Sustainable BioFuels

There's a right way and a wrong way to do biofuels. The right way is win-win for the community in terms of public cost, lowered waste disposal, prosperity for businesses and farmers, reduced pollution, and sustainability.

The wrong way results in forest destruction, net increase in CO2, increased utility costs, overuse of water, strain on landfill, and food shortages. We call the wrong way "Big Bio".

Big Bio Means Big Trouble

The Imperium and Blue Earth proposals seek to build the largest biofuel refineries in the world on ‘Oahu and Maui. They completely ignore the impossibility of growing fuel for these monster plants here in Hawai‘i.

• Growing enough feedstock for these plants would require more land than is available
• Growing feedstock for these plants would require more water than we have available.
• The massive amount of land required to grow feedstock would displace food growing.
• Importing feedstock oil leaves us at the mercy of foreign oil
• Importing feedstock drives forest destruction.
• There is no such thing as "sustainable" foreign palm oil. Think about it. If we add the biggest demand for an already over-taxed palm oil supply and we get it from an old plantation, that simply displaces other buyers to new slash and burn plantations. It is irrelevant what plantation we get our imported oil from - our demand drives slash and burn any way.
• Our landfills will have to absorb tens of millions of gallons of waste from the refinery process. There is a glut of glycerin on the market, no good way to export the 24,000,000 gallons per year that will be produced.
• Our precious water will be used as wash water in the refinery process. BlueEarth has already applied to drill a well to supply more than 100,000 gallons/day.
• Our HECO ratepayers will be tied to very expensive, imported fuel and see their rates go sky high.
• HECO will have spent money that it could have used to create renewable solar and wind facilities tied to pumped storage which would have reduced the cost to Hawai‘i rate payers.
• We in Hawai‘i will be morally responsible for the destruction of rainforests in Indonesia and South America
• We in Hawai‘i will be at the mercy of the international market for vegetable oils.
• The public will pay twice - Once for the expensive fuel oil (instead of free solar or wind) and again for the $1/per gallon subsidy that these plants get.

BioDiesel The Right Way

Here are the characteristics of Biodiesel done right. As you can see, there is room for local businesses to do well but sustainable biofuel production won't produce the huge profits that Big Bio and Big Oil are looking for.

• Use waste cooking oil. That keeps it out of the landfill and keeps feedstock costs low.
• Use secondary products such as cottonseed oil. Cottonseed is a low priced byproduct of the cotton growing industry.
• Keep the refineries local. Manufacture the biodiesel close to the feedstock source and sell locally.
• Don't use biodiesel for electrical generation - except on start up of peaking diesels to avoid pollution fines.
• Use biodiesel mostly for transportation.
• Use solar, wind and conservation for electrical generation - not biodiesel. It's cheaper for the ratepayers and better for the earth.

What Can You Do?

• Write your State Legislators asking them to discourage Big Bio that uses imported oil.
• Write your County Councils to prohibit refineries which can't show a majority of their feedstock is already available locally - don't be mislead by pie in the sky promises of nonexistent "future" supplies.
• Write HECO, telling them to use their funds for renewable generating facilities not Big Bio.

Don't Be Fooled by Green-Washing

Biodiesel is in danger of being corrupted— where the fuel comes from and how it gets here is more important than simply sticking the word "bio" in front of it and marketing to the masses.  Read more

All of us care about the earth and are even willing to pay extra to do right by the land. But Big Bio is using our concern to take advantage of us. We'll be paying more and harming the environment if we let BlueEarth and Imperium make the ratepayers of Hawai'i into their cash cows. Check any biofuel project against these criteria:

• Is the feedstock supplied locally?
• Is the product used locally?
• Is biofuel used primarily for transportation?
• Does feedstock come from waste oil, bio waste, or from dual use sources such as cottonseed?
• Is the operation scaled to the size of the island?
• Is it certain that the plant is not driving forest destruction?
• Is it certain that growing the feedstock is not displacing food?
• Is it certain that there is not a more sustainable method that would be more appropriate to the purpose of the plant such as solar or wind?

If you can answer yes to all these questions then you'll be assured that the biofuel project is a good one. There are examples of good biofuel projects on Maui already that, instead of creating problems, solve problems. But we cannot blindly accept a project because it has the word "biofuel" in it.