Japan's coming biofuelled green car revolution

If you live in Japan and drive a car, brace yourself. A profound change is about to take place in the way you fuel your vehicle. Get ready for flex-fuel cars powered by gasohol, ethanol, natural gas and bio-diesel. Japan is finally taking concrete action to address the most pressing issues of the new century, global warming and climate change.

The revolution began quietly this year with two low-key events. The first was the opening in Osaka of a new ethanol distillery by TSK/ Marubeni, under license from the American biofuel pioneer Celunol Corp. Ethanol, which is nothing more than pure burnable alcohol fermented from plant sugar, can be mixed into regular gasoline. The exhaust contains reduced carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. While most of the world's ethanol comes from easy- to-distill corn and sugar cane, the new Osaka plant uses wood waste from the construction industry, an almost free source. The plant is expected to produce 1,400 kilolitres a year and the fuel will go to the Ministry of the Environment for the testing of new flex-fuel vehicles. A second stage will hopefully expand production to 4,000 kilolitres by 2008.

The second event took place in early April of 2007 as the first domestic shipments of gasohol rolled out of a Tokyo refinery on their way to 50 service stations in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba prefectures. For the first time, drivers will be able to make a conscious choice at the pumps in Japan. Mixed with seven percent ETBE (a mix of ethanol and isobutylene) the biofuel will sold for the same price as regular gasoline. The Petroleum Association of Japan, a consortium of nine major producers and distributors, plans to double the number of stations in 2008 before going nationwide with 1,000 stations.

This year, Prime Minister Abe anno- unced a plan to use nationally produced biofuel in amounts that will replace 10 percent of the country's annual gasoline consumption, an estimated six million kilolitres. In addition to the wood waste distillery in Osaka, there are other experimental facilities utilizing sugar cane in Okinawa and rice straw and sorghum elsewhere. However, there is one big problem. Japan lacks the great areas of land for the crops needed to produce fuels in the quantities that will make an impact in reducing carbon emissions. Japan will simply have to import the biomass, the organic raw material, or the biofuel, and that requires conventional energy. Policymakers here can only watch as the big decisions on the future course of biomass cultivation and fuel production are being made across the Pacific in the US and Brazil. Here, controversy is not in short supply.

Corn is king but sugar is sweeter

In the United States Ethanol means corn. And in the US Midwest, corn farmers have never had it better as the demand for corn for ethanol production has seen domestic corn prices double, from $2 to $4.37 a bushel. A 2005 law passed by Congress mandates ethanol for fuel production of 29 million kiloliters by 2012 (about five percent of all gasoline consumption). Corn production is already heavily subsidized ($US 8.9 billion in direct aid in 2005) while corn-produced ethanol receives a ¥18-a-liter tax credit. All of this has produced a ‘gusher' of wealth for US farmers, agribusiness, and distillers. At the same time only four million flex-fuel cars are on the road in the States, and of these only one percent are regularly using the most environmentally-friendly fuel, E85.

In the long term, however, corn could be a dead end in the search for renewable and clean energy. Critics say the ‘net energy balance' (the energy yielded in proportion to the energy used in production) for corn is low. The supply of corn for food and animal feed is contracting as ethanol production expands. The ripple effect touches everything from animal feed, corn syrup for sweeteners, and food-stuffs. Since the US exports over half of its corn crop, higher prices are making staple foods elsewhere more expensive. Prices for corn tortillas in Mexico, for example, have jumped in price, provoking angry street demonstrations there. So corn-based ethanol fuel that is good for the environment could possibly be quite bad for whole populations of the world's hungry and poor, if these issues of subsidies, prices and tariffs cannot be worked out.

A far better alternative exists in Brazil. There, during the Arab oil embargo of 1973-4, farsighted bureaucrats embarked on a program of producing ethanol cheaply from Brazil's vast sugar fields, with the aim of reducing that country's dependence on petroleum imports. The program succeeded beyond anyone's imagination.

Today, homegrown ethanol from sugar provides 40 percent of the fuel in Brazil's cars and trucks. All gasoline sold contains 23-25 percent ethanol content, while flexfuel cars on the road can run on 100 percent ethanol. While environmentalists warn that increasing sugar cane acreage endangers Brazilian rainforests, increased production (300,000 barrels or 50,000 kilolitres a day in 2005) means that cheaper sugar ethanol (it costs only ¥30 to produce one liter) is available for world export. America is out as the US Congress maintains a ridiculous ¥14-per-liter tariff on sugar-based ethanol to protect the American sugar and corn ethanol industries. Japan is looking to Brazil to supply it with more ethanol (Mitsui Corp is working on such a deal with Brazilian oil giant Petrobras) and Japanese investment funds are pouring into the sugar cane ethanol distillery infrastructure.

What car would Bono drive?

American, Japanese, and European carmakers are all in Brazil marketing new flex-fuel models with the aim of going worldwide. The boom began in 2003 with Volkswagen's first production flexible fuel car, the Gol 1.6 Total Flex, which was swiftly followed by Chevrolet's Corsa. Honda, Mitsubishi and Toyota have also jumped in and are selling cars and light utility vehicles. A trans-Brazil road trip requires a car that can use different fuels at each fill-up, as Brazil's states sell different concentrations of gasohol and ethanol with different tax rates. And, yes, your mileage may vary too, as high percentages of ethanol do run at 30 percent less efficiency.

So what car should you drive here at home? First of all, don't drive a flex-fuel SUV! The big three American automakers already have models for these road monsters. If you are serious about global climate change, think small. Make sure that the model you drive can use the full range of gasoline/ethanol blends available, all the way up to E85, at the very least. The success of flex fuel vehicles in Japan will depend in large part on the consumers' ability to fill up anywhere, and retro-fitting Japan's gasorin stando may not be completed until the year 2012 at the earliest.

One car that fills the bill will be arriving in Japan in 2008 from Brazil. The Obvio, the creation of the Brazilian entrepreneur Ricardo Machado, is a cute egg-shaped mini car that can run on regular gas, ethanol, natural gas, or any combination of the three. The cars fuel sensors tell the engine to adjust to the fuel in the tank at any time. With a retooled conventional BMW mini 1.6 liter gasoline engine it gets better ethanol performance on the road. It will go from zero to 90kph in six seconds and with an estimated sticker price of ¥1,700,000 the Obvio may be the obvious choice. About 30,000 cars are expected to arrive in Japan next year with more to follow if the model can compete here.

Corn and sugar dominate world ethanol production because the sugars in those crops are easy to isolate and distill and because a cultivation, transportation and distillation chain is already in place. But at the same time, the use of these sources is fraught with significant production and transportation problems, political issues and ecological concerns. Japanese policy makers need to learn from these mistakes and avoid the American politically-motivated model of subsidies and tariffs. Biofuels must be truly green, sustainable, and food-friendly for poorer countries. The future lies in new processes using renewable biomass crops like switch grass, elephant grass, poplar and stalks, and in cheaper, cellulose-based fuel extraction processes, like the one in use in Osaka's experimental distillery.

Here is where you, the driver and fuel consumer, at last can make a conscious choice and do something for your planet when you put the key in the ignition. So buckle up and line up for Japan's new flex-fuelled cars and vans, coming soon to a showroom and gas station near you.

Text: Sven A Serrano • Images: KS