Energy Systems and How Bioenergy Fits into the Main Energy System

Prof. Roberto SchaefferPPE/COPPE, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

1st Workshop ESSP BioenergyBioenergy and Earth Sustainablility

Piracicaba, SP, Brazil, July 19-21, 2008

Key Messages

Bioenergy will only grow in importance if it is introduced through conventional fossil fuels rather than in opposition to them

It is better to think about “Alternative Energy Systems” rather than “Alternative Energy Sources”

Alternative energy sources/bioenergy will never have the importance fossil fuels have today

Energy efficiency, and changes in patterns of energy consumption, are the only final solution

Why Bioenergy?

What are the (different) motivations for the growing interest in (modern) bioenergy these days?

In developing countries: (1) as a means for “modernizing” biomass use while helping to address energy costs

In developed countries: (1) as a means for providing greater access to (mainly) clean liquid fuels while (2) helping to address energy security and (3) global warming concerns associated with petroleum fuels

And for both, to pave the way for new energy systems

World Primary Energy Demand

Global demand grows by more than half over the next quarter of a century, with coal use rising most in absolute terms

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Substitutability of Biofuels with Common Petroleum-derived Fuels

Biodiesel

Methanol

Fischer Tropsch

Dimethyl ether

Mixed alcohols

Biocrude

Ethanol

Diesel

Paraffin

LPG

Kerosene

Gasoline

Biofuel Petroleum Fuel

Crude oilGreen dieselDiesel

Ethanol

First Generation

Second Generation

Green Diesel

Butanol Butanol

And What Is the Brazilian Experience with Bioenergy?

Ethanol use in Brazil as an automotive fuel started in the 1930s, but it was extensively promoted after the two major oils shocks of the 1970s with its Proalcool program:First phase (1975-79): as a gasoline additiveSecond phase (1979-85): as a gasoline substituteDeterioration phase (1985-2002)Current phase (2003 onwards): Flex-fuel vehicles

Plus firewood in the household sector, charcoal in the iron and steel industry, and sugarcane bagasse for power generation today

Brazilian Domestic Energy Supply

Energy Demand by Source in Brazil

Brazil vs. World

Challenges Faced by Bioenergy to Really Become Important in Relative Terms

Cost (depending upon how environmental externalities are valued)

Limited potential, particularly in the case of first-generation biofuels (if ethanol is to replace 20% of world gasoline by 2010, world supply would need to be multiplied by 8, or Brazilian ethanol production by 23)

Growth in fuel demand as a whole Existing infrastructure for conventional sources Vulnerabilities to climate change

Alternative Energy Sources or Integrated Alternative Energy Systems?

Non-conventional oil reserves are growing

Oil companies will not loose their importance

Some of the barriers for developing alternative energy sources derive from the “virtues”, and not from the “vices,” of oil

Alternative energy sources can be introduced through oil rather than in opposition to it

Alternative energy systems can produce energy carriers for multi-fuel and multi-product strategies, integrating oil with bioenergy

Energyplexes, or the “refinery of the future,” could be the ‘locus’ for this transition, with the production of synthetic fuels

Synthetic fuels can be produced from the gasification of fossil fuels and biomass, with a possible sequestration of carbon

Alternative Energy Sources or Integrated Alternative Energy Systems?

Alternative energy sources would no longer be sources of energy that compete with oil over the short term, but would rather constitute feestocks for integrated alternative systems, complementing first, and replacing in the logn term, oil

In this process, oil could be seen as a modern Lance of Peleus, a contemporary sword that both cuts and heals

How to Integrate Bioenergy into Energy Systems?

Electricity Bioenergy for power generation and energy

efficiency have to go hand-by-hand

Biofuels Greater integration with the oil industry is

needed (alternative energy sources or alternative energy systems?) and energy efficiency can also play a much greater role

Final Considerations

The Brazilian experience with bioenergy can teach interesting lessons to the world

But probably, with the exception of Brazil, bioenergy will never have the importance fossil fuels have today

A more efficient use of energy and, more importantly, changes in patterns of consumption are the only final solution for the various energy and environmental problems facing mankind