The Ethanol Question

Louis Egbe Mbua

This writing is in response to Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Senior fellow at Hudson Institute and former chief economist at the US Department of Labour. Writing on http://www.american.com/, 22 April 2008, the new American magazine, she advocated the immediate ban on ethanol subsidies in the United States; and by implication attacking the wisdom of growing crops for Biofuels at this time of soaring food prices; that the present production of ethanol is not viable; and that production of ethanol produces "more harmful emissions of greenhouse gases than it prevents".

While one believes the Senior Fellow touched salient points on this matter, she however, it appears, failed to converge the economics of production of ethanol and the crucial need for technological advancement in relation to safeguarding renewable and sustainable fuel for the future. There has never been recorded, any new technology that starts with a "viability". It took more than 40 years from 1903 for Air travel to become economical ; more than 20 years before Henry Ford discovered mass production of the T-Model for profitability. If this were the case for early technologies, it would not be different for Biofuels. Biofuels production would become more and more cheaper as the technology advances to fit mass scale production and at the same time obey market forces for it to survive. Furthermore the transportation of ethanol petrol blends for distribution purposes would be possible with advanced funded research in relation to pipelines and fluids -- possibly near ambient gasification followed by cooling.

Diana Furchtgott-Roth went further to attribubte, in advance, the imminence of more harmful world pollution on ethanol production based on publications by the eminent Professor Timothy Searchinger at Princeton University. While one has hardly read the paper, it is safe to assert that there is no known method of producing fossil and biologically based fuels without some kind of pollution. If we go by their argument then we must stop exploiting crude oil as well since crude oil drilling is also energy intensive and therefore produces harmful GHG. Further, we must stop running machines with fossil fuels since they pollute the environment. We know these assertions to be obvious impossibilities in this day and age.

While the Professor and his researchers may be right in their research goals, their work ,as far as I can see, appears to have failed to take technological advancement to reduce GHG while producing ethanol into consideration. Consequently, it would seem to me that their 167 year extrapolation of harmful emissions from ethanol production is not valid unless they would have to prove that the technology for Biofuels production will remain unchanged for more than a century and a half; and that ethanol would be produced only from land conversion to grow corn and other Biofuels food crops.

The Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute also insinuated the cause to ethanol production from crops: the sky high rocketing global food prices that have, unfortunately, sparked riots in developing countries like Haiti. While, it is right that food sufficiency must balance availability of fuel for any kind of human survival to materialise, there is little evidence that Biofuels production is responsible for this debacle. The most likely cause is the relentless upward rise in crude oil prices that today stand at about $119 per barrel. Fossil fuel is the main fuel for farm and plant machinery for the food industry. It follows that the high fuel cost will be passed onto the consumer. For oil prices to stabilise, supply for fuel has to outstrip demand which means we must produce alternative fuel.

Today we have Biofuels as both renewable and alternative and possibly sustainable in the future. And unless we can find an alternative that can be considered of superior qualities than Biofuels, all we have to do is develop the technology so as to eliminate or drastically curtail their disadvantages to humans in terms of emissions, enhanced viability and competition for food. This calls for funded research and development. Ethanol subsidies are important for the advancement of this technology to produce Biofuels to eliminate or drastically cut these drawbacks.

The House of Commons Debate on Cameroon and Zimbabwe: Part One

By Louis Egbe Mbua

On the 22 of April 2008, the British House of Commons hosted a historic debate on the theme of Elections and Democracy in Africa with particular focus on Cameroon and Zimbabwe at Committee Room 15. The host was Hon. Jeremy Corbyn the Labour Member of Parliament at Westminster in conjunction with Africa Awake, the London Activist group.

After obtaining the news of this debate from well wishers, I was determined to attend and see for myself how democratic debates are conducted in the Mother of all Parliament. On that day, I had finished by professional duties at 4.45 pm and rushed to catch the fast train from Twickenham to Waterloo for the Jubilee line to Westminster. Having missed the 5.23 train I jumped on the 5.28 one arriving at the House of Commons at about time. After the procedural security check and the maze of hallways and corridors I found myself in Committee room 15 with the hall jam-packed. I managed, with the help of Sam the Zimbabwean at the door, to find a back seat next to a young Cameroonian woman who came with her young child of about 9 months old.

Every shade of Cameroonian, Zimbabwean, Ethiopian, British, women, men, a child were there. In all their numbers they came. Francophones, Anglophones, Union des Populations Camerounais (UPC), Liberal Democratic Alliance (LDA), Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation (SCAPO), Southern Cameroons Youth League (SCYL), Social Democratic Front (SDF), The Cameroon Network, The Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), The Bakwerilands Claims Committee (BLCC), the Anti-Mugabe camp, well-wishers, Doctorate students from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Cameroonian refugees, elderly British ladies and concerned Africans were all there to watch and debate the evils of Africa and what solutions that may be offered from this historic meeting.

Having missed the opening speech I watched as Ms Tanje, The Cameroon Network Publicity Secretary took the floor. Her speech was to the point and clear. She outlined the sufferings of the peoples of Cameroon on both sides of the Mungo -- Francophones and Anglophones--and that the international community should be conscious of this evil against the people by the authoritarian regime. She then moved on to the problem of wrongful deportation of Cameroonians by the British immigration authorities. This was much more grave for Southern Cameroonians who are immediately arrested on arrival at the Douala airport, locked up in prison, tortured and beaten by barbarous and cruel gendarmes and Policemen in Cameroon; and that the deportees family who cannot stand their kins being inhumanly maltreated in prison for no obvious reasons have to bribe them out of the torture chambers; causing added and unwanted financial hardship for Cameroonians in general and Southern Cameroonians in particular.

For those who cannot afford the means to bribe so as to secure a release of the deportee, they are left with their own devices in prison where the beatings and torture continues unabated. Her solution, she contends, is for the Home Office to alter their profile of Cameroon because the totalitarian and undemocratic regime of Mr. Paul Biya continues to deceive the world with his fake fight for corruption and that all is socially, economically and politically well. Therefore, the Home Office should not be deporting young Cameroonians to their death.

Author's Comments:

The evil that has visited Africa by her own sons and daughters who have pretentious leadership agendas has now overflowed to a flood. One can cannot actually imagine the feeling of this meeting unless one was actually there. Young and intelligent people, being driven out of their own countries by greedy and wicked leaders, are being given a voice in one of the most advanced countries in the world at the heart of their own institution; and the most prestigious of their own democratic governance and symbol to debate on solutions of the problems of the very nations that drove them out. One does not have to emphasise that these same Africans can never dream of venturing into their own countries' House of Parliament -- if we may call such corrupt institutions parliament- to voice their disapproval of these wicked systems yet they can do so in the UK without fear of being harassed, killed, beaten and tortured. As I turned my thoughts east, west, north and south of the world and pondering on the vicissitudes of what was happening and unfolding before my own eyes; and the unfathomable contrasts and contradictions of the evil in Africa by her leaders against their own people, the small child I sat next to began to cry. My thoughts went into lightning reverse as though struck by a great anger at the same time hope and gladness:

Children of Africa thrown
Out but given a throne:
Westminster broad and wide;
In knowledge good and wise
An experience broad and deep
And makes them glad and weep_

I stopped the song and prepared for the next speaker of the debate on democracy and elections in Africa.

Biofuels are the New Black Gold: PART THREE: ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS

Louis Egbe Mbua



As we live in the Biosphere, so too must we act responsibly in the case of natural resources. Biofuels technology, production and distribution is no different in this respect. As the fuel is obtained from plant, we must be sure that we do not destroy the same environment that provides the raw material for this commodity. Furthermore, humans alone do not inhabit the earth nor can we live here without the same plants that we are discussing. Additionally, we are aware that certain animal specie that depend on plants and the forest for habitation and food supplies are now endangered. Consequently, our production of Biofuels should not override these concerns leading to destruction of both the environment therefore the extinction of certain animal and plant species. The forests, if cleared for biofuel crops should be done in such away that animals are relocated to similar habitats and rare plants are replanted in another appropriate environment so that species are both conserved while we maintain Biosphere balance. Similarly, in the grass plains that may serve as a potential for Biofuel raw material, again, animals such as elephants and zebra should be given close attention in conservation possibly by relocation and replanting of edible plants for these animals as if we do not act responsibly, the food chain will be affected with severe consequences to the ecosystem.



Then we have to realise that Biofuels production has to compete with food production. With the world population standing at 6 billion, and rising exponentially, we have to balance our priorities to ensure that food production is high enough to sustain world population growth and avert world hunger. This means that crops such as wheat and barley, potential crops must not be sacrificed as food as against Biofuels. At the same time, we must ensure that our energy supplies are adequate to grow these crops for both food and Biofuels. Extensive research should be done to ensure that a model can be developed that may balance food production as against the utilisation of land to produce Biofuels crops; and that the environment and soil should not be overused and hence destruction. The best method to achieve this goal may be to mark out how much land are required for Biofuel crops; how much fuel is to be produced to meet our demands; and how much land should be utilised for food production to again meet world population growth.



The next consideration is town planning that may give rise to what one may consider as future Biocities. We must be careful not to create a situation whereby indigenous people living in particular areas that are suitable for Biofuel crops are not forcibly displaced from their habitation. The solution to this kind of scenario and potential for conflict; is to ensure that any estate that is marked out for Biofuel crop planting must be accompanied by new Biocities that reflect the original environment for the displaced peoples. Such Biocities may have to be sustained by renewable energy as well as solar power; and that plants that may have been cut down to create the Biofuel estate are replanted in the vicinity of the city so that the environment is stabilised; and that we do not create a scenario whereby a particular group of people practising a particular way of life; as well as rare plants are maintained for the future generation to continue with Biofuel production.



Another consideration will be road or railways construction and distribution of the Biofuel crops and the manufactured Biofuels. Again, we actually need these network if our energy needs are to be met. They should be built in such a way as not to disturb the local populations with noise pollution in the cities involved; and that if this road projects are through dense forests, the felled trees and crops have to be replanted to maintain biodiversity balance. Research has to be done to map out what species would be affected before the road or railway building begins.



Further, it is true that Biofuels also produce oxides of carbon that cause Green House effect and Global warming. However, it can be said in some logical sense that the Carbon oxides produced is again absorbed by the same Biofuel plants and crops that produce the fuel. Consequently, it can be argued that the net carbon oxides produced by Biofuels may not be of enough amounts as to increase the already known effect of earth heating with the consequences that will result.



The building of refineries, power stations with their cooling towers should also be located in such a way as not to distort and mask the environment. There is scientific evidence that shorter and smaller fluidised bed cooling towers of about 10 times smaller than conventional fixed ones; which are prevalent in the countryside. More research should be done in the design of these towers so as to obviate any environmental conflict that may ensue in the case of building another power plant using biofuels. The advantage for a Biofuels refinery is that its aromatic effect may give near by habitation a kind of Bioperfumes that are more pleasant to the environment than byproducts of crude petroleum refineries.



Another consideration is the problem of compose that help balance soil fertility. If we are to utilise green plant stalks, then there would be less available compose to enrich the soil for further cultivation. Therefore, one believes that some of the stalk should be left in the soil while some are utilised. And that this should be balanced with appropriate application of fertilizers to augment soil nutrients taken away for Biofuels production rather than plough back to the ground.

These are not exhaustive environmental concerns. On the other hand, it may serve as a guiding hand for individual governments and law makers to legislate so as to protect the environment, indigenous populations and biodiversity at the same time support the production of Biofuels. In this way, we may have a balance of environment; people, biodiversity and Biofuels production for the benefit of human kind.

Biofuels are the New Black Gold: PART TWO

Louis Egbe Mbua

I am keeping my promise to return to Biofuels to add to the first part of this very relevant commodity. As reported in part one, Biofuels, a renewable form of energy, appear to be the answer to the dwindling and often hotly disputed supplies of the Black Gold -- crude oil.; and that this new technology, if responsibly harnessed, may serve as a springing point for the down-trodden deprived; and the solution to the already unchecked energy crisis and the Global Warming warnings of impending doom of the earth and hence a threat to both humanity and Biodiversity.

Biofuels Technology holds the advantage that it can be manufactured from any green plant. This said, it is a more than happy position to realise that even green grass may be used to produce ethanol, one of the fuels as an additive to petrol so as to reduce, significantly, its toxic Carbon oxides that cause global warming; and that this fuel had the potential to deliver similar power as fossil fuel. This finding had been realised as far back as 20 years ago at Middlesex University; and other institutions in the UK.

On the other hand, the findings were based on standard ethanol from conventional plants such as sugar cane. So if, cellulose, a form of carbohydrate, that constitutes the walls of all green plants can be used to produce fuel, it follows that we will be saved from the present struggle for future survival in energy want. The reason for this plausible optimism is borne out of the common knowledge that cellulose is the most abundant plant material in the entirety of biodiversity; and that it is renewable because it can be farmed and planted; and also it grows wild. In this case, therefore, a Masai cattle herder in the Masai Mara grass plains in Kenya, or the Fulani dweller in the grasslands of the Cameroons will now become a tenured estate property holder if he has a designated ancestral land with grass. Further, straw, plant stem remains from harvests of rice, corn, banana etc. can also be converted to ethanol. In another light, having easy and ready raw material for production of energy is only but one aspect of the process: converting this raw material to high quality standardised and safe liquid fuel is a completely different, expensive and complicated matter altogether.

In the local level, many tribesmen in developing countries have been brewing alcohol for years using a local process. Since ethanol is alcohol, the same process can be used to produce fuels for local use at less than nothing. The process is simple: the crop is crushed, and dependent upon the quantity of crushed crop, water is then added to the crushed crop in a process known as hydrolysis whereby the water is used to break down the starch by means of enzymes from bacteria or algae. The product is then heated at a very high temperature so as to fully liquefy the product; and then cooled slowly while adjusting the acid level. After cooling, a fermentation agent is added convert part of the resultant liquefied product into alcohol. This is then followed by distillation to extract the ethanol in a locally designed refinery. The ethanol can then be sold to a fuel wholesaler, as long as it meets legal standards defined by the country in charge.

The process is not much different in the industrial scale where millions of tons of ethanol can be produced from sugar cane, maize stalk and cassavas or Biodiesel being produced from palm fruits, groundnuts and other crops highly rich in vegetable oil. Biodisel, on the other hand is basically vegetable oil and has absolutely no petrol or minerals but it can also be blended with petroleum to form biodiesel blend to run in diesel engines in motor vehicles or industrial scale engines, generators, trains and jet engines for Airline travel. Since Biodiesel contains no sulphur, it produces less dangerous oxides that are harmful to humans and the environment. Further, it is biodegradable than the diesel created from crude oil. Furthermore it has a pleasant aroma as opposed to crude petroleum diesel. Biodiesel is produced by a chemically induced process known as transesterification: first the palm fruit is separated from the palm nut. The fatty fruit is now crushed, chemically treated and refined to separate the biodiesel fuel from other organic products resulting from the refining process. Another typical byproduct of this process is glycerin that may be used to manufacture skin products like baby oil, soap. Another by product is used as vegetable oil for food.

While other countries are leading in this field, one hopes developing countries will also join in this noble endeavour for solutions to the energy problem. In Europe and the UK, the government and venture captitals are backing and promoting biofuels as an answer to sustainable and reliable future energy source. This, and other factors have aided the renewable energy company Ensus to go ahead to build Europe's biggest bioethanol plant at Wilton, Teeside, England. Ford Motor company has also joined the biofuel energy promotion selling, so far, up to 15o cars that run on 85 % biodiesel fuel. African and Asian countries with experience (Cameroon, Malaysia, Nigeria, India, Brazil) in refining both crude oil and crude vegetable oil or starch are now better placed to join the production of the New Black Gold so as to transform the lives of their citizens as well as help the world to overcome the constant threat of energy crisis. The next issue will examine the environmental, social, political and economic impact of Biofuels in international and National levels.

Cameroon: A Tale of Two Countries

The Two Cameroons:

Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun

Louis Egbe Mbua

The tinkling sound of the little bell of social and economic deprivation may, sooner or later, generate into the sonic boom that is registered on the arrival of a technological crash rather than a marvel. If there exists the marvel scenario today and the foreseeable future in Cameroon, then the long suffering population of that country would have cause for hope and celebration; and not riots. Yet, there are no civilised values or technological economic boom in the farthest distant future. It is not the opinion of this writer to propound alarmist pessimism nor should one pander to delusively-induced euphoria and unfounded optimism. This proposition will dwell on the causes of the present decline to mass poverty and economic want that led to the recent unrest in Cameroon; and to expose the irresponsible and corrupt people who made this national disaster possible. It took Cameroon less than 20 years from independence to reach middle-income status of about £1000 GDP per Capita in 1980; by a wide contrast, it took another 20 miserable years for grossly incompetent, corrupt and ethnocentric leaders to actually reduce this figure to about £500 thus taking the same country into the beggarly seat of the unreformed and shameless Poor.

The revolt of 25 - 29 February 2008 in Cameroon has been attributed to destitution and poverty; and that there are ongoing attempts by Mr. Paul Biya to commit an openly constitutional fraud without the consent of the people of Cameroon; and that he is an extremely ungrateful man who has fed from the public purse for 46 years but refuses to grow up and live a private life without the usual support from state coffers to furnish his lazy and jet-set life-style. While these may have caused immediate resentment to trigger an uprising, the seed for the destruction of Cameroon had been laid from the very beginning when the UN forcefully, fraudulently and illegally conducted a referendum in Southern Cameroons that was already far more advanced than La Republique du Cameroun -- in governance, democracy, education, law and economy. It is not clear why the UN committed such a blatantly illegal act in clear violation of UN Charter, the Trusteeship Agreements and the rights of the inhabitants of Southern Cameroons. In any case, the results clearly show that the people of Southern Cameroons achieved their independence by forming a Federation with La Republique du Cameroun. Meanwhile, in another show of of grave or deliberate negligence, the UN left the territory without finalising the constitution of the Federation but conspired with other Powers to hand over Southern Cameroons to a far more backward La Republique du Cameroun thus setting the stage for what happened in February 2008 and what awaits the future. The aftermath of this doomed Union between the two former UN Trust Territories will be visited more expansively in the future.

The aim of this short summary of history is to explain why the Uprising was fundamentally located in the four provinces in today's Cameroon: The South-West (Buea and Kumba) and North-West (Bamenda and Kumbo) -- which constitute the Southern Cameroons; the Littoral Province where the Port City of Douala is located and where the riots were most vociferous and violent; and the West Province, the stronghold and political pinch point of the influential but politically disadvantaged Bamilekes. The two maps shown above give vivid indications of all the areas where the riots occurred; and that they are located adjacent to the Southern Cameroons and to each other; and that these are the areas where the opposition to the autocratic, tribalistic and incompetent rule of Mr. Paul Biya has been concentrating. The reason for this consistency in geopolitical action is simple. Before the re-unification of the two Cameroons in 1961, Southern Cameroons had a well-developed agricultural, politically democratic and educational institutions. Infra-structures were well maintained until 1972 when the neo-colonial French government of Ahidjo master-minded a constitutional Coup D'Etat by overthrowing the then government of Southern Cameroons; again in violation of the Federal Constitution of the Cameroons. The reason for this fraudulent and criminal act was then not evident at the time. But it became clear in the mid 1980s that this act was bent on destroying the Southern Cameroon's well-founded and maintained institutions and way of life so as to re-colonise the country by his own country La Republique du Cameroun. This, Ahidjo carried out with savage brutality: closing down ports, airports, financial institutions, Import and export businesses and above all Southern Cameroons entrepreneurship; roads and railways were left to rot or were never built.

The fall of Southern Cameroons -- economically and politically -- was the beginning of the end of contemporary Cameroon. Since the Western and Littoral Provinces of La Republique du Cameroun benefited from the economic and and governmental know-how, peace, security and business liberalism of Southern Cameroons; and on account of being neighbours, the poverty and economic destruction of Southern Cameroons was to visit them at some later date in some kind of domino effect -- the destruction of a powerful neighbour ensures one's own fall. The only ingredient required was to appoint a foolish and equally vision less leadership to finally bring this certainty to pass. And appointed them they did. Consequently, the recent riots in Cameroon had been sown 47 years ago; and all evidence suggest that it will get worse if this very unfortunate trend of political fraud, theft and social exclusion continues. Further, the longer Monsieur Paul Biya remains as President of La Republique du Cameroun, the higher the chances of a wreckage resulting from the disastrous crash that, normally, is closely associated with or related to the slaying of an untamed and dangerous Leviathan.