Academic literature on the topic 'Biofuels in developing countries'

The transportation sector has dominated global fuel consumption and as a result, greenhouse gas emissions have risen at an alarming rate. As a consequence, many countries have adopted policies and strategies to diversify their fuel sources in the transportation sector. Biofuel is one of the potential substitution fuels that has attracted the attention of both researchers and policy makers. Public acceptance of biofuels is one of the major challenges for the implementation of biofuel blends in transportation. To determine the influence of different values that affect drivers’ willingness to pay for biofuels, the theory of consumption values is applied in the present research. The data were gathered by distributing questionnaires to 343 Malaysian people with driving licences and access to cars. The data were analysed using the partial least squares technique. The results of the analysis revealed that functional values, specific condition, emotional values and novelty seeking were among the main factors that influence drivers’ willingness to pay for biofuels. Social values were shown to not be a significant factor. The results of the study contribute to the literature by testing the relationship between consumption values and willingness to pay for biofuels. The information provided in the present research might be beneficial for policy makers in modifying tactics and strategies towards the successful promotion of the usage of biofuels in developing countries.

The aim of this study is to shed light on the importance of biofuels as an alternative to conventional energy, in addition to the importance of preserving agricultural crops, which are the main source of this fuel, to maintain food security, especially in developing countries. The increase in global oil prices, in addition to the fear of global warming, are among the main factors that draw the world’s attention to searching for alternative sources of traditional energy, which are sustainable on the one hand, and on the other hand reduce carbon emissions. Therefore, the volume of global investment in renewable energy in general, and in liquid biofuels and biomass in particular, has increased. Global fears emerged that the excessive conversion of large farms suitable for growing food to energy production would threaten global food security. In the first ten years of the new millennium, biofuel production increased fivefold, and the largest increase in biofuel production was recorded in 2007-2008, coinciding with a sharp rise in food prices. Compared to the average food prices in the period 2002-2004, the average global prices of cereals, oils and fats traded were 2 to 2.5 times higher in 2008, this continuous increase in the use of food crops to produce biofuels has reflected on global food security. Accordingly, this review article will address previous studies on biofuel production; identify the theoretical framework for the concept of biofuels and its characteristics, and the relationship between biofuels and food security. In this study, we presented biofuels, which are considered one of the important categories in the field of renewable energy and its environmental and economic effects, as well as the experiences of some countries in its production, and the possibility of benefiting from the natural resources available for its production. We will discuss the scientific (chemical) principles of biofuel production.

Global energy consumption is expected to grow by 56% between 2010 and 2040. Renewable energy is one of the fastest-growing energy resources, and biomass is a major feedstock for providing renewable energy. It constitutes up to 35% of the main energy consumption in developing countries. Densified solid biofuel with high density gets a lot of attention due to its uniform shape and low heating cost. When considering densified solid biofuels as a viable solution for energy production, its quality needs to be improved. Solid biofuel quality is a function of the chemical composition and physical properties of the raw materials. It is widely reported that the raw material chemical composition has a major effect on the final solid biofuel quality, as it influences the heating value, ash content, and mechanical durability. The moisture content influences the net heating value, combustion efficiency, and mechanical durability of solid biofuels. The bulk density influences the mechanical durability, thermal characteristics, as well as handling and storage costs of solid biofuels. This work reviewed the latest developments on the effects of the chemical composition, moisture content, and bulk density of raw materials on the thermal efficiency, emission, and mechanical durability of densified solid biofuels.

Biofuels are a mixture of organic matter that is used as fuel in internal combustion engines. Biofuel production can pose a serious threat to food security, biodiversity, and climate change if not regulated and tightly controlled. However, it is also true that in this type of initiative there are many opportunities presented in its renewable nature and its intensive work needs that need to be explored. If sustainable development becomes the policy of the biofuels industry, growth paths and opportunities can be traced for developing countries such as Colombia. Consequently, a country can take advantage of the “follower” advantages if it learns from previous experiences such as the Brazilian one. Employment and natural preservation opportunities are possible with certified product.

The continued global reliance on fossil fuels with impact on resource depletion, human health, atmospheric pollution and environmental degradation has necessitated a global drive to integrate renewable fuels such as biodiesels. Biodiesels are described as “fuels composed of fatty acid methyl or ethyl esters and obtained from vegetable oils or animal fats”. Their use in energy generation could diversify the world’s energy mix, reduce fossil fuel dependence, reduce emissions and energy cost to bring about other economic benefits, especially for developing economies and rural communities with lack of adequate access to modern energy. A techno-economic and environmental life cycle assessment is however required to ensure that these fuels are fit for use in engines and meet any regulatory standard and sustainability criteria. This thesis has evaluated the use of Jatropha- and microalgae-biodiesel for power generation in two industrial gas turbines with open and combined cycle configuration. This was achieved using a techno-economic and environmental life cycle impact assessment framework. Comparative fuel assessments have been carried out between biodiesels and fossil fuels. Furthermore, the concept of microbial fuel degradation was examined in gas turbines. The thesis have identified Jatropha biodiesel as a worthwhile substitute for conventional diesel fuel, because it has close performance and emission characteristics to conventional diesel fuel with added advantage of being renewable. The consequent displacement of conventional diesel fuel with Jatropha biodiesel has significant environmental benefits. For economic viability and sustainability of gas turbine operated power plants, energy producers require a minimum monetary amount to recover the added cost of operating 100% Jatropha biodiesel. Other integration mechanisms are also available for utilizing the fuel in engines without compromising on plant’s economic performance. In worst case scenarios, where there are no government incentives, local conditions such as high life cycle cost of electricity, open opportunities for distributed and independent power generation from renewable fuels like Jatropha-biodiesel. Furthermore, this thesis has identified salient energy conversion processes that occur in gas turbine fuels, especially with biodiesels and developed a bio-mathematical model, Bio-fAEG to simulate these processes in gas turbines. This platform is a first step in quantifiable assessment and could enable a better understanding of microbial initiated processes.

Biofuel development has a strategic significance in various fields, including national energy security, climate change mitigation, environmental conservation and protection, as well as agricultural revival and rural development. The production and trade of biofuels have entered a new era of global growth, with both the scale of the industry and the number of countries involved reaching unprecedented levels. Developing countries have advantages over developed countries in biofuel production, as many of them have apparent relative availability of land and feedstocks, as well as good climate conditions in that biomass production potential is much higher and production costs can be lower. However, a biofuel expansion in these countries raises concerns about potential added environmental and socio-economic pressures. A massive scale-up in the production and use of biofuels could speed up deforestation and biodiversity loss, and possibly accelerate climate change, while creating a distortion on the traditional agricultural market and the emerging agro-energy market, and increasing the concentration of economic wealth. Against this background, the central aim of this thesis is to collate a variety of guidance, legislation and policies relevant to the regulation of biofuels in developing countries, to provide a comprehensive and coherent legislative and policy framework for these countries. As the rise of the biofuel economy has linked together many complicated environmental and social-legal relations in various topics, it is impossible to regulate biofuels within a single legal regime. In envisaging the legislative and policy framework for biofuel sustainability, it is necessary to consider and balance various values and interests from at least four legal areas, namely biotechnology development and diffusion, the environment, agro-energy economy, as well as trade liberalization on the biofuel market. Within the interdisciplinary regulatory framework, the biofuel industry in developing countries would not lead to a scenario in which it provided a solution to one specific problem/legal area, while creating many more in other legal areas. As a result, this regulatory framework will help policy makers to ensure that environmental and socio-economic sustainability considerations are taken into account in the production, promotion and consumption of biofuels, with a view to minimizing risks of negative impacts and maximizing benefits in the Global South, and in turn to benefit developing countries and the whole world in the immediate and long term.

Biofuels started to raise interest almost 40 years ago, when the Arab oil embargo pushed oil prices up and therefore spurred the research towards new forms of energy. Nevertheless, biofuel production has not really taken off until recently, when the combination of high oil prices, concern about greenhouse gas emissions, and the progressive reduction of oil reserves induced many countries across the world to implement policies encouraging biofuels production. At the beginning of the 2000s, biofuels were seen as a panacea for energy security (domestic energy source, highly reliable), economic stability (energy price stability, rural development, employment generation, reduce supply-demand gap for agricultural commodities), and for environment protection (better waste utilization, GHG emissions reduction), especially after the drawing up of the Kyoto protocol, according to which signatory countries had to reduce their GHG emissions by about 5% from their 1990 levels, by 2012. Biofuels are currently produced from agricultural commodities, therefore their repercussions on the agricultural and food sector might be substantial. In this framework it is clear that the responsibility that big countries (those able to affect world prices) have is substantial. Countries like the US, Brazil, and the EU have been encouraging biofuel production in recent years and ended up artificially creating a new market for agricultural commodities without fully understanding, a priori, the possible negative consequences of such decision. They decided to subsidize renewables because of the increased pressure by the public opinion towards greenhouse gas emissions reduction, reduce dependency on oil imports, and the need to meet the targets set by both the Kyoto protocol. Biofuel expansion took place not only in a controversial manner, without coordination at international level, but also in a critical historical moment. The past two decades have been characterized by a strong increase in world food demand, mainly due to economic expansion in emerging economies like China, India, Brazil, and some South East Asian countries. The strong increase in demand faces an agricultural supply that in the short period is inevitably inelastic, which results in higher prices and higher volatility (due to reduced stocks). Much of the initial enthusiasm towards biofuels has been declining in the last few years. First of all, biofuel expansion has increased the demand for many agricultural commodities, which, in a framework of increasing food demand in the world, triggered a sharp increase in agricultural prices with strong negative implications for poor people especially in developing countries. Many doubts have also been raised concerning the real effectiveness of biofuels in reducing GHG emissions. Emission-computing methodologies are not always accurate and sometimes are difficult to put in practice. Agriculture intensification and land use changes, both consequences of biofuel expansion, are two of the factors more likely to have increased GHG emissions rather than reduced. Furthermore, biofuel policies have been designed and implemented by countries on an individual basis, without the coordination at international level that would have been needed to avoid the numerous side-effects that biofuels have been having on international food markets and on the environment. My doctorate research analyzes all aspects of the biofuel sector at world level with special emphasis on its sustainability under an economic, environmental, and ethical point of view. The research starts with a description of what biofuels are and in which sub-categories they can be divided. Then, it provides a review of biofuel policies around the world and data on production, prices and trade. The work also provides figures on production, prices and trade of the main agricultural commodities used for biofuel production and the evolution of cropped and forest areas worldwide in the last twenty years. Main biofuel producers are the US, Brazil and the EU. In the first two countries is ethanol the main biofuel produced (obtained from corn in the US and from sugarcane in Brazil), while in the EU the leasing biofuel is biodiesel (from vegetable oils). In 2011, 51.8% of Brazilian sugarcane production and 42.2% of US corn production were used to produce ethanol. Areas cropped with sugarcane and corn, in the two countries were 4.2 and 15.5 million hectares in 2011, which correspond to 1.5% and 16% of total agricultural area respectively. By 2021 ethanol production will absorb almost 61% of Brazilian sugarcane production and 57% of US corn production, ceteris paribus. In 2021 the amount of land needed to grow all sugarcane needed to produce ethanol in Brazil will be more than 8 million hectares, almost equal to the entire current sugarcane area in the South American country. In the US the area that will be needed to cultivate corn for ethanol production will grow to slightly less than 20 million hectares, equal to 53% of current corn area in the US and 20% of current total agricultural area. These data highlight the different impact sugarcane- and corn-based ethanol have on agricultural production. Brazilian and American ethanol production was 22.9 and 52.8 million m3 in 2011 respectively, implying an “ethanol yield” of 5.5 m3/hectare for sugarcane ethanol and of 3.4 m3/hectare for corn-ethanol. This means that producing ethanol from sugarcane is more efficient and less consuming in terms of land than corn-ethanol. Considering also biodiesel, the amount of land needed to crop biofuel feedstocks, in Brazil and the US grows to 3 and 18.4% of total agricultural land. These areas are forecasted to increase to 6.3 and 23% by 2021, implying an increasing competition for land. In 2011 the EU used 5.4 million tons of domestically produced rapeseed oil and at least 3.9 million tons of imported palm oil to make biodiesel. The amount of land needed to grow rapeseed within the Union and oil palm in third countries (mainly Indonesia and Malaysia) was 5.2 and 1.3 million hectares respectively. The area needed to crop rapeseed for biodiesel production, in the EU, was equal to 5.2% of total agriculture area. Assuming that the percentage of rapeseed oil on total vegetable oil production in the EU will remain the same of 2011 and that the share of it employed in the food sector will also remain unchanged, it is possible to forecast that, in 2021, the EU will need 6.6 million tons of rapeseed oil and at least 10 million tons of palm oil from third countries to meet its consumption targets. This means that at least 3.4 million hectares of land, in South East Asia will be needed to produce palm oil destined to the EU. The core of the thesis is the analysis of the sustainability of biofuels on one hand, and of biofuels’ implications on food production on the other. The sustainability of biofuel production is analyzed through a literature review and re-interpretation of the existing literature on the topic, encompassing effects of mass biofuel production on the environment, GHG emissions, land use changes, water availability, and implications for developing countries. One of the most important aspects of biofuel sustainability is their effects on agricultural production and agricultural prices. The empirical part of this thesis employs econometric tools to assess the degree of integration between energy and agricultural markets in the main biofuel producing countries and price transmission elasticity between international and EU agricultural markets before and after the last reform of the CAP. In the US and in Brazil energy and agricultural prices move together in the long-run and the influence of oil prices has been growing over time. This means that policy-makers, in the future, will have to pay great attention to the mutual influence energy and agricultural policies can have on each other. In Europe this close relationship between energy and agricultural prices was not detected, however European agricultural markets have been influenced by biofuel policies in the US, and to a lesser extent Brazil, indirectly, through their effects on international commodity prices. What emerges from this work is that biofuels, in the current political, economic demographic, situation are, for many aspects, not sustainable. Side-effects of biofuel production are many and often even difficult to quantify. Solutions provided are often utopic or, even if good in theory, very difficult to implement. Biofuel production has been having negative effects on food production and prices, biodiversity and social welfare in the last decade, inside and outside the countries of production. The “original sin” was the initial lack of coordination between policies issued unilaterally by different countries, something that now seems extremely difficult to fix. Governments should, as it has been recently suggested by the United Nations, consider the option of modifying their biofuel programs because of their negative consequences on food security in many low-income countries. Also the promotion and implementation of biofuel policies in developing countries should be avoided as a measure for fostering development. It is very unlikely that rural poor will benefit from policies subsidizing the biofuel sector since most of the land in developing countries is owned by big multinational companies or by foreign states (land grabbing). The development of the biofuel sector would also increase food prices even in countries where such increase has been marginal so far because of scarce price transmission from the world market. Poor people living in urban areas would be worse off by higher food prices as well as small farmers who, in developing countries, are often net-purchasers of food. It has been suggested by many scholars and international organizations that, in order to become sustainable, biofuel production should shift from first-generation to second-generation technologies (those that allow the use of non-food crops or wastes for biofuel production). This will not be easy to achieve. Current second-generation biofuel production is still very small and will not grow substantially unless major investments are made by governments and, under the right conditions, private companies. Moreover it is not governments nor policy-makers who decides whether is profitable to put marginal land under cultivation and to crop non-food biofuel crops on it. Farmers are those making such decisions and they will not do it unless it is profitable. Current record-high agricultural commodity prices raise many doubts on the fact that farmers will shift from food to non-food crops without substantial government subsidies. An increase in subsidies to the agricultural sector, even just for energy crops, is unlikely to happen anytime soon because of the financial and economic crisis that hit many countries around the world and because of pressure by the WTO and other international organizations to reduce the degree of protection. In case it will be decided to keep subsidizing biofuels, new polices will have to be designed and implemented at world level, needing a very high degree of coordination between countries and flexibility, which is difficult to imagine can be reached in the short or even the medium term. An emblematic case, in this sense, is GHG emission accounting mechanisms that currently are based on life-cycle assessment analysis and that are often incomplete (i.e. limited to a single country or region) or unable to take all factors into account (i.e. indirect land-use changes). Research, in the next years, will have to focus on two main topics. On one hand second- and third-generation techniques for biofuel production will have to be refined and made economically (but also environmentally and socially) viable, possibly together with progressive reduction in the support in favor of first-generation biofuels. On the other hand, a better definition of the methodologies to assess the environmental, economic and social impacts of biofuel production will be crucial in order to correctly evaluate the sustainability of biofuel programs. In particular, the development of reliable methodologies to assess the environmental impact of biofuel production is very important since, in the future, subsidies could be calculated in a way to reward the production of biofuels able to provide (proved) positive externalities to the environment as well as increase social welfare.
Di biocarburanti si iniziò a parlare circa 40 anni fa, in concomitanza con la crisi petrolifera determinata dall’embargo da parte dei paesi OPEC. Il conseguente forte aumento del prezzo del petrolio stimolò infatti la ricerca nel campo delle forme di energia alternative. La produzione di biocarburanti è tuttavia decollata solo di recente, grazie all’azione combinata di molteplici fattori: elevate quotazioni del petrolio, necessità di contenere le emissioni di gas serra e la riduzione delle scorte di combustibili fossili; tutte cose che hanno indotto molti paesi a mettere a punto programmi volti allo sviluppo del settore dei biocarburanti. All’inizio degli anni 2000 i biocarburanti venivano considerati la soluzione ideale per risolvere i problemi dell’approvvigionamento energetico, della stabilità economica (stabilizzazione dei prezzi dell’energia, sviluppo rurale, creazione di posti di lavoro, aumento della domanda di materie prime agricole) e della protezione dell’ambiente (utilizzazione più efficiente dei rifiuti e riduzione delle emissioni di gas serra). Un impulso decisivo allo sviluppo delle politiche fu dato dalla stipula del Protocollo di Kyoto nel quale i paesi firmatari si impegnavano a ridurre le proprie emissioni di gas serra del 5% rispetto ai livelli del 1990 entro il 2012. Al momento attuale i biocarburanti vengono in larga parte prodotti a partire da materie prime agricole, quindi le ripercussioni della loro produzione sul settore agricolo possono essere rilevanti. In tale àmbito appare chiara la forte responsabilità, in termini di effetti sui mercati agricoli mondiali, che hanno i paesi che più di tutti hanno sovvenzionato il settore: Stati Uniti, Brasile e Unione Europea. Tali paesi, tramite le loro politiche, hanno creato un nuovo mercato di sbocco per molte materie prime agricole, senza capire a fondo, a priori, le conseguenze di tale azione. Le principali motivazioni addotte dai decisori politici per giustificare le sovvenzioni al settore dei biocarburanti furono la necessità di ottemperare ai dettami del Protocollo di Kyoto, aumentare l’indipendenza energetica, creare nuovi posti di lavoro, migliorare il reddito degli agricoltori e stabilizzare i prezzi dell’energia. L’espansione del settore dei biofuel è avvenuta non solamente in maniera quantomeno controversa, senza coordinazione a livello internazionale, ma anche in un momento storico molto delicato. Gli ultimi venti anni sono stati infatti caratterizzati da un grande aumento della domanda mondiale di cibo, soprattutto a causa della forte crescita economica dei cosiddetti paesi emergenti: Cina, India, Brasile e paesi del Sud-Est asiatico. Il forte aumento della domanda si scontra contro un’offerta di materie prime agricole giocoforza rigida nel breve termine, cosa che genera forti aumenti di prezzo e della volatilità delle quotazioni (soprattutto a causa del forte ridimensionamento delle scorte). Negli ultimi anni gran parte dell’entusiasmo iniziale nei confronti dei biocarburanti è andato scemando. Per prima cosa l’espansione del settore dei combustibili “verdi” ha aumentato la domanda per molte materie prime agricole che, in un contesto contraddistinto da un forte aumento della domanda mondiale, ha generato un sensibile aumento dei prezzi alimentari, con ripercussioni particolarmente negative per le fasce più povere della popolazione, soprattutto nei paesi meno sviluppati. Anche l’effettiva efficacia dei biocarburanti nel ridurre le emissioni di gas serra è stata fortemente messa in dubbio. Le metodologie utilizzare per il conteggio delle emissioni non sono sempre accurate o di facile attuazione. L’intensivizzazione dei processi agricoli e i cambiamenti d’uso dei suoli, entrambi conseguenza dell’aumento della produzione agricola, sono due fattori che molto probabilmente hanno causato un aumento delle emissioni di gas serra invece che una diminuzione. Inoltre, le politiche a favore del settore delle energie rinnovabili sono state progettate e messe in pratica in maniera spesso unilaterale da parte dei vari paesi, senza quella coordinazione a livello internazionale che sarebbe stata essenziale a evitare le conseguenze negative sui mercati agricoli e sull’ambiente. La mia ricerca di dottorato analizza tutti gli aspetti del settore dei biocarburanti a livello mondiale con particolare attenzione a quelli della sostenibilità: economica, ambientale e sociale. La ricerca inizia con una descrizione delle varie tipologie di biocarburanti attualmente prodotti a livello mondiale e prosegue con una rassegna delle politiche a favore dei biocarburanti nei principali paesi. In séguito vengono analizzate le produzioni, i prezzi e il commercio internazionale di biocarburanti e delle materie prime dalle quali sono ottenuti. I principali paesi produttori di biocarburanti sono gli Stati Uniti, il Brasile e l’Unione Europea. Nei primi due viene prodotto principalmente etanolo (a partire dal mais negli Stati Uniti e dalla canna da zucchero in Brasile), mentre nell’Unione Europea è il biodiesel il biocarburante di riferimento (prodotto a partire da oli vegetali). Nel 2011, il 51,8% della produzione brasiliana di canna da zucchero e il 42,2% di quella statunitense di mais sono state usate per produrre etanolo. Le superfici necessarie, nei due paesi, per la coltivazione della materia prima per la produzione del biocarburante sono state pari a 4,2 e 15,5 milioni di ettari, che rappresentano l’1,5 e il 16% della superficie agricola totale dei due paesi. Nel 2021, ceteris paribus, la produzione di etanolo assorbirà circa il 61% della produzione brasiliana di canna da zucchero e il 57% di quella statunitense di mais. Sempre nel 2021, in Brasile, le superfici necessarie per coltivare canna da zucchero destinata la settore dell’etanolo raggiungeranno gli 8 milioni di ettari, pari a tutta l’area attualmente coltivata a canna da zucchero nel paese sudamericano. Negli Stati Uniti le superfici necessarie a coltivare il granturco per la produzione di etanolo cresceranno fino a sfiorare i 20 milioni di ettari, un’estensione pari al 53% dell’area attualmente investita a mais e al 20% della superficie agricola totale del 2011. Da questi dati è possibile osservare la forte differenza, in termini di impatto sulle produzioni agricole, tra la produzione di etanolo brasiliana (imperniata sulla canna da zucchero) e quella statunitense (basata sul mais). La produzione brasiliana e statunitense di etanolo, nel 2011, è stata rispettivamente di 22,9 e 52,8 milioni di metri cubi, implicando una “resa” in etanolo di 5,5 e 3,4 metri cubi a ettaro. Ciò significa che la produzione di etanolo a partire dalla canna da zucchero è più efficiente in termini di superfici necessarie alla coltivazione della materia prima. Tenendo in considerazione anche il biodiesel, in rapida espansione in entrambi i paesi (dove viene ottenuto a partire dall’olio di soia), l’incidenza percentuale delle superfici utilizzate per coltivare la materia prima per la produzione di biocarburanti (etanolo e biodiesel) cresce fino a raggiungere il 3% del totale della superficie agricola in Brasile e il 18,4% negli Stati Uniti. Tali percentuali sono destinate a raggiungere il 6,3 e il 23% entro il 2021. Nel 2011 l’Unione Europea ha impiegato 5,4 milioni di tonnellate di olio di colza (prodotto all’interno dell’Unione) e almeno 3,9 milioni di olio di palma (importato da Indonesia e Malesia) per produrre biodiesel. Le superfice necessaria, all’interno dell’UE, per la coltivazione della colza usata nel settore dei biocarburanti è stata di 5,2 milioni di ettari nel 2011, mentre quella impiegata per la produzione di olio di palma nei paesi terzi di almeno 1,3 milioni di ettari. Sempre nel 2011, il 5,2% della superficie agricola totale dell’Unione è stato utilizzato per la coltivazione di colza da destinare alla produzione di biocarburanti. Assumendo che la percentuale di olio di colza impiegata nel settore alimentare nell’Unione Europea rimarrà la stessa anche negli anni a venire, è possibile prevedere che, nel 2021, l’UE avrà bisogno di 6,6 milioni di tonnellate di olio di colza e di almeno 10 milioni di tonnellate di olio di palma (importato da paesi terzi) per raggiungere i suoi obiettivi di consumo in materia di biodiesel. Ciò implica che almeno 3,4 milioni di ettari di terreni, presumibilmente in Indonesia e Malesia, saranno necessari per produrre tutto l’olio di palma di cui il settore del biodiesel comunitario avrà bisogno. Il fulcro di questa tesi è l’analisi della sostenibilità della produzione di biocarburanti e le sue conseguenze sulla produzione di materie prime agricole. La sostenibilità dei biocarburanti viene esaminata attraverso una revisione della letteratura esistente sull’argomento, con particolare enfasi sugli effetti della forte espansione del settore dei carburanti “verdi” sull’ambiente, sulle emissioni di gas serra, i cambiamenti d’uso del suolo, la disponibilità idrica e le implicazioni per i paesi in via di sviluppo. In termini di sostenibilità, uno degli aspetti più importanti riguarda gli effetti del forte aumento della produzione di biofuel sulla produzione e sui prezzi delle materie prime agricole. Questa tesi, nella sua parte empirica, utilizza tecniche econometriche per misurare il livello di integrazione tra i mercati energetici e quelli agricoli nei principali paesi produttori. Viene inoltre anche stimata l’elasticità di trasmissione dei prezzi tra il mercato mondiale e quello comunitario nel caso delle principali materie prime agricole, prima e dopo l’ultima riforma della Politica agricola comune (Riforma Fischler). Negli Stati Uniti e in Brasile i prezzi agricoli e quelli dell’energia (petrolio ed etanolo) condividono il medesimo trend di lungo periodo, con l’influenza del prezzo del petrolio che è andata crescendo negli ultimi anni. Ciò implica che i decisori politici dovranno, in futuro, prestare grande attenzione agli effetti che le politiche energetiche hanno sui mercati agricoli e viceversa. In Europa non è stato possibile dimostrare la presenza di una relazione diretta tra prezzi agricoli e prezzo del petrolio, tuttavia è possibile affermare che i mercati agricoli europei subiscano le conseguenze delle politiche a favore dei biocarburanti di altri paesi, in particolare degli Stati Uniti, in maniera indiretta, cioè tramite l’effetto di tali politiche sui prezzi internazionali. Ciò che merge da questo lavoro è che i biocarburanti, nella situazione economica, politica e demografica attuale, sono, per molti aspetti, non sostenibili. Gli effetti collaterali della produzione di biofuel sono numerosi e spesso difficili da quantificare. Le soluzioni proposte dalla letteratura sono spesso utopiche o, seppur corrette dal punto di vista teorico, molto difficili da applicare. L’espansione del settore dei biocarburanti sta avendo effetti negativi sulla produzione e sui prezzi delle materie prime agricole, sulla biodiversità e sul benessere sociale, sia all’interno dei principali paesi produttori che all’esterno di essi. Il “peccato originale” è stato la mancanza di coordinazione iniziale tra le varie politiche, progettate e messe in pratica in maniera unilaterale dai vari paesi; una cosa alla quale, oggi, è molto difficile porre rimedio. I governi dovrebbero, come è stato recentemente raccomandato dalle Nazioni Unite, considerare la possibilità di modificare in maniera sostanziale i propri programmi di sviluppo del settore dei biocarburanti a causa soprattutto delle pesanti conseguenze che hanno sulla sicurezza alimentare nei paesi a basso reddito. Per questa ragione l’utilizzo dei biocarburanti come misura volta a stimolare lo sviluppo nei paesi poveri dovrebbe essere evitata. È altamente improbabile che i poveri nelle zone rurali traggano alcun beneficio dallo sviluppo del settore dei biocarburanti nei loro paesi poiché gran parte della terra è posseduta da grandi compagnie multinazionali o, in alcuni casi, da paesi terzi (land grabbing). Lo sviluppo del settore dei biocarburanti nei paesi in via di sviluppo contribuirebbe, dall’interno, a mantenere elevati i prezzi dei generi alimentari anche dove finora tale effetto, a causa del basso livello di trasmissione dei prezzi agricoli mondiali, è stato marginale. L’aumento dell’inflazione alimentare causato dalla produzione di biocarburanti avrebbe effetti negativi sia sui poveri delle aree urbane che sue quelli delle aree rurali poiché in molti casi i piccoli coltivatori, nei paesi in via di sviluppo, sono compratori netti di generi alimentari. Molti studi, anche da parte di organizzazioni governative internazionali, mettono in risalto il fatto che la produzione di biocarburanti possa diventare sostenibile solo attraverso lo sviluppo delle cosiddette tecnologie di seconda o terza generazione (cioè quelle che permettono l’uso di materia prima non-food per la produzione di biocarburanti) e l’uso di terreni degradati e marginali per la coltivazione delle materie prime. Tuttavia, tutto ciò è di difficile realizzazione. Attualmente i biocarburanti di seconda o terza generazione sono ancora in fase di sviluppo e la loro produzione non crescerà in maniera sostanziale se non tramite forti investimenti da parte dei vari governi e, in determinate circostanze, di investitori privati. Va ricordato che non sono i governi quelli che decidono se la coltivazione di materia prima per la produzione di biocarburanti in aree degradate o marginali sia economicamente conveniente: sono infatti i coltivatori quelli che prendono le decisioni ed essi non lo faranno se non vi troveranno alcun beneficio economico. L’attuale livello, molto elevato, dei prezzi agricoli pone seri dubbi sul fatto che i coltivatori siano disposti a passare dalla produzione di materie prime food a quelle non-food in assenza di forti incentivi pubblici in tal senso. Tuttavia, un aumento del livello di supporto all’agricoltura, anche solo nel caso delle colture energetiche, difficilmente avverrà nel breve termine, a causa soprattutto della crisi economica, che ha ristretto i budget di spesa di molti paesi, e le pressioni, in sede WTO, per una riduzione del livello di protezione dei mercati. Nel caso in cui si decida di mantenere gli aiuti di stato al settore dei biocarburanti, sarà necessario progettare e sviluppare nuove politiche, questa volta a livello sovranazionale, cosa che implicherebbe un elevato livello di coordinazione e di flessibilità tra i vari paesi, oltre che difficile da raggiungere nel breve o medio termine. Un caso emblematico, in tal senso, è rappresentato dalle metodologie di conteggio delle emissioni di gas serra che sono attualmente basate sull’analisi del ciclo di vita e che sono molto spesso incomplete (limitate, ad esempio, a determinati paesi o regioni) o ancora non in grado di considerare il ruolo di tutti i fattori (es. cambiamenti indiretti d’uso del suolo). La ricerca, negli anni a venire, dovrà focalizzarsi su due argomenti principali. Da una parte, le tecniche di produzione dei biocarburanti di seconda e terza generazione dovranno essere raffinate, rese economicamente convenienti e sostenibili dal punto di vista sociale e ambientale. Possibilmente ciò dovrà avvenire di pari passo con la progressiva riduzione del livello di supporto ai biocarburanti di prima generazione. Dall’altra parte, sarà necessario definire meglio le metodologie di quantificazione dell’impatto dei biocarburanti in termini ambientali, economici e sociali, in modo da determinare con certezza la loro sostenibilità e da consentire lo sviluppo di politiche più appropriate. In particolare, la messa a punto di metodologie affidabili per la valutazione dell’impatto dei vari biocarburanti è molto importante poiché, in futuro, le sovvenzioni potrebbero essere calcolate in maniera tale da premiare la produzione di quei biocarburanti in grado di fornire esternalità positive per l’ambiente e il benessere sociale.

Considerando-se este importante momento de transição em que as tradicionais matrizes energéticas são paulatinamente substituídas por um conjunto de fontes renováveis, das quais os biocombustíves sobressaem-se pela capacidade de contribuir para o meio ambiente, trazendo igualmente benefícios econômicos e sociais a seus produtores; o presente trabalho visa contribuir para o panorama energético global que se começa a se delinear. Diante da impotência do Estado em lidar hodiernamente com determinadas questões, testemunha-se a participação de atores privados (organizações não governamentais, empresas transnacionais e sociedade civil, entre outros) atuando como vetores na transmissão de compromissos internacionais junto a estruturas nacionais para a solução de problemas comuns da humanidade. A essa nova arquitetura jurídica e política convencionou-se designar de governança global. Diante da inexistência de uma governança energética global que opere no interesse de países importadores, exportadores e investidores do setor de energia, agindo também como promotora de desenvolvimento social e econômico junto a países em desenvolvimento; e, por fim, em face da ausência de uma regulação internacional exclusiva na área energética, o presente estudo se dedica a investigar as possibilidades de disciplinamento do comércio internacional dos biocombustíveis. Admitindo-se o relevante desempenho que o Brasil detém na produção e exportação deste produto, inclusive na área tecnológica, a presente tese busca identificar o foro adequado, condições justas de produção, investimento, concessão de subsídios, adoção de medidas técnicas, de compra e venda, concorrência entre outros itens que o tema relaciona.
When considering this important transitional moment in which the traditional energy matrices are gradually replaced by a mix of renewable sources, among which biofuels stand out: for its ability of contributing to the preservation of the environment and of generating economic benefits to its producers; this work aims to contribute with the energy landscape that is starting to take shape. Due to the current State incapacity in dealing with a specific set of questions, one witnesses the contribution of non-governmental actors (such as non governmental organizations, transnational companies and civil society, among others) side by side with national structures in order to solve widespread human problems. Regarding the lack of global energy governance that may operate in the interest of importers, exporters and investors in the energy sector, who should act as a promoter of social and economic development vis a vis developing countries; and, finally, considering the absence of a multilateral energy agreement, the present work aims to investigate the possibilities of possible regulation of international biofuels trade. Hence, admitting the excellent performance that Brazil withholds in the production and exportation of this product, also in the technological area, the present thesis seeks the adequate forum as well as to preview fair conditions for production, investment, subsidies concession, adoptions of technical standards in distribution, trade and competition amongst other law related issues.

Advanced technology plays a more and more important role in economic growth. With increasing international transactions, technology spillover between countries is becoming more important for especially developing countries. The main objective of this essay is to investigate the relationship between labor productivity and technological spillovers measured by Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), import and Research and Development expenditure (R&D). We use data covering 41 developing countries for the time period 2005 to 2008 to assess the extent to which technological spillovers from US influence labor productivity in the selected developing countries. Our results show that the relationship between technological spillovers and labor productivity in developing countries are highly sensitive to model specification and estimation techniques. Simple pooled data estimations revels a clear relation between technological spillover an labor productivity while more complex models such as  dynamic panel data models fails in this task.

This thesis basic aim is to have a better understanding of how labour markets work and to explore different transmission mechanisms that might be responsible for making these markets different from their counterparts in the developed world. I analyzed problems created by large public sector employment by using two different frameworks and I made an empirical study about the social factors related to gender issues. In the second chapter, the government's excess employment in the economy is placed under the efficiency wage framework. It is aimed to find out how the wage and effort differentials between public and private sectors actually affect the labour market or more specifically equilibrium levels of employment, wages and productivity. The chapter investigates how the total welfare responds to changes in these differentials in terms of two different models. The results show that an effort of raising employment by the government eventually leads to a reduction in the total welfare by curbing private employment. This chapter contributes to the existing literature by providing a different approach by defining an explicit outside option, namely the government sector, to the efficiency wage theory. Another aspect analyzed is the relation between public sector employment and output growth. In chapter three, I try to establish a link between the government employment and economic growth rate underlying several mechanisms; distortionary taxes, productive government expenditure and productivity link resulting from the interaction of government and private labour markets inspiring from the efficiency wage theory. I endogenize the growth rate by introducing a public sector capital term in government expenditures. The production function in the growth model is constructed such that productivity of private worker decreases when size of public employment increases. I concluded that the abundant government employment force private sector either to pay higher wages or to have lower productivity of labour as outside option for the workers are now plenty. While higher wage leads more unemployment, productivity decline causes output to reduce. Developing countries social dynamics have unforeseen consequences on the labour markets. Thus, in order to understand the social and traditional values explaining the employment decisions taken by the labour force in the developing countries, in the fourth chapter of this thesis an empirical study is carried out to investigate the existence of and the potential behavioral change in son preference in Turkey, by using different statistical techniques. The main contribution of this part is that, it provides a broad analysis of son preference behavior in Turkey by using the latest econometric techniques. In particular, it investigates whether the process of urbanization and modernization in Turkey had an effect on son preference behavior over time. The results imply that there is clear and strong son preference in Turkey and the difference between progression ratios of families with and without sons is larger in 1993 compared to 1998. It is also found that the regional effects are more dominant on childbearing decision and urbanization had a diminishing effect on son preference behavior in Turkey.

Chapter one presents a critical and detailed review of the stochastic frontier methodology from a macro-data perspective.  The advantages over the standard growth accounting approach are emphasised, and the main features of the translog production function, used throughout the thesis, are discussed. Chapter two uses the stochastic frontier approach to estimate different specifications of the production function, technological catch-up (efficiency improvements) and technological change (shifts in the production frontier) for 57 developing countries over the period 1960-1990.  It is well known that alternative specifications of the production function lead to ambiguous empirical evidence for competing theories of economic growth (Durlauf and Quah 1999).  Therefore, tests are performed to find the specification in line with the data under analysis.  Then the important issue of the role of human capital in the process of economic growth is also investigated, since it is not yet unambiguously determined (Islam 1995, p.1154).  Chapter three analyses the results based on Model 4* (Chapter 2) in more detail to provide a consistent decomposition of output growth.  The evolution of the entire distribution of the growth and productivity sources is analysed and a formal test for assessing the importance of growth factors is performed. With respect to regression analysis, this approach is likely to be more informative (Quah, 1996a,b, 1997).  The base of both the test and the visual analysis is the non-parametric kernel density estimator. The findings in the previous chapters motivate Chapter 4 of the thesis, which further explores the relative importance of FDI, imports of capital goods and human capital accumulation in the development process.

In the coming decades, developing countries will be responsible for significant increases in liquid fuel demand. There is an urgent need to develop alternative, preferably carbon-neutral, transportation fuels to supplement limited fossil fuel resources and minimize undesirable climatic change. While biofuels present a promising alternative to fossil fuels, sustainable biorefinery process design remains challenging. Efficiencies of scale realized by large centralized facilities are offset by increased feedstock collection and fuel distribution logistical costs. In this work, we use a thermodynamic balance approach to derive the optimal serviced territory size for a single biorefinery. We find that the optimal size decreases with increasing population density and per capita fuel consumption. We propose a modular, scalable, and sustainable biorefinery design based on the marine macro algae Ulva sp. To demonstrate the design principal, we provide an example marine biorefinery design for a coastal town of 20,000 inhabitants in rural India. Beyond basic biorefinery design, we consider biorefinery integration into distributed power sources and environmental impacts.

Bio-fuel is world's best substitutes to petroleum fuels, particularly in developing countries, especially in present situation, in which fossil fuels are rapidly decreasing. By emitting greenhouse gases when fossil-based fuels are burned, they pose a serious danger to the environment and human health. Bio-fuel production on a large scale requires longer time and activity due to many constraints in currently available technology and supplementary increased costs. Furthermore, depending on the techniques and materials used, the procedures used to convert diverse feed stocks to the intended output are varied. Nanoparticles (NPs) are one of the most versatile materials in terms of time management, energy efficiency, and selectivity. It is the best way to address the issues of biomass usage. Lots of technology has implemented based on nanoparticles includes metal oxide and magnetic oxides, are engaged to progress bio-fuel production. NPs are useful biofuel additives because of their stability, higher surface area, reusability and catalytic activity. Furthermore, nanomaterials include carbon nanofibers, nanosheets and carbon nanotubes have been discovered to be a stable catalyst for enzyme immobilisation, resulting in improved bio-fuel production. The current research provides a thorough examination of the utilisation of different nanocomposites for bio-fuel production, as well as the significant hurdles and potential prospects.

Efficient and sustainable methods of clean fuel and energy production are needed in all countries of the world in the face of depleting oil reserves and the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Some countries are developing technologies that could be named zero carbon technologies. The presented article will show how hydrogen technologies could be implemented with renewable technologies and nuclear technology. Nuclear technology produce very cheap electricity and could produce also cheap energy like heat and vapour. This technology should be used in nuclear power plants to develop other products like hydrogen, biofuels or district heating. One of the biggest opportunities for nuclear energy technology is to produce hydrogen. Some countries like Canada and US are in preparation to build hydrogen villages. However, a key missing element is a large-scale method of hydrogen production [1–5]. As a carbon-based technology, the predominant existing process (steam-methane reforming (SMR)) is unsuitable. This paper focuses on a production of hydrogen in connection with a nuclear power plant. We will show the technologies which allow the coupling between a nuclear power plant and hydrogen technologies.

In this study the pattern and varying intensity of CO and CO2 emission from different kinds of Biofuel used in the rural areas of developing countries have been investigated. A typical rural kitchen of dimension 3.0m × 1.5m × 2.2m is constructed with an improved concrete oven. We have measured the source concentration at the stove and used the value for the numerical model. In the current analysis it is observed that at closed ventilation condition, CO and CO2 concentration exceeds safe limiting value. Even under the natural ventilation, it fails to keep the concentration below the safe threshold. However in forced ventilation system at 5m/s, the concentration level drops significantly. At the breathing point, for a source concentration of 338 PPM and without any ventilation, numerical results predict the CO concentration to be 70 PPM. Natural ventilation case shows no improvement while forced ventilation suppresses the concentration by 70%. On the other hand, for a no ventilation condition, CO2 concentration is found to be as 2050 PPM when the source level concentration is 7100 PPM. Forced ventilation at 5m/s decreases the concentration to 750 PPM, well within the safe limit. High concentration was found to accumulate beneath the roof and on the top of the stove. It is then dispersed to the entire upper region of the kitchen. Deploying a duct in the exact spot shows that forced ventilation captures most of the fume and decreases dispersion along the roof. In no ventilation and natural ventilation cases, high concentration accumulation can be observed in the lower-left and lower-right corners, both in longitudinal and lateral planes which eventually affects the breathing zone concentration. On the other hand, for forced ventilation case, concentration at lower-left and lower-right corner is greatly reduced resulting low concentration at the breathing zone.

Abstract The world greatly relies on the usage of liquid fuels for its energy needs, especially in the transportation sector, which is very high in developing countries. In countries like India, diesel fuel is mainly used for all its transportation requirements (considering its higher efficiency), leading to higher pollution. Many kinds of research works are conducted to find a replacement for diesel fuel. In which biodiesel is considered to be a potential replacement for diesel. However, the challenges like higher viscosity, lower calorific value, higher NOx emission stands as a huge barrier. To overcome this, this study proposes using a low viscous biofuel, which has a higher calorific value close to diesel. To reduce NOx emission, the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) technique is used in this study. A single-cylinder, constant speed, water-cooled stationary engine setup is used for this study. 20% of pine oil is blended with diesel, and 10ml of 1,4, dioxane additive is added. These blends are tested in the engine for different load conditions (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%) with and without 10% EGR. The results showed that pine oil usage negatively affected the performance characters but significantly reduced CO, HC, and Smoke emissions (15.94, 17.04 and 2.47% respectively). The 10ml of 1,4, dioxane further enhanced this reduction (32.61, 28.15 and 4.36% respectively). The 10% EGR usage negatively affected both performance and emission characters, but it reduced NOx emissions significantly (11.53%). This study provides an integrated way to overcome the challenges seen in biodiesel usage with a low viscous biofuel and exhaust gas recirculation technique.