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 GREEN ENERGY
PALM OIL
BIODIESEL
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Opportunity
Experts worldwide expect the demand for edible vegetable oil in general, and biodiesel in particular, to continue growing. As the demand is anticipated to greatly exceed the supply in the foreseeable future, prices are expected to rise.
The factors stimulating the growing demand for biofuels include:
Combating global warming
The fact that greenhouse gas emissions are a principal cause of global warming in no longer being disputed, and the need to reduce these emissions has become both widely recognized and increasingly urgent.
International treaties have been signed, and federal and state legislation has been enacted with the purpose of achieving this goal. Some countries and states also offer incentives to encourage such actions.
Current legal requirements include, among others:
- The Kyoto Protocol to the International Framework Convention on Climate Change, which aims to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases to levels specified for each county in the treaty. Countries maintaining or increasing their emissions of these gases are required to engage in emissions trading. This obligation is also important in view of the limited availability of low carbon substitutes for transport fuels; for example, road transport segment GHG emissions represent nearly 20% of the EU total.
- The EU's Biofuels Directive specifies the reference values for the percentage of biofuels that should substitute transport fuels in the EU; the indicative target set is 5.75% for 2010. New EU regulations also require that 10% of the European energy market needs will be satisfied by green energy sources by the year 2015.
- In the USA, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 calls for a substantial increase in the production of renewable fuels for use in the country's fuel supply. It requires the production of 36 billion gallons (more than 136 billion liters) of such fuels by the year 2022 – nearly a fivefold increase from current production levels.
- Additionally, public pressure to reduce harmful emissions is continuously increasing, and companies taking action to develop energy sources that are reusable, biodegradable and environmentally safe are looked upon favorably.
Security of supply
The fact that the number of countries in a position to supply mineral fuel is small, and that some of these resort to price hikes or political pressure to advance their interests, is perceived as a threat by many developed and developing countries. Consequently, there is a real need to reduce dependence on oil imports and to secure the supply of energy from alternative sources.
Support for the agricultural sector
The fact that biofuels are produced from agricultural products provides countries with the opportunity of reinforcing their agricultural sectors, creating new jobs and strengthening the national economy as a whole. Countries also benefit by gaining greater control over their energy sources due to the fact that raw material serving as feedstock for biofuels production originates within their boundaries, and the production itself is carried out on their territory.
The opportunity of carrying out this green energy project in Ivory Coast specifically is based on the following:
Oil palms are indigenous to Ivory Coast, where they flourish and provide abundant fruit.
Both the political climate and the economic conditions in Ivory Coast are favorable: the currency is stable, the inflation rate is relatively low, labor costs are low, the banking sector is organized and reliable, development is taking place at an accelerated pace and the government encourages oil palm farming and palm oil production in the interest of increasing exports and benefiting from the resultant influx of foreign currency.
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