News
Integrated indices
August 14, 2009
By Fábio de Castro
FAPESP News – Creating global indices that allow comparisons between bioenergy technologies—those available today as well as others still under development in various countries—could be the next step toward sustainable alternative energy.
That was one of the conclusions of the workshop “Biofuel Technologies and their Implications for Land and Water Use”, which wrapped up Thursday (Aug. 13) at the headquarters of FAPESP, in São Paulo. The event ran from Aug. 10-12 in the city of Atibaia, Brazil.
Organized by the FAPESP Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) and by the Biotechnology for Bioethanol sector of the National Institute of Science and Technology, the workshop gathered scientists from Brazil, the United States and Argentina with the goal of identifying problems in bioenergy production and helping target investments by science and technology funding agencies seeking advances in key areas.
Agreementing to the head of the workshop’s Brazilian delegation, Marcos Buckeridge, a professor in the Botany Department at the Biosciences Institute of the University of São Paulo (USP), one of the key points of consensus among researchers from the three countries was the need to create an integrated system to evaluate the impact of biofuels.
“The debate was intense and very productive. One of the most important points was the idea of matching indices in each country, making it possible to evaluate the impacts of new technologies on the water cycle and land use,” he told FAPESP News.
Agreementing to Buckeridge, the participants decided that the global indices should include data about energy balances, water use and water shortages, economic factors, soil health, social issues and impacts on biodiversity.
“That kind of global information will be important so countries can negotiate climate agreements and trade agreements. On the other hand, a lot of local issues that are going to be relevant for guiding public policy were also identified. For instance, there is a great deal of available land in Brazil, but the lack of such land is a serious obstacle to the expansion of bioenergy production in Argentina and the United States,” he said.
During the workshop, researchers from the three countries interacted more closely than ever before, said Buckeridge. “In the Americas, these are the three countries most interested in biofuels. The advantage is the chance to align research right at the time we’re headed into the second generation of ethanol,” said the researcher, who helps lead BIOEN’s Biomass Group and coordinates many of FAPESP’s biology projects.
The development of second-generation ethanol technology, made from cellulose found in sugarcane residue, is likely to have a significant impact on land and water use. “With a highly efficient technology like this, we’ll be able to use much less water and land,” Buckeridge said.
Funding agencies
Discussions at the event went well beyond the strictly scientific. “The meeting might lead to a major advance on the political end, because we had representatives from the main research funding agencies of the three countries. They laid out in great detail the funding sources that are available and discussed the possibility of combining programs and initiatives. That could shape the future of international cooperation in this area,” said Buckeridge.
Workshop participants included representatives of FAPESP, of the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, of the U.S. National Science Foundation and of Argentina’s Ministry of Science and Technology.
Another conclusion from the Atibaia meeting was the importance of attracting more social scientists to the research. “The question of biofuels is, by definition, multidisciplinary. It’s characterized by social issues and needs to provide answers that consider all sides. It’s important that social scientists be included in the process from the beginning, because their knowledge can help guide strategies for cooperation,” Buckeridge noted.
Rapid integration
Agreementing to the head of the U.S. workshop delegation, Iowa State University’s Robert Anex, the event has already started to bear fruit: some of the researchers presented ideas for joint projects beginning as soon as next week.
“Participants began trading data and models about the environmental impacts of the agricultural side of biofuel production. Interdisciplinary cooperation, which is one of our biggest concerns, was an integral part of the event which had participants from diverse fields—from specialists in production and conversion technologies, to sociologists, economists and biologists,” he said.
For Anex, advances in bioenergy won’t amount to much without international cooperation. “The problems we addressed at the workshop are really international in nature and, specifically, pan-American. The global export of soybeans—which is a feeder network for biodiesel—is totally dominated by the three countries represented at the workshop, while the overwhelming majority of ethanol is produced in Brazil or the U.S.”
“Even though one country makes ethanol from sugarcane and the other makes it from corn, the basic technologies involved are the same. And the questions related to second- and third-generation technologies are even more universal. That’s why we have so much knowledge to exchange,” Anex said.
Media Contacts
Fernando Cunha, FAPESP (www.fapesp.br) / (+55) 11 3838-4151
São Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP – is an independent public foundation with the mission to foster research and the scientific and technological development of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. This is achieved through the support of research projects carried out in higher education and research institutions, in all fields of knowledge.