Tropical belt has advantage<\/p>\n
I refer to your article Economy still not efficient (The
\nJakarta Post, Sept. 21, 1995). Indonesia has a comparative
\ncompetitive advantage: It is nicely spread across the tropical
\nbelt. In the tropical belt -- from parallel 33 North to parallel
\n33 South -- live 73 percent of the planet's population. In this
\nbelt, food production barely accounts for 25 percent of the
\nworld's total. In grains just 260 kilograms per capita. With the
\nhelp of modern chemistry, the tropical belt could be producing 58
\npercent of the world's food or 80 percent of the renewable energy
\nof bio-mass.<\/p>\n
The tropical belt has the economic advantage of having plenty
\nof renewable energy embodied in products through the industry of
\nphotosynthesis. Some 3,000,000 vehicles in Brazil do not burn
\nfossil fuels, but run 100 percent on sugar cane ethanol. The
\nremaining cars run on unleaded gasoline. When mixed with 20
\npercent ethanol, gasoline does not require the poisonous anti-
\nknocking lead agent.<\/p>\n
A pulp mill producing 500,000 tons a year requires 500,000
\nhectares in Scandinavia, and 1.6 million in British Columbia. A
\nsimilar mill requires only 80,000 hectares in Brazil. This is
\nbecause the trees most suitable for paper -- Pinus and Eucalyptus
\n-- grow so much faster in the belt than elsewhere. The cost of
\nreplanting trees has been put at US$200 an acre in the tropics
\nand $400 an acre in temperate regions. Twenty-five tons per
\nhectare is considered good biomass production for Eucalyptus. Our
\nrecord is 156 tons a hectare. Since we have no coal we burn
\nEucalyptus as wood charcoal.<\/p>\n
After pressing the sugar cane, the refuse matter is burned to
\ngenerate electricity. Ethanol distillation is dirty business. The
\ndistilleries filter the mineral-rich effluents and spread them in
\nthe sugar cane fields as fertilizer.<\/p>\n
The biomass industry does not touch the CO2 stored in fully
\ngrown natural forests. It just turns some of it around. The CO2
\nliberated is offset by the CO2 absorbed by the growing sugar cane
\nand eucalyptus. CO2 out by combustion, oxygen out by Eucalyptus
\nand sugar cane growing.<\/p>\n
There is much more about agbiotech (agriculture
\nbiotechnology). By the time the whole business come of age, the
\nadvantage will be to countries located in the tropical belt. Time
\nfor Dr. B.J. Habibie to have a word with the boys and girls at
\nuniversity.<\/p>\n
OSVALDO COELHO<\/p>\n
Bandung, West Java<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tropical-belt-has-advantage-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }