Coconut oil not the answer

[Hugh Harries]

ABC Radio Australia

Radio Australia - Pacific Beat - PAC: Warning coconut oil not the answer to fuel problems

[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/ra/pacbeat/stories/s2156094.htm]

PAC: Warning coconut oil not the answer to fuel problems - 06/02/2008

As a new coconut oil plant In Samoa prepares to start production, pacific countries have been warned that coconut oil is not the answer to all their fuel problems. The newly formed Pacific Oil company plans to start operating in April and as Barbara Heggen reports more and more countries in the region are considering coconut oil as a fuel alternative.

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Presenter - Barbara Heggen  Speaker - Samau Etuale Sefo, General Manager of Pacific Oil Company; Gerhardt Zieroth, Manager of the Pacific Islands Energy Policy and Strategic Planning

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HEGGEN - Pacific Island nations rely almost exclusively on oil-based fuel for their energy needs so their economies are especially vulnerable to the increasing cost of oil. It's no surprise then that alternatives are being explored and the front runner is coconut oil. Due to the economic bargaining power of developed nations, pacific countries don't get the best prices for the product on the global market which is another good reason to use the product locally. Gerhard Zieroth is the Manager of the Pacific Forum's Energy Policy and Strategic Action Planning. He's been studying the feasibility of coconut oil as a fuel alternative to generate electricity.

ZIEROTH - If you have your oil here at the wharf in suva at today's prices it might be better to sell it and buy diesel oil proper instead of using coconut oil as a a fuel, however as i said for remote islands it is an interesting option because of transport costs both ways, transport of fuel into the islands and transport of coconut oil out of the islands......so if you substitute for your fuel with a local product you actually save twice.

HEGGEN: There are various small scale examples throughout the Pacific of coconut oil being used as a fuel. In Samoa the government there has just given approval for a new company to produce coconut oil for bio-diesel . The Pacific Oil Company plans to be operating in April and aims to provide 35 percent of Samoa's bio-diesel needs. Samua Etuale Sefo is the General Manager.

SEFO: A lot of countries are going to look at what samoa is doing .....there is great potential for this technology that we are now using to produce bio-diesel because the fuel it produces can be used a hundred percent and it does not need to be blended with diesel so it means that any country that has that can produce copra can also produce this bio-diesel and especially if we can produce it at a price that is competitive with the current price of diesel.

HEGGEN: Yet another reason to move towards coconut based bio-diesel is climate change. Pacific countries are critically aware of the issues around global warming and through the Regional Environment Program are working towards reducing fossil fuel emissions by 33%. However like any other region involved in the bio-diesel industry land use conflicts will become critical. Before even starting production, Samoa's Pacific Oil Company faces a shortage of Copra.

SEFO: The problem with the local industry is that it's seen a decline over several years and we have a lot of old trees that are not producing prime nuts so what we're going to do is work with the ministry of agriculture to revive the industry and for the farmers to start on replanting and replacing old trees.

HEGGEN: Etuale Sefo and Gerhardt Zeiroth both agree that coconut oil shouldn't be seen as a fix all solution. Mr Zeiroth says that there's plenty of good reasons for the industry to expand but that is should proceed with caution.

ZIEROTH: Land, land ownership, land use who controls the land is one of the hottest topics in the pacific which is at the core of many many problems we see in this region and the world so if you do something of strategic importance and that involves land then you've got to be really really cautious and you should proceed with utmost caution.

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Source: Radio Australia - Pacific Beat - PAC: Warning coconut oil not the answer to fuel problems

[Vinay Chand]

The account of the discussion on ABC Radio Australia on the possible use of coconut oil as bio-fuel is bound to attract attention at the moment. There is a substantial economic advantage at current prices to use coconut oil as fuel. However, the price of petroleum oil at present is acknowledged to owe much to speculation as well as physical reality and it is by no means inevitable, no matter how much it looks like it, that petroleum will remain at these exceptional levels, especially when all the measures being taken to develop alternatives begin to bite.

 

Moreover, if Samoa had gone into milk rather than oil, the difference in revenues between use as a food item and as a fuel would not be there. In other words coco diesel looks viable at current prices when compared to edible oil but not when compared to milk. The investment of an oil mill in Samoa may not prove to be a wise long term move, there is risk attached in making the judgement.

 

On remote islands, use of coco-diesel is far more arguable and may well be the optimal use. The whole matter needs to be looked at. The idea of burning food appals most of us but we cannot resist a very strong commercial case, if the case is strong. But I think it premature to take the argument as having been resolved.

  

Best wishes,
 
Vinay Chand
230, Finchley Road,
London NW3 6DJ, UK
Tel: 44-20-7794 5977
Fax: 44-20-7431 5715
vinay...@msn.com