery, yet with the difference that the former works on living objects while the latter with nonliving materials. Biorefinery refers to the refinery technology and equipment system, through which biomass is converted into bioenergy and bio-based chemical products with the aid of biochemistry, thermal chemistry, and molecular biology technologies. The feedstuff of biorefinery comes from such diverse sources as crops, trees and their residues, livestock and poultry manures, and organic wastes. Hence, biorefinery can be subdivided into wooden cellulose refinery, crop refinery, plant (herb and algae) refinery, and organic waste refinery. Biorefinery usually hydrolyzes biomass into sugar and then into substances of varying carbon chains (i.e., biogas methane and methanol with one carbon; ethanol, acetic acid, ethylene, and glycol with two carbons; lactic acid, acrylic acid, and propylene glycol with three carbons; succinic acid, fumaric acid, and butylene glycol with four carbons; itaconic acid and xylitol with five carbons; citric acid and sorbitol with six carbons). What’s more, biorefinery can produce bioenergies (i.e., ethanol, biodiesel, and methane gas), bio-based materials (bioplastic, nylon engineered plastic), chemical products (i.e., ethylene, ethanol, acrylic acid, acrylamide, 1, 3-propanediol, 1,4-butylene glycol, succinic acid), fine chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, biomass is also a significant feedstuff for hydrogen energy production. In 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) declared it would invest US $200 million as a support fund for a biorefinery pilot and demonstration projects over a six-year period from 2009 to 2014. In addition, a large-scale

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biorefinery with agricultural residue and waste as raw materials will be put into operation in 2010. As people can have limited choices for but cannot change the production base of oil refinery, the production base for biorefinery is highly diversified, hence leaving human beings with a broad arrange of choices. Biorefinery can be improved in terms of quality and quantity through efforts on seed selection and genetic engineering techniques. The concepts of “plant factory” and “cell factory” have been proposed along with the rapid development of molecular biology and biotechnology. “Plant factory” refers to the targeted end or intermediate product, which can be produced by means of genetically manipulated plants. For example, as a kind of polymer used to produce plastic, polyhydroxy alkyl ester (PHAs) now is synthesized through an oil refinery or the fermentation of bio-based fermentation. DOE Corporation is now sponsoring a project that uses switchgrass to produce PHAs. “Cell factory” refers to the manufacture of products through manipulating life processes at the cell level (Zhang et al., 2007). DuPont and Genencor have successfully managed in 2006 to industrialize the production of 1,3-propanediol based on recombed colon bacillus. The product is highly competitive with its oil-based counterparts. With human intervention, the properties of production bases of biorefinery, which are usually acted upon by living substances, can be tremendously improved. With the quick development of molecular biological technologies, biorefinery really holds enormous potential and promise in the days to come. The U.S. Oak Ridge National Lab once depicted an idealized biorefinery concept, in which biomass production under near natural conditions can merge together with the industrialized conversion into a unified system featuring material and energy recycling through the link of CO2 and biomass. Though feasible on the macro level, the concept was questioned by doubts: in spite of the fact that natural growth of living plants and artificial production of crops share a close relationship with industrialized conversion of biomass, they are totally different in nature. Hence, it is not appropriate to include plant growth into the concept of biorefinery. Biorefinery refers exclusively to the industrialized process and refinery of biomass. The U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) defines biorefinery as the process in which biomass resources are used to produce fuel, electricity, and heating power and chemical products based on the sound application of technique and equipment.

23.7. BIOINDUSTRY Transitioning from hydrocarbon to carbohydrate can largely solve the problem of fuel shortage in the years to come, but then what is the so-

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lution for the nonfuel mineral resources as mentioned in 23.4? Biomass cannot solve every problem, but it can play an important role in relieving such problems. Protein possesses a unique structure and is one of the most complex polymers in nature. At present, there has not been a material as strong and as flexible as the thread of a spider web, whose strength is five times more powerful than that of steel wire; its elasticity is two times that of nylon wire; and its water resistance and scalability are better than most materials. Canadian scientists have successfully harvested the silk protein from genetically manipulated goat’s milk. Some countries are experimenting with biologically engineered spider silk to weave bulletproof vests with a much lighter weight and a softer texture. Proteins generated by binding proteins of marine organisms possess similar qualities of cobweb silk. Bio-based and nylon plastic mentioned in 23.6 have acquired wide applications in most engineering plastics. Toyota has been able to manufacture various types of automobile accessories by using bio-based plastics derived by sweet potato starches. Fujitsu manufactures computer casings made by plastics derived from maize starches, and it can produce and apply a biopolymer with a one million of molecular weight. In April 2004, Cargill Dow set up the first large-scale PLA plant in Blair, Nebraska, with annual output up to 136.2 million kg. The market share is expected to be 3.632 billion kg in 2020 (Energetics Inc., 2003). In 2001, the vice president of the American Association for Biological Engineering claimed that PLAbased biomaterials have been commercialized in the United States. Its wide application in all sectors of the manufacturing industry is starting to be seen, which will thoroughly reform the old economy. Compound materials are another field that bio-based material can be used to substitute for rigid materials. Bar-reinforced concrete, steel-wireconsolidated tires, and glass fiber and carbon fiber have been used as reinforced materials for many years. Now, scientists are experimenting with a new generation of stronger and lighter green materials. To decrease oil consumption, automobile manufacturers have shown keen interests in developing quality materials friendly to the environment, with a lighter weight and a cheaper price. Ford has recently launched interior door panels made of materials compounded by polypropylene and Kenaf fibers for various types of automobiles. John Deere is using a soy-oilbased resin compounded material to substitute for traditional adhesive agents. If glass fibers can be entirely replaced by natural fibers, planking materials could be bio-based. The price for glass fiber is US $0.50 to $0.75 per pound, and for natural fiber it is only US $0.03 (jute) per pound to US $0.25 (Kenaf) per pound (Energetics Inc., 2003). Bio-based raw materials and their end products will win more market shares owing to their diverse sources of feedstuffs, improved technology,

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prime quality, great sustainability, and sole substitution for nonrenewable materials. Efforts to promote bio-based materials will have great social and economic significance and will play a major role in creating a sustainable society. The core idea of “bio-industry” I once proposed in a speech given in 2006 is to incorporate plant growth, animal reproduction, and microbial propagation into one system, which can be further divided into agricultural production (Ag), agricultural product processing (Ap), bio-based fuel (Be), bio-based material and product (Bp and Bm), and microbial product (Mp) platforms (figure 23.2). The China National Commission for Development and Reform has long been dedicated to pushing forward bio-based industry in the country. Zhang Xiaoqing, vice director of the Commission, once addressed China’s first national conference on bioindustry in 2007. At present, life science is developing rapidly with more achievements made in revealing the very nature of organisms and regulating the processes of living. New breakthroughs achieved in the fields of agriculture, medicine, and energy are brewing and nurturing a new industrial revolution. Globally, biotechnology has been entering into a large-scale industrialization stage. In the years to come, a new booming period will emerge and bio-industry will become a flashing point of economic growth. (Zhang, 2008)

Affected by the world financial crisis, China’s high-tech sector suffered a negative increase. From January to February 2009, the income of the

Figure 23.2.

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Conceptual framework of bio-industry.

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high-tech sector decreased by 10.34 percent, with the profit declining by 54.67 percent. But bioindustry kept on growing in the same period. At the second national conference on bioindustry, the vice president of the commission pointed out: Bio-industry possesses many features of a new future pillar industry. We are striving to increase the added value of bio-industry to RMB 500 billion yuan in 2010. On the basis of that, the figure is predicted to proceed RMB 2000 billion yuan, making bio-industry a predominating industry in the national economy. (Su, 2010)

23.8. A GREEN TOMORROW Three kinds of resources are crucial for the development of human society (i.e., nonrenewable and nonrecyclable resources such as fossil energies, nonrenewable yet diminutively recyclable ones such as metal and nonmetal minerals, and renewable and accumulatively recyclable resources such as biomass). The former two kinds of resources are unsustainable, while the latter one is sustainable. If the time scale is prolonged, in the next one hundred years, nuclear fusion, hydrogen, and helium-3 will become the dominating sources of energy. In such case, the energy prospects for human society are not so gloomy. But for nonrenewable yet diminutively recyclable materials, it will be depleted and eventually exhausted. As far as current available knowledge and technologies are concerned, renewable bio-based resources are the only way to address the problem of exhausting nonrenewable resources. The recession of fossil energy and the mineral industry and the progression of bio-based industry have grown into an inevitable and irrevocable trend in human society. Bioindustry, with its rapid growth pace, will extend to agriculture and livestock, foodstuff and light industry, energy, transportation, materials, manufacturing, and medicine and health care sectors. Hence, the current tri-industry pattern made up of agriculture, manufacturing, and service will shift to a new tri-industry pattern comprised of bioindustry, nonbioindustry (i.e., mining, metallurgy, manufacturing, inorganic chemicals, new energy, and information), and service. The substitution of hydrocarbon by carbohydrate is the largest green substitution observed in human history. Clean energies will drive tomorrow’s development of mining, metallurgy, inorganic chemical industry, and information and service sectors. Moreover, the production process will also be green. A green tomorrow is no longer a dream, but a reality out of expectation and effort.

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Figure 23.3.

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Global green jobs in 2006 and predictions for 2030 (UNEP et al., 2007).

A report jointly released by UNEP, ILO, IEO, and ITUC defines green jobs as “positions in agricultural, manufacturing, R&D, administrative, and service activities aimed at alleviating the myriad environmental threats faced by humanity.” The report also predicted that market sales of bio-based chemicals will be US$ 21.2 billion in 2005 and reach US$ 48.3 to 61.4 billion in 2025, a 23–29 fold increase than 2025 (figure 23.3) (UNEP et al., 2007). In 2008, the U.S. Global Watch Institute also released a similar report titled “Current and Potential Green Jobs in the U.S. Economy.” The report made a comprehensive analysis and prediction on the current (2008) and potential (2038) green jobs in the renewable energy sector across fifty-one states in the United States. The results revealed that 751,000 green jobs were available in 2008, while in 2018, 2028, and 2038 the figures will be 2.54 million, 3.48 million, and 4.22 million, respectively (table 23.4). The above two reports marked that human beings have been waken with the dedication to build a green society in the days to come. If resource depletion and ecosystem degradation toll the bell for industrialized society, bioindustry brings about high hopes and bright prospects for human society, foreboding the arrival of a green civilization. Table 23.4. Forecast on potential green jobs in the United States in 2038 (Global Insight, 2008) Green Jobs Power generation by renewable resources Household and commercial facility renovation Renewable transportation fuel Engineering, legal, R&D, and consulting services Total

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2018

2028

2038

407,200 81,000 1,205,700 846,900 2,540,800

802,000 81,000 1,437,700 1,160,300 3,481,000

1,236,800 81,000 1,492,000 1,404,900 4,214,700

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23.9. ULTIMATE GREEN CIVILIZATION Experts have envisioned diverse scenarios for a postindustrial society, such as a knowledge-based society, information society, ecological society, low-carbon society, and more. Many economists and sociologists have conducted in-depth studies on the development of human society, ranging from Auguste Comte’s social dynamics to Herbert Spencer’s social evolution, from Max Weber’s rationalization theory of social development to Karl Marx’s social development theory (Tong, 2005). Different societies possess different traits and are characterized by their own unique processes of occurrence, development, and demise. Agricultural society was a type of society represented by advanced agricultural productive forces and ended up being unsustainable due to the acute conflicts between the growing population and the shrinking land. Similarly, the industrial society is one featured by advanced industrial technologies and threatened by unsustainability under conditions of depleted resources and a deteriorating environment. Therefore, the next society, say, the postindustrial society, is expected to alleviate the innate problems of resource scarcity and environmental pollution resulting from excessive industrial development. In this sense, only renewable bioindustry is able to assume the responsibility of ensuring the sustainable development of society in the years to come. Hence, green bioindustry is the answer for human society in the future. Slave society battled for capturing slaves; feudal society struggled for robbing land; capitalist society fought for resources and markets, and especially for fossil energy—that is also the underlying cause for two world wars and the Iraqi war. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has entered into a multipolar stage. Some common tasks, such as climate change, call for the collaborations of global partnership. While fossil resources are approaching the point of exhaustion, renewable resource development will make every country focus on internal resource exploitation rather than fight with each other, rivaling for overseas resources. It will definitely bring about fundamental changes to international relations. After pointing out America’s addiction to oil in his State of the Union address in 2006, President George W. Bush called out: “make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.” Concern about the fate of the earth, the common home of our human beings, has gained consensus among people in the world. A green society, to which we have great confidence and anticipation, will definitely come true in fifty or one hundred years later. The idea of a green society is proposed after we look back upon human history and cast our sights on productive forces possible in the future as an answer to solve the problem of unsustainable development on industrial society. What we are discussing here about climate change

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Chapter 23

mitigation, energy transition, the postindustrial society, and a green civilization are all about a brighter future. Bio-based industry is the war we must win for the brighter future we aspire to. The Holy Bible depicted Paradise as the following: Having the glory of God: and her light was like a stone of great price, a jasper stone, clear as glass: And the building of its wall was of jasper, and the town was clear gold, clear as glass. And the town has no need of the sun, or of the moon, to give it light: for the glory of God did make it light, and the light of it is the Lamb.

The Holy Bible also reminds human beings immediately, as follows: And nothing unclean may come into it, or anyone whose works are cursed or false. This comment is very important because before stepping into the “green civilized” Paradise, we must bear in mind forever the sins we have committed in industrial society. If we cannot restrain ourselves from doing such silly things again, we will never be allowed to enter into Paradise. In spring of 2010, I was given a chance to listen to a lecture delivered by a senior monk in Emei Mountain, a saintly place for Buddhism. “Buddha can be found in every noble heart. Buddha is residing within your heart,” the senior monk disclosed. “The Soul Mountain where Buddha settles down is not far away—it is in your heart.” As a matter of fact, as long as we hold dear the notion of a green civilization, the green paradise will be within our reach. People living in industrial society must remember the apothegm of Buddha: Repentance is Salvation. Each and every one of us, especially the helmsmen of the nation, have to remember this and bear more green ideas in mind for the interest of ourselves and the coming generations.

REFERENCES Conway, R. The Future for Bioproducts. Presentation on the USDA Global Conference on Agriculture, Minnesota, August 20–22, 2007. Energetics Inc. Industrial Bio-products: Today and Tomorrow. Report to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Office of The Biomass Program, Washington, D.C., July 2003. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2003. Global Insight, Inc. Current and Potential Green Jobs in the U.S. Economy, 2008. Lin, P. China’s Land Resources and Sustainable Development. Nanning: Guangxi Science Press, 2000. Meadows, D. L. et al. Limits to Growth. 1972. Translated by B. H. Li. Changchun: Jilin Press, 1997.

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Meadows, D. L., Donella H. Meadows. Beyond the Limits: Confronting Global Collapse, Envisioning a Sustainable Future. 1992. Translated by X. Zhao, R. H. Zou, and R. L. Zhang. Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 2001. Min, E. Z. “Developing Biorefinery by Utilizing Agriculture and Forestry Biomass Resources: Striding Forward the ‘Carbohydrate’ Era.” Progress of Chemistry 18, no. 2–3 (2006). NAS (National Academy of Science). Bio-based industrial Products: Research and Commercialization Priorities, 1999. Su, B. “Enlarging and Strengthening China’s Bio-based Industry.” In NDRC HighTech Department. China Biological Industry Development Report 2009. Beijing: Chemical Industry Press, 2010. Tong, X. Social Development and China Modernization. Beijing: Social Science Bibliography Press, 2005. UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), International Labour Organization (ILO), International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), International Organization of Employers (IOE). Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World, 2007. USEIA (U.S. Energy Information Agency). International Energy Outlook 2005. Translated edition. Beijing: Science Press, 2006. (In Chinese) USEIA (U.S. Energy Information Agency). Energy Outlook 2010, 2009. Zhang, X. Q. “Seizing on Historical Opportunity to Speed up Bio-Based Industry Development in China.” In NDRC High-Tech Department. China Biological Industry Development Report 2007. Beijing: Chemical Industry Press, 2008. Zhang, Y. P., Y. Li, and Y. H. Ma. “Microbial Cell Factories for Biorefinery.” Frontier Science 2 (2007): 47–53.

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 479

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13_198-Yuanchun.indb 480

9/20/13 6:56 AM

Index

“About Horse” (Han Yu), 296 Academy of Lynx, 32 accumulation, 83 acetaldehyde, 179 acetic acid, 179 acid rain, 30–31 Act on Promoting Industry Merged into Rural Areas, 271 Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), 118, 121 Advanced Research Projects AgencyEnergy (ARPA-E), 118–19, 121 Advisory Committee on Biobased Products and Bioenergy, 103, 108 AEA. See International Atomic Energy Agency Africa, 136–37, 146, 233. See also specific countries Agenda for the 21st Century (Agenda 21), 33, 76 agribusiness, 266, 267, 270 Agricultural Act (2008), 112 agricultural civilization, 460–62 agricultural complex, 270 Agricultural Development Strategy for 21st-Century China, 341

agricultural-knowledge intensive industry, 402 agricultural organic waste resources: animal manure, 303–5; crop straw, 300–303; forestry residues, 305–7; industrial and urban organic waste, 307–9; summary of, 309–11 Agricultural Science and Technology Group, 128 agriculture, 24–26, 65, 66, 71, 156, 460; Africa and, 136–37; biodegradable plastic film and, 175–76; biomass, 108, 110; biomass direct-fired power generation, 371; biomass energy and, 285–87; development, 271–74; ecologically recycled, 430–32; foundation, 277; petroleum, 187; processing, 277–78; product processing industry, 158; SARD, 33; tax, 262; waste, 109, 111. See also energy agriculture; farmers agriculture-industry-business integrated mode, 267–70 agriculture-industry-commerce integrated model, 273–74 481

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 481

9/20/13 6:56 AM

482

Index

agriculture-industry-trade integrated operation, 270 agronomy, 301 Akosombo Dam, 50 alcohol, 177–78, 318–19; anhydrous, 91; coal-based, 228; fatty, 180; nongrain, 247; starch fermentation and, 144; sugarcane, 73, 324; sweet potatoes and, 413; vehicles and, 85; wine culture, 142–43 aleurites moluccana, 152 Alexis, Jacques Edouard, 211 algae, 151–52; cultivation greenhouse, 401; microalgae, 333–34; photoautotrophic, 7 aliphatic ester, 176 alkaline land, 312, 313 Amazon rainforest, 96, 192–95, 204 American Academy of Sciences, 162 American Association for Biological Engineering, 473 American Association of Bioengineering Technology, 115 American Association of Renewable Fuel, 117 American Economy Recovery and Re-investment Act, 117 American International Petroleum Corporation, 113–14 American Jobs Creation Act, 267 America’s Energy Act, 119 America’s Energy Future, 119, 121, 454 amino plastic, 171 Amon, T., 438 Anacardiaceae, 330, 333 anaerobic microbes, 156 The Analects of Confucius, 44 Andersen, Hans Christian, 370 Anecdotes in Tianbao Period (AD 742– 756), 10 Anglo-Person Oil Company, 13 Anhui Fengyuan, 408, 421 anhydrous alcohol, 91 animals: fat, 149–50, 198; husbandry, 125; manure, 303–5, 328, 431, 438; production, 65 Annual Energy Outlook 2010 (EIA), 80

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 482

anthropogenic activities, 432 anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, 72 Apple, Inc., 39 arbor power plants, 337 Area Redevelopment Act, 267 Argentina, 199 Argonne National Laboratory, 15, 187, 198 Aristotle, 461 Arkenol, 114 Armeria maritime, 125 ARPA. See Advanced Research Projects Agency ARPA-E. See Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy artemisia willow, 168 The Artificers’ Record, 44 The Art of War (Sun Tzu), 43, 253 ASEAN. See Association of Southeast Asian Nations Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO), 16 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), 134–35 Aswan Dam, 50 atmosphere, 6 Atterhem, Lars, 169 Audi, 128 Australia, 12, 88, 212, 228 Austria, 148, 150, 151, 164 automobiles. See vehicles Aviation Industry Corporation, 90 azaleas, 337 bacteria: cyanophyta, 65; photoautotrophic, 7; photosynthetic, 161 Baekeland, Leo, 171 Baijitan Forest Field, 390–91 Bai Juyi, 31, 279 Bai Lixi, 185 Baku, Russia, 59 Bali Conference, 74 Bali Road Map, 36 Baori Ledai, 396, 397 barrel of oil equivalent (BOE), 90

9/20/13 6:56 AM

Index BASF Corporation, 115 Bassam, N. E., 129 Battle of Maling, 43 Bauquis, Pierre-Rene, 16 BC International, 114 beast charcoal, 10 Beijing Automobile Exhibition (2006), 114 Beijing Guodian Long, 372 Belgium, 21, 49, 126 Bell, Alexander Graham, 463 best threshold, 293–94 Beyond the Limits (Meadows), 466 Bible, 142, 478 Bijia Company, 158 billion-ton annual supply, 108–11 Biobalance™, 469 Bio-based Energy Administration, 135 bio-based ethylene, 177–78 Bio-based Fuel Act, 135 Biobased Industrial Products: Priorities for Research and Commercialization (NAS), 76 Biobased Industrial Products: Research and Commercialization Priorities (NAS), 118 Bio-based Power Group of Sinoenergy, 139 Bio-based Product and Bioenergy Coordinative Committee, 452 bio-based products, 66–67, 170–81; biodegradable plastic film, 175–76; chemical products, 176–81; plastic alternatives, 173–75; plastics, 39, 71, 170–72; threshold, 294 “Bio-based Products: Today and Tomorrow” (Conway), 470 biodegradable plastic film, 175–76 biodiesel, 87–88, 94, 127–28; advantages of, 149–50; animal fat, 198; ASEAN and, 134–35; carbon debt and, 204; development of, 74–75, 84, 194, 195; fatty acid esters, 180–81; FT synthetic, 74, 154, 161, 217; GHG emission abatement by, 199, 200; Jatropha curcas and, 133–

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 483

483

34, 151–52, 451; rapeseed-based, 125–26, 323, 329–30; raw materials and, 150–53; soybean, 190, 192, 194, 201; symbiotic properties of, 177 bioenergy. See biomass energy Bio-energy Projects and National Fuel Ethanol Production Plan, 75 bioethanol, 176–77, 422–24 biofuel products, 141–42; bio-based products, 170–81; gaseous biofuel, 155–62; liquid biofuel, 142–54; nonenergy products, 170–81; second generation of, 111–13, 153– 54; solid biofuel, 163–70, 448–49 “Biofuels Make Climate Change Worse, Scientific Study Concludes” (Connor), 192 biogas, 130, 276, 304, 378; attribute and formation of, 432–33; bus, 73, 76, 160; compressed, 158; digesters, 156; ecologically recycled agriculture and, 430–32; energy crop-based, 438; GHG emission reduction and, 439; industrial, 159, 429, 436, 449–50; industrialized, 76, 157–59, 429, 436, 449–50; kerosene and, 429–30; prospects of, 435–37; raw, 433; rural household, 155–57, 432, 433–34, 449–50; slurry, 430–31; station, 160; traditional feedstocks of, 434–35; upgrading, 433 bioindustry, 472–75 Biological Engineering Technology Association of America, 174 biological processes, 7 Biolux, 126, 151 biomass, 63–64; agricultural, 108, 110; billion-ton annual supply and, 108– 11; combustion, 163–65; direct-fired power generation, 371, 377–78; facts and figures, 67–71; feedstock, 371; gasification, 153, 159–62; generic classification of material, 68; nongrain-based, 201; plants and, 64–66; potential production forecast, 70; pyrolysis, 154; traits of materials, 67

9/20/13 6:56 AM

484

Index

Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply, 108 biomass-based products, 287–89 biomass-coal combustion, 163–65 biomass development, 247–49, 441–42, 454–56; abroad, 453–54; bioenergy and other energy, 443–44; biogas and, 449–50; diversified biofuel resources and, 448–49; domestic, 453–54; energy and nonenergy products, 450–51; environmental consequence and, 444–45; ethanol and, 446–48; private sector and, 452–53; process manufacturing and, 451–52; raw material production and, 451–52; resource shortage and abundance, 445–46; rural society and, 444–45; solid biofuel resources and, 448–49; state-owned enterprise and, 452–53 “Biomass Dominant Theory” (Shi Yuanchun), 81 biomass energy, 20, 21, 55–56, 58, 73, 95, 283–97; agriculture and, 285–87; biomass-based products and, 287– 89; coal-based products and, 287– 89; combine, 169–70; development, 84; disfavoring of, 295–96; financial crisis and, 117; food security and, 219–20, 289–91; other energy and, 443–44; production constituents, 167; products, 66–67; uniqueness of, 284–85 Biomass Engineering Center, 193, 351 biomass industry, 66–67, 113, 123–24; Africa and, 136–37; ASEAN and, 134–35; bird’s-eye view on, 73–75; China and, 137–40; diversity in, 124–26; energy shortage and, 126– 27; EU and, 126–27; Germany and, 128–29; growth period of, 76–81; incubation period of, 75–76; India and, 133–34; Japan and, 131–33; killing three birds with one stone,

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 484

71–75; milestones of, 75–81; Sweden and, 129–31 biomass raw material plants, 323–37; cellulosic plants, 334–37; oil plants, 329–34; starch plants, 327–29; sugar plants, 324–27 Biomass Research and Development Act, 77 biomass resources, 67, 299–321, 323– 45, 351–53; animal manure, 303–5; combination between land and plants, 338–40; comprehensive view of, 344–45; crop straw, 300–303; current state of, 340; development potential of, 340–43; energy crop lands, 318–19; energy woodlands, 316–18; forestry cultivation, 315–16; forestry residues, 305–7; industrial and urban organic waste, 307–9; marginal lands, 311–21, 339; material resources and energy products, 343; organic waste, 300– 311; raw material plants, 323–37; summary and comments on, 338– 45; usable lands, 312–16 biomass-to-liquid technology (BtL), 153 Biomaterial R&D Act, 470 bionatural gas (BNG), 429 biopellet fuel, 169–70 biorefinery, 471–72 biosphere, 6 BIPI, Inc., 135 Bleak House (Dickens), 30 BMW, 124, 128 BNG. See bionatural gas Bodman, Samuel W., 112 BOE. See barrel of oil equivalent The Book of Changes, 31, 44 Book of Mencius, 184 The Book of Odes, 44, 461 botany, 65, 144 Boulding, Kenneth, 357 Bo Xilai, 262 Boyle, Robert, 463 BP. See British Petroleum Brady, N. C., 66

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Index Brazil, 21, 71–74, 90–92, 95–97, 123, 126–27, 144, 226, 237; BRIC and, 97–98; corn in, 101; emission reduction and, 199; food security and, 221; IBSA, 91; industrial system of, 87–90; Jatropha curcas and, 151, 332; moon and, 47; nuclear power and, 49; poverty and, 85–87; Rio Conference, 33. See also sugarcane ethanol BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China), 97–98 briquette, 165–70, 347–50 Britain-Persia Oil Company, 235 British Petroleum (BP), 21, 134, 152 Bronze Peacock Terrace, 8, 10 Brookings Institution, 291 Brown, Lester R., 33, 38, 249, 357; bioenergy and, 220; biofuel and, 222; corn ethanol and, 207–8, 214, 216; food crisis and, 210 Brown, Russell, 15 Brundtland, Gro Harlem, 33 Bruno, Giordana, 184 BtL. See biomass-to-liquid technology Buddhism, 83, 470, 478 Build Agricultural Knowledge-Intensive Industry: Combination of Agriculture, Forestry, Grass, Ocean and Sand and The Sixth Industrial Revolution of Science and Technology (Qian Xuesen), 402 “Building a New Three-Gorge in Wind Power” (National Energy Board), 246 Building a Sustainable Society (Brown, L. R.), 33 Bush, George W., 77, 100, 105–8, 119, 121, 230, 236, 477; cellulosic ethanol and, 112–13, 220, 420; hydrogen energy and, 20, 44, 46; Kyoto Protocol and, 34–35, 105, 116 CAE. See China Academy of Engineering Caesar, Augustus, 460

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 485

485

California Sapphire Energy Company, 334 Cambodia, 211 Campbell, C. J., 18 Canada, 34, 421 Cancun Summit, 37 Cao Cao, 8 Cao Xianghong, 248 capital attraction, 399 capitalist ownership, 83 caragana, 337 caragana microphylla, 391 carbinol-fueled vehicles, 288 carbohydrates, 64, 146, 468–71 carbon capture and storage (CCS), 401 carbon debt, 204 carbon dioxide, 34, 39–41, 230; anthropogenic emissions, 72; biofuel and, 143–44; biogas and, 439; biomass direct-fired power generation and, 377; corn ethanol and, 190; global warming and, 27–30; photosynthesis and, 24, 64; tax, 76, 131; thermal power and, 366; 3-carbon economy and, 399–400 Carboniferous period, 7 “Carbon-Negative Biofuels from LowInput High-Diversity Grassland Biomass” (Tilman), 195–98 Cargill Company, 39, 469 Cargill-Dow Company, 77, 115 Caribbean, 69, 71 Carnoules Declaration, 38 cars. See vehicles Carson, Rachel, 31–32 Carter, Jimmy, 75, 101 cassava, 328–29, 352–53, 412 Cassava Association, 137 CAU. See China Agricultural University CB. See consolidate bioprocessing CBG. See compressed biogas CBTL. See Coal-and-Biomass-to-Liquid Fuel CCP. See Chinese Communist Party

9/20/13 6:56 AM

486

Index

CCS. See carbon capture and storage CDM. See clean development mechanism cell factory, 472 celluloid, 469 cellulose, 111; energy plants, 109; hemicellulose, 146, 179–80 cellulosic biomass plants: arbor power plants, 337; herbaceous fuel plants, 334–35; Miscanthus, 335; shrub fuel plants, 335–37 cellulosic ethanol, 92, 112–14, 119, 146–49, 153, 188, 217, 220; biomass direct-fired power generation and, 378; challenge of, 420–22; commercialization of, 112, 201; daily yield of, 119; positive energy balance of, 188; production quota of, 80; research for, 74, 107, 116; sweet sorghum and, 417 Chaenomeles sinensis, 125 Chambers, 200 Changchun New Technology Development District, 351 Chang’e (space shuttle), 48 Changshao War, 43 charcoal, 10, 124, 159 Charles, G., 195 chemical oxygen demand (COD), 155, 308 chemical products, bio-based, 176–81 Chengdu Akeer Biology Energy Company, 328 Cheng Ho, 51 Cheng Xu, 193–94, 352, 362, 436 Cheng Yu, 159 Chen Shimu, 95 Chen Zhili, 468 Chernobyl nuclear plant, 49 China, 12, 121, 225–26; ASEAN and, 134–35; bio-based chemical products and, 178–80; biodegradable plastic film and, 175–76; biodiesel and, 126; biogas and, 156–60; biomass development in, 247–49; biomass industry and, 137–40; biomass

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 486

pyrolysis and, 154; BRIC and, 97–98; clean energy in, 238–43, 240, 241, 242; coal-rich complex in, 227–30; dilemma and determination of, 39–41; dust and, 31; energy agriculture and, 253–67, 271–74; energy consumption constituents, 227; energy prospect of, 226–27; energy substitution and, 235–38, 243–47; environmental crisis and, 39–41; food security and, 208, 210– 11; hydrogen and, 45; hydropower and, 50–51; Jatropha curcas and, 152; Kyoto Protocol and, 34–35; methane and, 134; nuclear power and, 49; oil consumption and net import, 232; overseas oil and gas and, 231–35; peak oil production of, 16; plastic and, 171, 173; rapeseed and, 151; solar energy and, 53–54; sons of dragons (legend), 58; startup of, 137–40; strategic positioning of, 230–31; traditional agriculture in, 25; wind energy and, 53; wine culture and, 142. See also biomass energy; biomass resources; energy agriculture China Academy of Agricultural Mechanization Sciences, 160 China Academy of Engineering (CAE), 299 China Academy of Sciences, 230 China Agricultural University (CAU), 139, 193, 351, 373; Biomass Engineering Center, 158 China Basic Science Research Program, 324 China Forest Resources Report 2005, 317 China Hydraulic Biogas Digester Atlas, 156 China Meteorological Administration, 39, 52 China model, 156 China National Cereals, Oil, and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO), 139, 148, 410–11, 421

9/20/13 6:56 AM

Index China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), 139, 333– 34, 412 China Oilfield Service, Ltd., 451 China Renewable Energy Development Strategy Research Series: Volume of Biomass Energy (Li Shizhong), 142, 177 China Research Institute for Agricultural Engineering, 139 China Science and Technology Daily, 208, 230, 293 China Science Times, 363 “China’s Photovoltaic Bubble Burst, with Half of 100 Billion Investment Evaporated,” 247 “China’s PV Bubbles Burst: HundredBillion Worth of Investment Vaporized,” 292 China State Forestry Administration (CSFA), 307 China Statistical Yearbook 2008, 308 China-USA Forum on Advanced Biofuels (2010), 447 China Wind Energy Association, 292 chinensis, 317 Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 139 Chinese Academy of Engineering, 46, 50, 139, 407, 418 Chinese Academy of Sciences, 47, 154, 160, 407 Chinese Acceptance Criteria for Hydraulic Biogas Digester, 156 Chinese Communist Party (CCP), 253, 255, 263, 278 Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), 386, 388 Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, 292 chlorofluorocarbons, 29 chlorophyll, 64 chloroplast, 64 Chongqing Changlong Group, 413 Chongqing Global Petrochemical Co., Ltd., 413

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 487

487

Chongqing Tongda Invest Co., Ltd., 413 CHOREN, 154 CHP. See combined heat and power Chu, Steven, 79, 99, 113, 116–17, 162, 236 Churchill, Winston, 13 circular economy model, 24–26, 357 The Clash of Progress and Security (Fisher), 357 Classics of the Virtue of the Tao, 44 Clean Coal Technology, 228 clean development mechanism (CDM), 381 clean energy. See specific types Clean Energy Act, 150 Clean Energy and Security Act, 79, 236 Clean Energy Economy, 100 Clean Energy New Deal, 120 Clean Energy Research Center, 79 climate change. See global warming Climate Change 2007, 27, 34, 74 Climate Change Act, 116 Climate Change Conference, 35, 74, 80, 243, 293 Climate Change Summit, 225 Clinton, Bill, 20, 64, 76, 99–100, 103, 209, 220, 407; global information expressway and, 102; Kyoto Protocol and, 105, 116 closed-off recycling system, of energy, 25–26 CM Bioenergy, 90, 132 CNOOC. See China National Offshore Oil Corporation coal, 3–4, 8–12, 39, 59; biomass-coal combustion, 163–65; briquette, 165– 70, 347–50; complex, 227–30; fossils and, 6–8; IGCC, 154; strategic positioning for, 230–31; sulfur dioxide and, 30–31 “Coal, the Emerging Tycoon in the Energy Family,” 228 Coal-and-Biomass-to-Liquid Fuel (CBTL), 119 coal-based products, 287–89

9/20/13 6:56 AM

488

Index

Coal Supervising and Testing Center, 381 coal-to-liquids project, 288–89 COD. See chemical oxygen demand COFCO. See China National Cereals, Oil, and Foodstuffs Corporation COFCO Group Zhaodong Alcohol Co., Ltd., 148 cogeneration of pellets and power (CPP), 352 Coimex, 90 Colorado River, 50 Columbus, Christopher, 51, 100, 311 combined heat and power (CHP), 377–78, 402, 437 combustible gas, 429 Committee of America’s Energy Future, 119 common but differentiated responsibilities, 36, 41 Competence Act, 118 compound materials, 473 Comprehensive Strategy on Bio-based Industry of Japan, 132 compressed biogas (CBG), 158 Comte, Auguste, 477 Conference on Environment and Development (Rio Conference), 33, 77 Confucius, 44, 83, 461 Connor, Steve, 192, 193, 204 conservation of energy, 4, 186 consolidate bioprocessing (CB), 148 consumer price index (CPI), 213 continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), 437 Contribution of the Ethanol Industry to the Economy of the United States 2009, 80 Contribution of the Fuel Ethanol Industry to the American Economy, 117 conventional biofuel, 143 Conway, Roger, 470 Copenhagen Conference, 36–37, 40, 74 Copernicus, Nicolaus, 184 coptis, 317 cornaceae, 330

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 488

Corn Belt, 101 Cornell University, 186 corn ethanol, 73–75, 101–2, 201, 208, 216; congenital defects of, 123; energy efficiency of, 147, 188, 190; fermentation, 415; food crisis and, 210–11, 220; food price and, 107, 203, 213–14; GHG emissions and, 190–92; input-output ratio of, 96; negative energy balance of, 186–87, 189, 200 cornstarch fermentation, 77 cornus wilsoniana, 152, 317, 330 Costa Rica, 211 cotton seeds oil, 151 CPI. See consumer price index CPP. See cogeneration of pellets and power CPPCC. See Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Cretaceous period, 7 crop straw, 300–303 CSFA. See China State Forestry Administration CSTR. See continuous stirred tank reactor Cultural Revolution, 272 “Current and Potential Green Jobs in the U.S. Economy” (Global Watch Institute), 476 cyanophyta bacteria, 65 cycling, 300 cypress, 330 Daimler, Gottlieb, 84, 85 Daimler-Benz Motors, 21 Daimler-Chrysler Motors, 46, 114 Dale, Bruce, 188 Dalian Institute of Environmental Sciences, 160 Dalton, John, 463 Dao, 4 DARPA-E. See Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Darwin, Charles, 463 Davis, John, 266, 267, 270 DDGS. See Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles

9/20/13 6:56 AM

Index DDT (pesticide), 31 Decisions of the CPC Central Committee on Accelerating the Development of Agriculture, 255 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA-E), 118 deforestation, 194 dehydration, 145 denatured fuel ethanol, 408 Denmark, 36, 164, 166, 361, 376–77; cellulosic ethanol and, 148; fiberbased ethanol and, 127; green energy industry and, 370–71; wind power and, 20 Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act, 268 Department of Energy (DOE), 216, 471 Department of Environmental Protection, 350 Deqingyuan chicken farm, 157 de Sá Parente, Expedito Jose, 194–95 De Schutter, Olivier, 218 Desert and Desertification in China (Wang Tao), 315 desertification, 432; control, 385–403. See also specific deserts Desert Institute, 432 deuterium, 47 Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy, 20, 76–77, 102–5, 118–20, 236, 274, 407; agriculture and, 285; biomass industry and, 73; concept definitions in, 66 Developing a Roadmap for 21st Century Renewable Energies, 127 Development Technical Advisory Committee, 77 Dialectics, 97 Dialogue (TV program), 81 diatomic gases, 27 Dickens, Charles, 30 Diesel, Rudolf, 75, 84 Directive 2001/77/EC on the Promotion of Electricity Produced from Renewable Energy Sources, 104

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 489

489

Directive 2003/30/EC on the Promotion of the use of Biofuels or Other Renewable Fuels for Transport, 104 disintegrating plastic, 173 distillation, 145 Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS), 145, 191 diversified biofuel resources, 448–49 DOE. See Department of Energy Dominican Republic, 137 Donora Smog Accident, 30 Drake, Edwin, 12, 21, 85 driving engine, 118 driving forces, 60 DSM Innovation Center, 148 dual-fuel vehicles. See flexible fuel vehicles dualism, 253, 255, 265, 266, 274, 279 Dujiang Weir, 44 DuPont Corporation, 115, 472 dust, 30–31 Earth Policy Institute, 207 East Asia, 69 Eco-Economy (Brown, L. R.), 38, 220 eco-farmland project, 434 ecological economics, 357 ecological effects, 183–86, 195–98, 200– 202; Amazon rainforest and, 193– 95; debate traps, 203–4; emission reduction and, 198–200; energy balance, 186–90; increased emission of greenhouse gases, 190 ecologically recycled agriculture, 430–32 Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2008, 72, 286 economic development, rural, 71 Economic Information Daily, 247 Economic Reference Daily, 292 Economic Rehabilitation Movement, 270 ecosystems, 28, 65–66, 390 Edison, Thomas Alva, 463 EERE. See Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office

9/20/13 6:56 AM

490

Index

effect of killing three birds with one stone, 71–73 efficiency revolution, 37 Egypt, 50, 142, 211 EIA. See Energy Information Administration 863 Program, 421 Eighth Route Army, 255 Einstein, Albert, 172 electromagnetic induction, 463 Empresa de Pesquisa Energética (EPE), 95 enclosure movement, 400 energy. See specific types energy agriculture, 253–57, 261– 66, 274–80, 286; agricultural development and, 271–74; agriculture-industry-business integrated mode, 267–70; ailments of, 257–59; Japanese rural industrialization, 270–71; migrating farmers to towns, 259–61; social benefits of, 276 energy balance, 186–90 energy conservation, 4, 186 energy crop-based biogas, 438 energy crop lands, 318–19 energy efficiency, 190 Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office (EERE), 188 Energy Independence and Security Act (2007), 201, 216, 220, 231, 236, 289, 420; classification method and, 79; conventional biofuel and, 112; energy restructuring and, 119 Energy Information Administration (EIA), 28, 80, 120, 234, 236, 464–65 Energy Minister Conference, 189 Energy Outlook 2010, 120, 121, 236 Energy Policy Act, 105, 236 Energy Policy Committee, 161 Energy Research Agency, 95 energy shortage, 126–27 energy woodlands, 316–18 Engels, Friedrich, 23, 265 ENIAC computer, 217 enterprise, 60

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 490

environmental consequence, 444–45 environmental crisis, 23–24; awakened society and, 31–33; China’s dilemma and, 39–41; circular economy model and, 24–26; dust and, 30–31; global warming and, 27–30; green products and, 37–39; Post-Kyoto Era and, 35–37; sulfur dioxide and, 30–31 environmental effects, 183–86, 195–98, 200–202; Amazon rainforest and, 193–95; debate traps, 203–4; emission reduction and, 198–200; energy balance, 186–90; increased emission of greenhouse gases, 190 environmental protection, 72, 373, 390 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 80, 113, 149 Environmental Report 2008 (Apple), 39 environmental threshold, 294 Environment Minister Conference, 34 enzymecatalyzed transesterification technology, 153 EO. See ethylene oxide E.ON, 130 EPA. See Environmental Protection Agency EPE. See Empresa de Pesquisa Energética EPIA. See European Photovoltaic Industry Association Epoch of Warring States, 43 Erlongshan Farm, 361 ETA Company, 145, 161 ethanol. See specific types “Ethanol Fuels: Energy Balance, Economics, and Environmental Impacts Are Negative” (Pimentel), 186 ethylene, bio-based, 177–78 ethylene oxide (EO), 178 EU. See European Union eucalyptus, 152 euphorbiaceae, 330 European Commission, 161 European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA), 55

9/20/13 6:56 AM

Index European Summit, 20 European Union (EU), 21, 34, 47, 71, 146, 238; bio-based industry and, 123–25; bio-energy production constituents, 167; energy shortage and, 126–27; GMOs and, 208 European Union Standard, 349, 353 EU Strategy on Alternative Fuel Vehicles for the Transport Sector, 77 evolution, 4, 463 Evolution and Ethics (Huxley), 6 exhaustion crisis, 18–19 Experience Exchange Conference for the Comprehensive Utilization of China’s Crop Straw, 366 Expert Advisory Panel, 406 Faaij, Andre, 68 Factor 4 (Rome Club), 37–38 FAL. See Federal Agricultural Research Centre Fan Chengda, 24 Fan Meizi, 401 FAO. See Food and Agriculture Organization Faraday, Michael, 463 Fargione, Joseph, 192, 204 farmers, 72, 112, 253, 255, 286; green energy industry and, 372–74; migrating to towns, 259–61 farmland, 318 Farrell, Alexander E., 190 fats, 149–50, 198 “The Feasibility Study on the Enterprise Integrated Production of Electrical Power, Heating/Cooling, and Pellet by Cassava Straw in Guangxi Province” (seminar), 351 Federal Agricultural Research Centre (FAL), 76 Fei-Ranis model, 259–60 Fei Xiaotong, 277 Fengyuan Ethanol Plant, 447 fermentation, 88, 145–46, 414; of aerobic microorganisms, 7; anaerobic, 130, 161; corn, 115; cornstarch, 77; SMEHF, 148, 421;

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 491

491

solid-state, 147, 415; starch, 144; techniques, 156; yeast, 142, 147 Fermi, Enrico, 48 Ferreira Simoes, Antonio Jose, 94, 194 FFVs. See flexible fuel vehicles fiber-based ethanol, 130 financial crisis, 117 Finland, 135, 148 fireplaces, 124, 165 firewood, 124, 129, 165, 305, 307, 307, 337 first-generation oil products, 12 Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FT), 153, 161; biodiesel, 74, 154, 161, 217 Fisher, Alan G. B., 357 flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs), 88–89, 107, 114, 127, 159, 160, 237 FOB. See free on board price food, 3, 146, 461 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 76, 94, 101, 157, 218, 221–22 Food and Agriculture Report 2006, 212 “Food! Oil! Biofuel?” (Shi Yuanchun), 207 Food! Oil! Biomass Fuel! (Shi Yuanchun), 79 food security, 207–22, 216–17, 220–22, 407; authenticity of shortage, 212– 13; biofuel and, 217–19; biomass energy and, 219–20, 289–91; corn ethanol and, 213–14; corn exports and, 214–16; crisis of 2008, 74, 94–95, 107, 136, 210–11, 234; defense of bioenergy and, 219–20; opposed views, 208–10 force transmission performance, 166 Ford, Bill, 114 Ford Automobile Company, 21, 46, 75, 85, 88, 107, 114 forest cultivation, 315–16 Forestry Biomass Energy Forum, 317 forestry cultivation, 315–16 forestry organic waste resources: animal manure, 303–5; crop straw, 300–303; forestry residues, 305–7; industrial and urban organic waste, 307–9; summary of, 309–11

9/20/13 6:56 AM

492

Index

Forrester, Jay, 32 fossils, 6–8 foundation agriculture, 277 Four in One, 304 Four Points Calendar, 44 Fragrance Hill Science Meeting, 139 fragrant, 10 Framework Convention on Climate Change, 33–34, 36, 41, 76 France, 13, 126, 148, 212, 259; hydropower and, 50; nuclear power and, 21, 49; Portugal and, 88 Franklin, Benjamin, 63 free on board price (FOB), 217 Friedman, T. L., 28 fructose, 144 FT. See Fischer-Tropsch synthesis fuel cell technology, hydrogen, 45–46, 79, 162 Fuel Ethanol Industry’s Contribution to the National Economy in 2009, 424 Fujitsu Company, 115, 174 furfural, 180 The Future of American Energy, 80 G8 Summit, 34, 35, 45 Galileo, Galilei, 208 game rules, 442 gas: bionatural, 429; combustible, 429; formation processes, 9; fossils and, 6–8; landfill, 435; overseas, 231–35; shortage event, 435–36; synthesis, 153, 429; water-sealed vessels, 430. See also biogas; greenhouse gases; natural gas gaseous biofuel: biomass gasification, 159–62; hydrogen production, 159– 62; industrialized biogas, 157–59; rural household biogas, 155–57 gas-fertilization, 431 gasification, 153, 159–62 Gates, Bill, 21, 78, 113 GDP. See gross domestic product Geigy Corporation, 31 Genencor, 148, 472 General Motors (GM), 21, 46, 107, 114 Genesis, 143

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 492

genetically manipulated organisms (GMOs), 208 geologic process, 7 German Bavaria Biomass Technology and Renewable Raw Materials Research Center, 169 Germany, 12, 31, 145, 151, 157–58, 259, 348; bio-based industry and, 123, 125–26, 128–29; hydrogen and, 45; industrialized biogas and, 76; Industrial Revolution and, 83; moon and, 47; nuclear power and, 21, 49; wind power and, 52; wind power in, 20 Get Rid of Misunderstandings on Desertification Combating and Farmland Returning (Shi Yuanchun), 388 Ghana, 50, 94 GHGenius, 198 GHGs. See greenhouse gases glaciers, 28 Global Biofuel Limited, 137 Global Renewable Fuels Alliance, 80, 198, 200 global warming, 27–30 Global Watch Institute, 476 Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), 37, 292 glucose, 144, 147 GM. See General Motors GMOs. See genetically manipulated organisms Gobar, 134 Goddard Institute, 29 golden bricks, 97–98 Goldman Sachs Global Economic Research, 97 gonophore, 144 Gore, Albert Arnold, 32 Governmental Work Report, 387 grain exports, 217 Grain for Green Project, 388 grain growing subsidies, 263 grain-straw ratio, 341 grandfather clock internal combustion engine, 84–85

9/20/13 6:56 AM

Index granular fuel, 124 Great Dynasty, 8 Great Leap Forward, 426 green civilization, 459–60, 475–78; agricultural, 460–62; bioindustry and, 472–75; biorefinery and, 471–72; carbohydrates and, 468–71; energy crisis and, 464– 65; hydrocarbon and, 468–71; industrial, 462–64; nonenergy crisis and, 465–68; three-step transition and, 464–65 “Green Economy Reshapes US: A Deep Insight Into Obama’s Energy Strategy,” 293 Green Electricity Certificate Trading System, 76 green energy industry, 369, 380–83; achievements of, 378–80; ancient methods and, 371–72; breakthrough approaches for, 374–75; combined heat and power, 377–78; Denmark and, 370–71; farmers and, 372–74; integrated development and, 377– 78; new technology and, 371–72; straw collection, storage, and transportation, 376–77; troubles and innovations of, 376–77 greenhouse gases, regulated emissions, and energy use in transportation (GREET), 191, 198 greenhouse gases (GHGs), 20, 26–29, 39, 90, 112, 125–26, 241, 439; biofuel and, 198–200, 221; biogas vehicles and, 159; corn ethanol and, 190–92; global warming and, 28; increased emission of, 190–91; Kyoto Protocol and, 34–35; major gases, 29; nuclear energy and, 48; sugarcane ethanol and, 96. See also specific gases Greenpeace, 36 green policy, 116 green power, 366–67 green products, 37–39 GREET. See greenhouse gases, regulated emissions, and energy use in transportation

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 493

493

gross domestic product (GDP), 106, 243 Group of Seven, 97 growth forecasts reverse deducing method, 341 Grunwald, Michael, 192–93, 203–4 Guan Defan, 248 Guangdong Zhongneng Alcohol, Ltd., 324 Guangzhou Institute of Energy, 154, 160 Guan Zhong, 43 Guan Zi, 185 The Guardian, 170, 211 Guidance Strategy for Promotion of Renewable Energy Electricity Generation, 77 GWEC. See Global Wind Energy Council Haiti, 94, 211, 221 Hammurabi (king), 460 Hangguo Lankun Energy Engineering Company, 372 Hankel Company, 152 Han Wu Di (The Martial Emperor), 8 Han Xin, 273 Han Yu, 296–97 Hargreave textile machine, 463 Hart Energy Consulting, 143 Hatfield, Craig B., 15 HCZ. See Hu-Chen-Zhang model Hedegaard, Connie, 36 hedysarum scoparium, 391 Hegel, Georg, 4 Heilongjiang Huarun Company, 408 heliocentric theory, 184 helium-3, 47–48 hemicellulose, 146, 179–80 Henan Agricultural University, 348 Henan Nanyang Alcohol Plant, 436 Henan Tianguan Group Company, 408 herbaceous fuel plant, 334–35 Hertogenbosch Manifesto, 33 Hertz, Heinrich, 463 heterotrophic organisms, 65 He Zuoxiu, 47, 49, 54, 55, 246

9/20/13 6:56 AM

494 hibiscus tree. See Jatropha curcas Hill, Bruce, 214 Hill, Jason, 188, 200 hippophae, 337 History Book of Sui Dynasty, 351 Hobbs, Jeremy, 36 Homo sapiens, 459–60 Honda Motors, 46 honeycomb briquette, 165 Hong Hao, 349 Hongyan Machinery Factory, 160 Hoover Dam, 50 Huainanzi Jingshenxunm, 225, 226 Huaxi Energy Industry Group Corporation, 372 Hubbert, Marion King, 15 Hubbert curve, 15, 16 Hu-Chen-Zhang model (HCZ), 16 Huhe Jiadi Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., 401 Huinan Hongri New Energy Source Co., Ltd., 349–51, 361 Hu Jintao, 373, 403, 446 Hukou system, 255 Hulunbuir desert, 58, 392, 394 Hunshandake desert, 58 Huxley, Aldous, 6 hydraulic engineering, 51 hydrocarbon, 468–71; compounds, 8 hydrodynamics, 50 Hydrogen Car: Fad or the Future?, 116 hydrogen energy, 20, 44–46, 105, 241 hydrogen fuel cell technology, 45–46, 79, 162 hydrogen-powered vehicles, 46, 79, 161 hydrogen production, 159–62 hydrologic sphere, 6 hydrolysis, 112, 145, 147, 180 hydropower, 21, 50–51, 238–39, 243– 45, 443 IBSA. See India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum Ideas of Confucian, 442 IEA. See International Energy Agency

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 494

Index IEO. See International Energy Outlook IGCC. See integrated coal gasification combined cycle IMAGE model, 69 image project, 389–90 Implementation Directives on Formulating Support Policies for Developing Bio-based Energies and Biochemical Industry, 138 increased emission of greenhouse gases, 190 Independent (magazine), 192, 201 India, 12, 77, 210, 217, 225, 228, 237–38, 326; bio-based industry and, 123, 133–34; Brazil and, 91; BRIC and, 97–98; fermentation and, 146; moon and, 49; nuclear power and, 49; Silent Revolution and, 104 India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA), 91 India Ministry of Oil and Natural Gas, 133 India Petroleum, Inc., 133 Indonesia, 13, 195 industrial civilization, 23, 462–64 industrialization, 19, 264, 278, 295, 468; biogas, 76, 157–59, 429, 436, 449–50; energy agriculture and, 253–60; heavy, 246; Japan and, 270–71; synthetic routes of, 179 industrial organic waste, 307–9 industrial production, 23, 27 Industrial Relocation Promotion Act (1972), 271 Industrial Revolution, 10, 30, 60, 83, 184, 356–57, 462 industrial society, 3–4 Industrial Trade Department, 467 Informa, 213–14 information highway, 100, 102 information theory, 463 Inner Mongolia Mu Us Biomass Power Generation Corporation, 397 Inner Mongolia Mu Us Biomass Thermo Electron Corporation, 164 input-output ratio, 96

9/20/13 6:56 AM

Index Institute of Process Engineering, 154 integrated coal gasification combined cycle (IGCC), 154 Integrated Strategy for Biomass, 104 Interagency Council on Biobased Products and Bioenergy, 103 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 27 International Association for Hydrogen Energy, 45 International Association of Geology of Ore Deposits, 466 International Atomic Energy Agency (AEA), 49 International Biofuels Conference, 90, 91 International Biofuels Forum, 91 International Conference on Biofuel, 221 International Energy Agency (IEA), 14, 55, 92, 96, 154, 161, 189, 230 International Energy Outlook (IEO), 18, 28 International Energy Outlook 2005, 234 International Expo for Energy Conservation, Emission Reduction and New Energy Technology (2009), 373 International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy (IPHE), 45 International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), 358 International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), 21, 47 International Women’s Day, 259 invisible hand, 455 Iogen Company, 114, 147, 421 IPCC. See Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPHE. See International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy Iran, 13, 99, 100, 235 Iran-Iraq War, 14, 19 Iraq, 99, 235 Iron Age, 61

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 495

495

IRRI. See International Rice Research Institute Israel, 267, 269, 273, 274 Itaipu Dam, 50 Italy, 126, 148, 161, 348 ITER. See International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Japan, 91, 166, 176, 238, 259, 274, 278, 308; bio-based industry and, 123, 131–33; hydrogen and, 45; Kyoto Protocol and, 34; Middle East and, 13; moon and, 47; nuclear power and, 21, 49; rural industrialization in, 270–71 Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), 90, 132 Japan Biomass Strategy, 77 Jatropha curcas, 87, 136, 317, 330, 332–33; biodiesel and, 133–34, 151–52, 451; Brazil and, 151, 332; Philippines and, 135 JBIC. See Japan Bank for International Cooperation Jenny textile machine, 83, 217, 463 Jerusalem artichoke, 326–27 Jiang Dalong, 369 Jilin Hong Ri Biomass Fuel Company, 166 Jilin Provincial Fuel Ethanol Company, 408 Jinan Boiler Group, 372 Jin Dynasty, 8 Jinglu’s Story (Fan Meizi), 399, 401 job opportunities, 90 John Deere, 473 Joint Research Centre (JRC), 16, 55 Jones, Richard, 92 JRC. See Joint Research Centre Jurassic period, 7 Kartha, Sivan, 198 Kasyanov, Mikhail, 265 kekui oil plant, 333 kerosene, 12, 429–30 Kerr, Richard A., 15

9/20/13 6:56 AM

496 Key Sugarcane Laboratory, 324 KFC, 152 Khorchin desert, 58, 392, 394 Khosla, Vinod, 21, 78 killing three birds with one stone, 71–73 King, Martin Luther, Jr., 279 kite experiment (Franklin), 63 Kraft, Inc., 129 Kraft Thermoelectric Factory, 168 Kraft Thermo Electron Corporation, 169 Kuala Lumpur Hotel, 350 Kubuqi desert, 395 Kuenast, Renate, 286 Kuibyshev Dam, 50 Kuwait, 13 Kyoto Protocol, 34–35, 74, 105, 116, 126; Post-Kyoto Era and, 35–37 Labor Party, 93 landfill gas (LFG), 435 land transfer system, 261 Laotze, 3, 4, 183 Lao Tzu, 44 Laozi, 299, 461 Latin America, 13, 69, 90–92, 233 Latin American and Caribbean Conference, 94 law of conservation of energy, 4, 186 law of electromagnetic induction, 463 Lee, T. D., 463 Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., 79 Lenoir, Jean, 84, 85 Lewandowski, Iris, 68 Lewis, William Arthur, 259–60 Leyll, Charles, 463 LFG. See landfill gas Liang Jinguang, 436 Li Bai, 142, 347 Li Baoguo, 394 Lichts, F. O., 198 Lieke Zhu, 317 light industries, 308 lignin, 111 LIHD. See low-input high-diversity

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 496

Index Li Jinglu, 395–401 The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome’s Project on the Predicament of Mankind (Meadows), 32, 37, 466 Li Peng, 33 lipids, 149 liquid biofuel, 142–54; biodiesel, 149–53; cellulosic ethanol, 146–49; fuel ethanol, 143–46; wine culture, 142–43 Li Sao (Qu Yuan), 44 Li Shizhong, 142, 169, 177, 414–15, 417 Liszt, Franz, 265 lithosphere, 6 Liu Bang, 52, 273 Liu Bei, 353 Liu Chan, 353 Liu Chongxi, 396 Liu Jiansheng, 467 livestock farms, 157, 304 logging residue, 305 London Smog Event, 30 Longji Electric Group, 372 Long-term Development Plan for Renewable Energy, 40 Lord Ye’s Love of Dragon (fable), 272 low-carbon economy, 439 low-input high-diversity (LIHD), 196–97 Lu Dadao, 261 Lula da Silva, Luiz Inácio, 72, 88, 92–95, 97, 136, 221–22, 286 Luo Guorui, 430 Lurgi, 152 Maas Valley, 30 Macapagal-Arroyo, Gloria, 135 Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change, 35 Malaysia, 74, 134–35, 150, 195 malignant competition, 400 Manhattan Project, 463 Manihot esculenta Crantz, 328 man-made sun, 47 manure, 303–5, 328, 431, 438

9/20/13 6:56 AM

Index Maowusu Biomass Power Generation Co., 361 Mao Zedong, 38, 141, 208, 255, 274, 405, 426, 441–42 Mao Zongqiang, 46, 230 Marathon, Inc., 21 marginal lands resources, 311–21, 339, 418, 445–46; energy crop lands, 318–19; energy woodlands, 316–18; forestry cultivation, 315–16; summary of, 319–21; usable lands, 312–16 market economy, 295 Marx, Karl, 25, 265, 299, 477 Masada Resource, 114 mass energy equivalence equation, 172 material carriers, 55 material movement, 3 material production, 23 Maugeri, Leonardo, 16 Maxwell, James Clerk, 463 McDonald’s, 152 Meadows, Donella, 32, 37, 466 media, 73 Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan on Renewable Energies, 78, 139, 243–48, 291, 353–54, 370, 447 Meili Paper Corporation, 396 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), 45, 78 Mencius, 97, 183, 185 Mendel, Gregor, 184, 463 Mengniu Group, 451 Merkel, Angela, 35 methane, 29–30, 125, 128, 134, 155, 159, 378 methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), 144 METI. See Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Mexia Daily News, 188 Mexico, 13, 101 microalgae, 333–34 Microtrends, The Small Forces behind Tomorrow’s Big (Penn), 367 Midas touch, 63

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 497

497

Middle Asia, 8 Middle East, 13–14, 99, 100, 116, 220, 233. See also specific countries Middle East War, 75, 86 migrating farmers to towns, 259–61 military, 118 Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2007, 233 Min Enze, 468 Mineral Exploration, Inc., 136 Ming Dynasty, 51 Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), 78, 86, 348–49, 418–19, 445–46 Ministry of Commerce, 160 Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), 161 Ministry of Finance, 355 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 445 Ministry of Land Resources, 311–15, 318 Ministry of National Land, 419 Miscanthus, 169, 236, 324, 335 The Miscellaneous (Han Yu), 296 Mitsui, Inc., 90, 132 MOA. See Ministry of Agriculture Mohaweisha desert, 54 Mongolia, 52 moon, 47 Morris, David, 191 MOU. See Memorandum of Understanding mounding fuel, 165 Mozambique, 123, 136, 211 MSW. See municipal solid waste MTBE. See methyl tertiary-butyl ether multicrystalline silicon, 292 multienergy, 43–44; biomass energy, 55–56; development of, 59–61; hydrogen energy, 44–46; hydropower, 50–51; new energy, 46–48; nuclear power, 48–50; renewable energy family, 56–58; solar energy, 53–55; wind energy, 51–53 municipal solid waste (MSW), 434 Murphy Oil Corporation, 117

9/20/13 6:56 AM

498

Index

mutation, 83 Mu Us desert, 58, 390, 392, 394 NAE. See National Academy of Engineering Naidoo, Kumi, 36 Nanchang University, 361 NAS. See National Academy of Sciences National Academy of Engineering (NAE), 79 National Academy of Sciences (NAS), 76, 79, 103, 105, 118–19, 469 National Agricultural Applied Research Center, 101 National Association of Brazilian Citizens, 91 National Biobased Products and Bioenergy Coordination Office, 103 National Biodiesel Board (NBB), 149 National Biodiesel Plan (PNPB), 86, 96 National Bio Energy Co., Ltd. (NBE), 369–70, 375, 378, 381 National Bio-Energy Group, 164, 361, 363–64 National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR), 75 National Chemical Technical Research Committee, 288 National Climate Change Program, 40 National Commission on Energy Policy, 46 National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), 78, 287, 332, 341, 366, 409; corn ethanol and, 290; Pricing Department, 263; strawfueled power generation and, 164 National Energy Balance Report, 95 National Energy Board, 245–46 National Energy Commission, 216, 445 National Energy Conference, 243–44, 248 National Energy Policy Act, 77, 209 National Energy Policy Report (2001), 105 National Forest Resource Survey Reports, 316

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 498

National Forestry Administration, 315 National Forestry Bureau, 311, 317 National Guo Rui Lighting Company, 430 National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap, 44 national land resources, 418–20 National Medium- and LongTerm Program for Science and Technology Development Planning, 128 National People’s Congress, 370, 387 National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), 334, 472 National Research Council (NRC), 45, 79–80, 119 A National Vision of America’s Transition to a Hydrogen Economy: To 2030 and Beyond, 44 National Work Conference on the Development and Utilization of Biomass Energy, 78 natural gas, 4, 12, 16–17, 17, 49, 104, 234, 235; biogas and, 130, 158–59; bionatural gas, 429; energy shortage and, 126; exhaustion and, 18; fossils and, 6–8; global reserve and constitution of, 18; global total of, 15; hydrogen and, 161; methane and, 125 natural polymers, 174 Natural Resources Research (journal), 186 Nature (journal), 27, 207, 292 The Nature and Properties of Soils, 66 Nature Conservancy, 192 Nazis, 13 NBB. See National Biodiesel Board NBE. See National Bio Energy Co., Ltd. NCAUR. See National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research NDRC. See National Development and Reform Commission NEB. See net energy balance negative energy balance, 186–87, 189, 200

9/20/13 6:56 AM

Index Nepal, 151 Neste Oil, Inc., 135 net energy balance (NEB), 197 Netherlands, 13, 68, 151, 267–69, 273–74 Netherlands Conference on the Agriculture and Environment, 33 neutral fat, 149 New Deal, 20 new energy, 46–48, 241 New Energy (magazine), 307 New Energy Industry Revitalization Plan, 291, 293 New Energy Investment Company, Ltd., 412 New Scientist (journal), 65 Newton, Isaac, 83 New York Times, 209 New Zealand, 34 Nigeria, 136–37, 195, 233 Nigeria Petroleum, Inc., 137 nitrogen dioxide, 29 nitrosamines, 26 Ni Weidou, 46, 230, 363–64 No. 1 Document, 272 Nokia, 124 nonenergy crisis, 465–68 nonenergy products, 170–81, 450–51; bio-based chemical products, 176–81; biodegradable plastic film, 175–76; plastic, 170–72; plastic alternatives, 173–75 nonfood-based biomass, 201 nonfood-based ethanol, 423 nongrain-based biomass, 201 nonhydro renewable energy, 239 Nordic countries, 124, 128 North Dynasty, 10 Northeast Forestry University, 307 Norway, 73 Notice of the State Council on the Approval and Transmission of Logging Quotas during the 10th Five-Year Plan Period and 11th Five-Year Plan Period, 305 Notice on Issuing Guidance Opinions on the Compilation of Straw

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 499

499

Comprehensive Application Program, 354–55 Notification on Tightening Governance on Biomass Fuel Ethanol Projects with a View to Ensure a Sound Development of Biomass Fuel Industry (SRDC), 409–10 Novamont, 174 Novozymes, 148, 421 NRC. See National Research Council NREL. See National Renewable Energy Laboratory nuclear fusion, 47 nuclear power, 21, 48–50, 239, 245, 443 nylon, 469, 473 Oak Ridge National Lab, 472 Obada, Felix Babatunde, 137 Obama, Barack, 20, 43, 79–80, 118, 120–21, 236–37, 292, 420; CCS and, 401; cellulosic ethanol and, 113; climate change and, 34, 100; food crisis and, 220; Secretaries and, 115–17 Oceania, 69 Ocean University of China, 334 Office of the Biomass Program and Biomass Research, 77 oil-based plastics, 174 oil biomass plants: kekui oil plant, 333; microalgae, 333–34; oil crops, 329–30; woody oil plants, 330–33 oil crops, 329–30 oil palm, 87, 151 oil trees, 331 Olah, George A., 19 olive oil, 134–35 On Agriculture (Varro), 460 On Arranging Things (Chuang Tzu), 25 On Contradictions (Mao), 442 O’Neill, Jim, 97 Only One Earth (United Nations), 32–33 “On Ten Major Relationships” (Mao), 442 OPEC. See Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

9/20/13 6:56 AM

500

Index

open field burning practice, 96 Opinions on the Implementation of Favourable Financial Policies for Bioenergy and Biochemical Industry, 409 organic waste resources: animal manure, 303–5; crop straw, 300–303; forestry residues, 305–7; industrial and urban, 307–9; summary of, 309–11 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 104 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), 14, 75, 86, 95 Oswald, Andrew, 45 Otindag desert, 392, 394 Otto, Nikolaus August, 84, 85 Otto-cycle, 84 Our Common Future (WCED), 33 output-area curves, 69 Ouyang Xiu, 10 Oxfam International, 36 Pacific Ethanol, Inc., 78, 113 Pakistan, 233 Parana River, 50 Paris Exposition (1900), 75, 85, 149, 469 particulate matter, 30 PCL. See polycaprolactone Peasant Movement in Hunan Province (Mao Zedong), 208 peatification, 7 pellets, 124, 165–70, 203, 247, 347–50, 365–66 Penn, Mark J., 367 People’s Liberation Army, 255; General Staff Department, 445 People’s Republic of China Renewable Energy Act, 138 perennial cellulose energy plants, 109 perennial energy crops, 108 Permian period, 7, 459 Persia, 142 Persson, Göran, 20, 78, 130, 238 PET. See polyester PetroChina, 333, 452

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 500

petroleum agriculture, 187 Petroleum and Mineral Resources, 249 petroleum-based plastics, 39, 115, 173, 176 PHAs. See polyhydroxy alkyl ester PHB. See polyhydroxybutyrate Philippines, 123, 135, 146 photoautotrophic bacteria and algae, 7 photons, 54, 64 photosynthesis, 6, 24, 64–65, 188, 261, 328, 431 photosynthetic autotrophy, 65 photosynthetic bacteria, 161 photovoltaic effect, 54 photovoltaic power generation, 5 PHV. See polyhydroxy valerate ester Pig-Biogas-Fruit System, 304 pig cultivation–biogas pond–fruit tree model, 431–32 Pimentel, David, 186, 188, 200, 201 Pistacia, 152 Pistacia chinensis bunge, 330, 333 PLA. See polylactic acid Plan and Design Research Institute, 349 Plan B (Brown, L. R.), 38, 220, 249 Plan for Development of Denatured Fuel Ethanol and Ethanol Gasoline in the Tenth Five-Year Plan Period, 408 “Plant/Crop-Based Renewable Resources 2020: A Vision to Enhance U.S. Economic Security through Renewable Plant/CropBased Resource Use,” 76, 103 plant factory, 472 planting structural adjustments, 419 plants, 64–66; biomass raw material, 323–27; cellulose energy, 109; cellulosic biomass, 334–37; fossils and, 6–8; herbaceous fuel, 334–35; land and, 338–40; oil biomass, 329–34; starch biomass, 327–29; sugar biomass, 324–27. See also photosynthesis; specific plants plastics, 469; alternatives to, 173–75; amino, 171; bio-based, 39, 71,

9/20/13 6:56 AM

Index 170–72; biodegradable film, 175–76; disintegrating, 173; oil-based, 174; petroleum-based, 39, 115, 173, 176; products and outputs, 173; thermoplastic starch, 176 Plato, 461 PNPB. See National Biodiesel Plan policy, 60, 130–31 Policy Making Committee on Biobased Industry, 131 polycaprolactone (PCL), 174 polyester (PET), 178 polyhydroxy alkyl ester (PHAs), 472 polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), 90, 174 polyhydroxy valerate ester (PHV), 174 polylactic acid (PLA), 77, 115, 174 polymers, 171, 174, 176, 469 poplar, 169 Portugal, 88 positive energy balance, 187–88 Post, Jaap, 269 Post-Kyoto Era, 35–37, 74 potato ethanol, 92 poverty, 85–87 Poverty Elimination Act, 267 power generation: biomass directfired, 371, 377–78; photovoltaic, 5; straw and, 164, 362–65 primary energy, 241 primary production, 25, 65 printing ink, 469 processing agriculture, 277–78 process manufacturing, 451–52 “Promises and Challenges: Environmental Effects of Bioenergy” (Kartha), 198 Promising Resources Technologies, Processes and Product Line, 103 Promotion Committee for Comprehensive Strategy on Developing Bio-based Industry and Biobased Industry Information Center, 132 propionic acid, 179 A Proposal on Building Ecological and Bio-energy Bases in Four Large Sandy Lands in China (Shi Yuanchun), 391

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 501

501

Proposals for Implementation of Tax Support Policy on Development of Bioenergy and Bio-chemical Industry, 78 protein, 473 pruning residues, 305 Purac, Inc., 130 purification compression technology, 158 “Pushing the Chemical Industry into the Carbohydrate Era by Using Refinery Fed with Renewable Biobased Materials” (Min Enze), 468 pyrolysis, 154 Pythagoras, 461 Qatar, 15 Qianlong (emperor), 391, 398 Qian Xuesen, 386, 402–3 Qiao Zhiyong, 398 Qing Dynasty, 391, 461, 462 Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, 239 Quaternary Period, 459 Qu Yuan, 44 rapeseed, 125–26, 150–51, 329–30 rationalization theory of social development, 477 ratio of storage to production, 15–17 RDB. See rotating drum bioreactor reclaimable lands, 314 Records of Yezhong, 8 recycling system, closed-off, 25–26 Reed canary grass, 168 “Reflections on Developing NonRenewable Energy System in China” (Tong), 289 Reform and Opening Policy, 226 renewable energy. See specific types Renewable Energy Act, 138 Renewable Energy Commission, 129 Renewable Energy Law, 77, 370 Renewable Energy Roadmap, 78 Renewable Fuels Association, 80, 424 Research and Markets Company, 171 research communities, 139 reserve-to-production ratio, 228, 229, 232

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502

Index

resource crisis, 23–24; awakened society and, 31–33; China’s dilemma and, 39–41; circular economy model and, 24–26; dust and, 30–31; global community and, 33–35; global warming and, 27–30; green products and, 37–39; Post-Kyoto Era and, 35–37; sulfur dioxide and, 30–31 resource threshold, 293 revolution, 83 rheology, 83 rice, 211–12 Rio Conference. See Conference on Environment and Development Rising above the Gathering Storm (NAS), 118 RJS Group, 80, 137 Roadmap for Biomass Technology, 77, 103–4 Robelius, Fredrik, 16 Rockefeller, John D., 12, 21, 59, 85 Rockefeller Foundation, 151, 332 Roman Catholic Church, 184 The Romance of Three Kingdoms, 142 Rome Club, 32, 37, 466 Rome Declaration on World Food Security Summit, 208 rotating drum bioreactor (RDB), 414 Rousseff, Dilma, 91, 237 Royal Navy, 13 Royal Shell Oil Corporation, 114, 115 Ruan, Roger, 361 Rules of Tao, 442 Rural Business and Cooperative Development Service, 268 rural economic development, 71 rural energy threshold, 294 rural household biogas, 155–57, 432, 433–34, 449–50 Rural Housing and Community Development Service, 268 Rural People Left Behind, 373 Rural Utilities Service, 268 Russia, 12–14, 21, 34, 59, 100, 233, 235; BRIC and, 97–98; hydropower and, 50; moon and, 47

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 502

Saab, 114 SAGE. See Sustainability and Global Environment saline land, 312, 313 Salix, 164, 337 Salix mongolia, 391, 396–98, 399, 400 Salix viminalis, 335 sandy lands, 315–16, 385–403; biomass output of, 394; capital attraction and, 399; figure and facts on, 393; malignant competition and, 400; Qian Xuesen and, 402–3; Salix mongolia and, 396–98, 399. See also desertification sapindaceae, 330 Saposhnikovia div, 324 SARD. See sustainable agriculture and rural development sasanqua, 152 Saudi Arabia, 13, 15, 19, 60, 249 scenario designing method, 341 Schumacher, Ernst Friedrich “Fritz,” 367 Science (magazine), 116, 119, 184, 192, 195, 204, 471 Science and Technology Daily (newspaper), 79 Science Times, 81 Scientific American (magazine), 209 Scientific Revolution, 83, 462 Searchinger, Timothy, 190–93, 200–201 secondary energy, 241 secondary production, 25, 65 Second China Straw Comprehensive Utilization Seminar and Technique and Equipment Exhibition, 355 Second World Conference of Biomass Briquette, 166 seeds, 144 Selection and Construction of Technological Research of Effective Microbe Decomposing by Biomass, 421 Senegal, 211 SEO. See State Energy Office separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF), 148

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Index Shandong Institute of Energy, 160 Shandong Longli Biotechnology Co., Ltd., 421, 450 Shandong University, 361 Shanghai Electric Group, 372 Shanghai Institute of Technology, 154 Shang Yang, 43 Shannon, Claude, 463 Shanxian Biomass Power Generation Project, 381 Shell Oil, 16, 21, 49, 107 Shendong Coalfield, 347, 356 Shenhua Group, 288, 397 Shenyang Agricultural University, 154 SHF. See separate hydrolysis and fermentation Shi Shan, 263 Shi Yuanchun, 43, 63, 79, 81, 388, 391 shrubs, 316; fuel plants, 335–37 Shu Liu, 387 Shu Yuanyu, 283 Siemens, Werner, 113 Sifang Boiler Works, 372 Silent Revolution, 104 Silent Spring (Carson), 31–32, 33 Simmons, Matthew, 19 simultaneous multienzyme hydrolysis fermentation (SMEHF), 148, 421 simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation (SSCF), 147 Singh, Manmohan, 133 single-atom gases, 27 Sinochem, 139 SinoPec Group, 248, 333–34, 452 SinoPetro, 21, 139, 248 Sino-Soviet Relation Deterioration, 426 Sino-U.S. Advanced Biofuels Forum, 80 Sixth Industrial Revolution, 403 Small Biogas Stove, 156 Small Is Beautiful (Schumacher), 367 Smeets, Edward, 68, 69, 299, 341 SMEHF. See simultaneous multienzyme hydrolysis fermentation Smith, Adam, 455 smog, 30

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 503

503

SM styrene, 179 snow cover, 28 social development theory, 477 social fuel certification system, 94 social unrest, 215 Socrates, 461 solar collectors, 21, 54 solar energy, 4–6, 53–55, 141, 239, 247, 292, 443; corn ethanol and, 188; photosynthetic autotrophy and, 65; sustainable supply and transition of, 56 solid biofuel: bioenergy combine, 169–70; biomass and biomass-coal combustion, 163–65; briquette, 165–70; resources, 448–49; two cases of, 169–70 solid-state fermentation (SSF), 147, 415 Song Dynasty, 10, 461 Song of the Wind (Liu Bang), 52 sons of dragons (legend), 58 sorghum. See sweet sorghum South Africa, 7, 74, 88, 91, 146 South Dynasty, 10 Southern Common Market, 91 South Korea, 49, 176 soy-based printing ink, 469 soybean, 87, 109, 329, 330; biodiesel, 190, 192, 194, 201; oil, 150 Spain, 20, 49, 127 Special Corn Association, 101 spike values, 15–17 spinning jenny textile machine, 83, 217, 463 spirulina, 400 Spring and Autumn Period, 43, 44 SRDC. See State Reform and Development Commission SSCF. See simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation SSF. See solid-state fermentation Standard Oil Corporation, 12, 59 starch, 416; cornstarch fermentation, 77; fermentation, 144; thermoplastic, 176 starch biomass plants: cassava, 328–29; sweet potato, 327–28

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504

Index

Star Tektronix, 174 State Bureau of Forestry, 305, 445 State Energy Leading Group, 139 State Energy Office (SEO), 406, 410 State Forestry Administration, 78, 337 State General Administration of Taxation, 355 State Grid Corporation, 370 state-owned enterprise, 452–53 State Reform and Development Commission (SRDC), 408, 409, 410 Statistical Review of World Energy (2005), 18 S&T Consultants, Inc., 80, 198, 200 steam engines, 3, 10, 83, 463 stewing temperature, 145 stocker grain, 137 Stockholm Fuel Company, 129 Stone Age, 60 Straits of Malacca, 233 Strategic Plan for Agricultural Research Service Bioenergy Research, 104 Strategic Report on Sustainable Energy Development of China, 230 Strategies of Warring States, 208 straw: collection, storage, and transportation of, 376–77; crop, 300–303; grain-straw ratio, 341; power generation and, 164, 362–65; wildfire, 355 straw-burning, 376–77 straw-fueled power generation plants, 164 straw industry, 347–67; as bioenergy resource, 359–62; bioresources and, 351–53; comprehensive use and, 353–55; concept realization and, 349–51; green power and, 366–67; pellets and, 365–66; power generation and, 362–65; productivity and, 356–58; strategy and connotation for, 358–59 styrene, 179 subsidies, 87; grain growing, 263 sucrose, 144 Sudan, 233

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 504

Su Dongpo, 10 Sugar Alcohols Institute, 85–86 sugar biomass plants: Jerusalem artichoke, 326–27; sugarcane, 324– 25; sweet sorghum, 325–26 sugarcane, 324–25, 412; alcohol, 73, 324; Amazon rainforest and, 194 sugarcane ethanol, 20, 59, 85–90, 95–96, 100–102; India and, 133; Japan and, 132; liquid fermentation and, 145; production bases, 237 sugar plants, 144 Suggestions about Speeding up the Promotion of Comprehensive Utilization of Straw, 354 Suggestions of Chinese Academician of Sciences, 289 Sui Dynasty, 462 sulfide biodiesel fatty acid esters, 181 sulfur dioxide, 30–31 sulfuric acid, 147 Sun Bin, 44 Suncor Corporation, 117 Sun Microsystems, 21, 113 Sunopta, Inc., 114 Sun Shuao, 185 Sun Tzu, 43, 253 Sun Zi, 277 “Supermarkets and Service Stations Now Competing for Grain” (Brown, L. R.), 207 Sustainability and Global Environment (SAGE), 28 sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD), 33 swampland, 312 Sweden, 157, 158, 164, 166, 226, 238, 348, 361; bio-based industry and, 123, 129–31; biomass industry and, 73–75; cellulosic ethanol and, 148; dual-fuel automobile and, 127; energy revolution and, 20; milestones in, 76, 78; nuclear power and, 49 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 165, 168–69, 352

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Index sweet potato, 174, 327–28, 413 sweet sorghum, 325–26; ethanol, 92, 133, 135, 137, 145, 413–17; plantation experiment of, 326 switchgrass, 108, 191, 196, 334–35 Switzerland, 31, 91 synthesis gas, 153, 429 Taiwan Sugar Corporation, 278 Taklamakan desert, 392 Tang Dynasty, 10, 31, 95, 279, 283, 424, 462 Tang Hongqing, 288 Tao Yuanming, 24 taxes: agricultural, 262; breaks, 87; carbon dioxide, 76, 131 Technical Feasibility Study Report on 1 Billion Tons of Annual Supply Potential, 340 Technology Centre of Energy and Environment Protection, 304 Temporary Measures on Managing the Subsidy Fund for Straw Utilization as an Energy Resource, 355 Tenth Five-Year Plan Period (20012005), 148, 283, 408, 410, 421, 446 tertiary industry, 357 Tertiary period, 7 textile machine, 83, 217, 463 Thailand, 135 thee-stage theory, 265 theory of dichotomy, 183 theory of evolution, 4 thermal depolymerization processes, 153 thermal power, 54 thermo depolymerization (TDP), 154 thermoplastic starch, 176 Third Wind Energy Resources Survey, 52 3-carbon economy, 399–401 3860 units, 259 three agricultural battlefields, 275 Three-Gorge Hydropower Station, 375 Three Gorges Dam, 50 Three Gorges Power Plant, 364

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 505

505

Three Gorges Project, 292 Three Hard Years, 426 Three Kingdom Period, 353 Three Mile Island, 49 Three North Shelterbelt, 388–89 Three North Shelter-Forest Project, 388 three residues, 305, 307 Tian Dan, 44 Tian Guan Group, 149, 421 Tianhe Fu’ao Auto Safety System (Changchun) Limited Company, 351 Tian Wen (Qu Yuan), 44 tidal-flat land, 312, 313 Tilman, David, 183, 190, 195, 197–98, 200, 204 timber logging quota, 306 Time (magazine), 184, 192–93, 201, 203 Tokamak, 47 Tong Zhenhe, 289 total energy, 4 Toyota Automobile Company, 46, 115, 473 transitional energy, 21 transition process, 44 transmigration, 470 trash, 308–9 Triassic Period, 459 tritium, 47 trophozoite, 144 Tschirely, J., 222 Tsinghua University, 139, 146, 334, 421 tuber-crop-based ethanol, 411–13 tuberous crops, 144 tung tree oil, 152, 317 Turkey, 13 turning point, 4 Twelfth Five-Year Plan Period, 247 Twentieth World Energy Congress, 35 Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy (Simmons), 19 UASB-TLP. See up-flow anaerobic sludge bed-turbulent, laminar, and pulsation technology

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506

Index

Uganda, 233 Ukraine, 34, 235 Umea Energy waste thermal power plant, 164 UN. See United Nations UN Asia-Pacific Social Economic Watch 2008, 222 underground plant organisms, 183 uniform electric field theory, 463 United Arab Emirates, 15 United Kingdom, 10, 13, 48, 123, 127, 233; Industrial Revolution and, 83 United Nations (UN), 24, 32, 33–34, 35, 94, 138 United Nations Development Organization (UNDP), 50 United States, 99–100, 102–8, 113–17, 235–37; agriculture-industrybusiness integrated operation and, 267–70; algae oil and, 152; ARPA-E and, 118–19; billion-ton annual supply and, 108–11; bio-based industry and, 123; biodiesel and, 151; bioenergy development and, 84; biomass industry and, 71–75, 78–80; carbinol-fueled vehicles and, 288; carbon dioxide emissions and, 34; cellulosic ethanol and, 147, 420, 422; corn complex of, 100–102; energy restructuring and, 119–21; financial crisis and, 117; food security and, 208–10, 213–16, 219–20; GMOs and, 208; hydrogen energy and, 44–45; industrialized biogas and, 157; kerosene and, 12; Kyoto Protocol and, 34–35; liquid biofuel output, 231; moon and, 47; nuclear power and, 49; oil crisis and, 143–44; plastics and, 171–72; ratio of storage to production and, 15; second generation of biofuel products and, 111–13; solar energy and, 21, 54; sweet sorghum and, 414; wind energy and, 52; World War II and, 13. See also corn ethanol

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 506

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 212, 214, 216, 299 United States Department of Energy (USDE), 107, 108, 111–12, 117, 299 University of California, 190 University of Georgia, 150 University of Michigan, 188 University of Minnesota, 188, 209 University of Pisa, 169 up-flow anaerobic sludge bedturbulent, laminar, and pulsation technology (UASB-TLP), 158 urbanization, 28, 254–55, 260, 373–74 urban organic waste, 307–9 urban-rural dualism development model, 274 urban trash, 308–9 usable land resources, 312–16 USA Today, 113 U.S.-China Strategic Forum on Clean Energy Cooperation, 291 USDA. See United States Department of Agriculture USDE. See United States Department of Energy U.S. Department of Defense (USDOD), 233 U.S. Energy Information Administration (USEIA), 18 “Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuel Increases Greenhouse Gases through Emissions from Land-Use Change” (Searchinger), 190 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 15, 18 Utrecht University, 68 uzziah tung, 330 Varro, M. T., 460 vegetable oil, 149, 151, 330 vehicles, 84; carbinol-fueled, 288; FFVs, 88–89, 107, 114, 127, 159, 160, 237; hydrogen-powered, 46, 79, 161; new energy, 241 Venezuela, 13, 91, 237

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Index VeraSun Energy Company, 107, 114, 117 Verenium, 148 vertical integration theory, 265 Vietnam, 135 Vilsack, Tom, 116 Volga River, 50 Volkswagen, 128 Volta River, 50 Volvo Motor Company, 127, 159 von Siemens, Werner, 463 Wald, Matthew L., 209 Wang, Michael, 187, 200 Wang Guoxiang, 396 Wang He, 24 Wang Jian, 44 Wang Mengjie, 325 Wang Tao, 315–16 Wang Wenbiao, 396 Wang Youde, 390–91 Warner-Lambert, 174 War of Changping, 43 Warring States Period, 43 Washington Post, 192 waste. See organic waste resources water-cooled vibrating-grate boilers, 372 water eutrophication, 26 water-sealed gas vessels, 430 water vapor, 30 Watt steam engine, 83, 463 WCED. See World Commission on Environment and Development weaving machines, 3 Weber, Max, 477 Wei, W. J., 418 Wen Jiabao, 128, 139, 293, 370, 376, 445, 447 Werner, Alfred, 31 West, J. Robinson, 16 Western Zhou, 43 Westland Islands, South Africa, 7 wheat ethanol, 87, 127, 212 White Paper for a Community Strategy and Action Plan, 76

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 507

507

white pollution, 26, 38, 72, 115, 171–72, 173, 176 “Who Will Feed China” (Brown, L. R.), 208 wildfire, 355 wild grassland, 312, 313 wind energy, 51–53, 239, 246–47, 284–85, 291–93; development of, 20, 121, 237; heat differences and, 5; resources, 58; sandy lands and, 394; United States and, 52, 235–36; urban heating and, 443 wine culture, 142–43 Winter, Carl-Jochen, 45 women, 258–59 woody oil plants, 330–33 World Agriculture Exposition, 137 World Bio-Based Energy Congress, 130 World Bioenergy Conference, 20 World Biofuels Symposium, 237 World Biomass Energy Conference 2006, 78, 238 World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), 33 World Energy Council, 5, 52 World Summit on Environment and Development, 34 World Trade Organization (WTO), 262 World War I, 13 World War II, 13, 86, 147 WTO. See World Trade Organization Wu Gang, 48 Wulan Danai, 397 Wuxi Huaguang Boiler Group, 372 xanthoceras sorbifolia, 317 Xia Dynasty, 142 Xiang Yu, 273 Xinhua News Agency, 291 Xinjiang Legionary Farm, 175 Xinshi Oil Co., Ltd., 151 Xiong Bilin, 410 Xuanzang, 37, 424 Xu Cheng, 309 Xu Dianming, 410

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508

Index

Xu Jianhua, 395, 397 Xuzhou Prefecture, 10 Xu Zhuoyun, 278 xylose, 147, 180 Yale University, 27 Yamani, Sheikh, 60, 249 Yan Fu, 6 Yangtze River, 50 Yan Ma, 307 Yao Qiang, 228 yeast fermentation, 142, 147 Yi Di, 142 Ying Liu, 308 Yuan Zhenhong, 307 Yue Guojun, 411 Yunnan Jatropha Curcas Bio-energy Raw Material Production Base, 332

13_198-Yuanchun.indb 508

Yunnan Tianyuan, 327 Yu the Great, 142 Zeng Qifan, 263 Zhang Zhongfa, 278 Zhanjiang Agronomic Group, 158 Zhaodong Fuel-Ethanol Company, 421 Zhao Kuo, 44 Zhao Xueqi, 209 Zhao Yongliang, 396 Zhejiang University, 154 Zheng Hengshou, 436 Zheng State Canal, 44 Zhu Qingshi, 20 Zhu Rongji, 34, 137, 387, 407 Zhu Zhenda, 432 Zimbabwe, 151 Zoroastrianism, 12

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About the Author

Shi Yuanchun is a distinguished soil geography scientist and an expert on the reclamation of salt-affected land in China. He had long been involved in comprehensive investigation activities in the middle reaches of the Yellow River and Xinjiang Region, organized by the Chinese Academy of Science, and he has accumulated ample experiences in fieldwork. Since the 1970s, he has led a big group of scientists working to improve and harness marginal land that was characteristic of drought, was waterlogged, and was affected by salinization for twenty years. He and his group were awarded a special national scientific prize in 1993 for their outstanding contribution. Yuanchun was elected as academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the Third World Academy of Science. By 2003, enlightened by the Presidential Proclamation of Bill Clinton about tapping bio-based products and bioenergy in 1999, he began to promote the development of bioenergy industry in China. He has published a series of articles about energy policies, and he has submitted proposals to the top leaders for this purpose. This book could be viewed as a summation of his eight years of efforts.

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