Oily food
Pacific Ecologist Magazine’s latest issue covers the link between peak oil and food security. Around the world our farms are guzzling staggering amounts of oil through the use of machinery, transport, processing, chemicals and fertilizers. Caroline Lucas, Andy Jones and Colin Hines point out that our food system consumes roughly ten calories of fossil fuel for every calorie of food energy produced:
Next time you reach for a typical 450 gram box of cereal, you might pause to consider that it may have required over 7,000 kilocalories of energy for processing, while the cereal itself provides on 1,100 kilocalories of food energy
One influence on the high fuel consumption associated with food is the ‘switch from frequent food shopping on foot at small local shops, to shopping by car at large out-of-town supermarkets’. This has led to the closure of small shops, markets and wholesalers.
Parallel to this trend is the concentration of the supply base into the hands of fewer, larger suppliers, partly to meet supermarket preferences for bulk year-round supply of uniform produce. [There have been] major changes in delivery patterns, with most goods now routed through supermarket regional distribution centres, a trend towards use of larger Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) and just-in-time delivery, sometimes referred to as ‘warehouses on wheels’.
Supermarket shelves still have plenty of cheap food on them, mostly because prices fail to reflect the true energy costs of food production.
But that can’t last.
The externality costs associated with food are increasing with the price of oil. Soon we will no longer be able to subsidise food production with cheap oil. In fact this week the Economist editorialised and detailed in a cover story that after more than 30 years of declining world food prices this year had seen an extraordinary change. Rising incomes in Asia and ethanol subsidies in America have put an end to a long era of falling food prices
Since the spring, wheat prices have doubled and almost every crop under the sun-maize, milk, oilseeds, you name it-is at or near a peak in nominal terms. The Economist’s food-price index is higher today than at any time since it was created in 1845… Even in real terms, prices have jumped by 75% since 2005.
December 11th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Tax babies to save planet, says expert
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22899759-12377,00.h tml
December 11th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
A lot of people must be looking at the phone bills, internet bills etc etc. Better to trade the mobile for a stab proof vest and helmet. We the people are a cash cow for Telecom, Telstraclear etc.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Like the Economist says, a major driver of the recent food price increases is biofuels. Meanwhile …
Low faith in biofuels for climate
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7136486.stm
December 12th, 2007 at 11:27 am
And yet the Greens and the govt continue to push them
Tell us exactly where these biofuels are coming from. Has anyone actually invested in any in NZ yet to any significant degree?
December 12th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Hi insider
The Greens energy policy recognises that biofuels are not a climate change / energy panacea
Obviously, biofuels will not displace a major share of petroleum sourced fuels - but can be useful in specific applications e.g. bio diesel public transport etc
December 12th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
insider said: And yet the Greens and the govt continue to push them. Tell us exactly where these biofuels are coming from. Has anyone actually invested in any in NZ yet to any significant degree?
That is a complete distortion as far as the Greens go, insider - I’m not going to speak for Labour, as I don’t know exactly what their position is. But as far as the Greens are concerned, biofuels, if they are produced from waste, are a go. But growing crops for biofuels as a substitution for growing crops for food is something the Greens have always opposed.
December 15th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
fastbike said:
“Obviously, biofuels will not displace a major share of petroleum sourced fuels - but can be useful in specific applications e.g. bio diesel public transport etc”
Public Transport is a good area to trial alternative fuels, since it is relatively straight-forward to compare the performances. However it is also a good area to invest in non-diesel powered vehicles (e.g. electric) since the milage is high but the vehicle is operating in a known area and returns to a potential “refueling” site regularly. Therefore bio diesel for Public Transport is not the best idea IMHO. For fueling vehicles with lower milages and more critical performance requirements (e.g. range between refueling stops), bio diesel will fill a niche. (Fire engines come to mind.)
Trevor.
December 15th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
The only place for a “biofuel” is where nothing else will serve in any way.
We can manage with electric cars for the most part, but an emergency vehicle needs a more potent store of fuel than any battery imaginable. You have to have a very energy dense fuel to push a airplane, run a helicopter… for a long cruise on a ship.
Ships can convert to use wind for some of their energy needs.
Planes and helicopters can be replaced by lighter-than-air, weather permitting.
The need for the liquid fuel is still present, the biofuel has a place, but it isn’t a prominent place and the conflict between transportation and food is bad news for everyone but for the poorest most of all. Greens have never advocated widespread use of biofuels. From waste, OK… but as with most of the impressions gleaned from the right wing blogs, this is a distortion of the Green position on the topic at hand. The distortion of our message is a CONSTANT aggravation. You want to know what we actually think, listen to US, not your fearful and fearfully misinformed leaders.
respectfully
BJ
December 17th, 2007 at 4:09 am
We don’t need to choose between oil and food. The deserts of the Middle East, north Africa and Australia can be covered with focussed array solar-thermal power stations and hydrogen electolysis plants. The existing LNG facitlities can then be used to distribute the gas to through existing networks. Then we can all enjoy driving a Clarity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/automobiles/autoreviews/09HONDA.html ?em&ex=1197954000&en=c7622d53cbda5d5b&ei=5087%0A