Saving Gaia -- Saving Our Air

Lets take a ride to to Japan.

Hmm...most intial D watcher, will know takashi father's make tofu and sell tofu, also known as beadcurd. This entry got to do with both tofu and cars, but it does not concern takashi, neither initial D.

in the process of making tofu there is this by product known as "okara":

image source: okara - http://www.justhungry.com/images/okara.jpg

lets talk more about this by product:
The by-product of turning soy beans into soy milk or tofu is the ground up fibrous part of the bean. It is also known as u no hana (卯の花) in Japanese. Okara is a nutritional powerhouse, containing soluble and non-soluble fiber, protein, calcium and other minerals. It's even more nutritious (because of the high fiber content) than soy milk or tofu. But most tofu maker throw the okara away or give it away as feed to farms - most commonly to pig farms in Japan.

What so great? This by product can be used to make biofuel. By combining it with potato, it create bio-ethanol. With the amount of bio ethanol, adopting the E3 where 3% of the bio- ethanol is mixed with petrol, it is sufficient to make 600 000 cars on the go. They are trying to target to move it up to E10 by 2010.It is still on the go for testing. Many drivers are afraid to sue this bio fuel, as they are afraid of wear and tear. Currently now in Japan, there are 50 of this petrol stations, they are aiming to open 100 of it.

Lets talk about fuel used in the world:

Biofuel:
~the 1st generation - 14.4% corn, 12.3% sugarcane, 1.3% grain.
~2nd generation - non edible food, which can be used to feed the cars. but only less than 5% is used.
~It comes from palm oil. 85% (will touch on this below)
~And A great fruit known as Jatopha. (will touch on this below)

1 problem with 1st generation biofuel is,it has indirectly cause a doubling of prize in rice, corn and maize, which are used to produce biofuel.

Let me bring you to India.
Head to india railway.
Which require 1 billion units for the chimneys, 70 000 litres of diesel. It is the 6th largest country consumption for fuel. And they will run out of their fuel soon. So they have to seek alternative. Jatropha, a great fruit, which can grow on wasteland, it is not edible, but The plant yields more than four times as much fuel per hectare as soybean, and more than ten times that of maize (corn). A hectare of jatropha produces 1,892 litres of fuel. In addition, it is self lubricating, there is no sulfur, and it is a ideal energy security for India. For the past months, they have been using it, by mixing it with diesel, in composition of 10% diesel, 90% biofuel. Which has lead to a reduction of 60% - 70% reduction in diesel usage.

But still, such a good source of oil, jatropha is not greatly accepted, in thailand they find growing it is very risky, expensive, and they see no market for these seed as it is inedible. But these seed, are the ideal far sighted option, and potentially reduce the greenhouse gases, they great thing is, one no need to clear land for these plants, they practically live everywhere.

It looks like this:

jatropha - http://yzarctonmi.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/img_jatropha.jpg

Let me bring you back to japan.

Now lets talk about cars - automobile. As seen above, we feed our cars with stuff that we are unable to consume. But there are great cars that can be charged like how you charged your handphone. It is Toyota Prius, it is a hybrid car that runs on 1.5 gasoline and it is a plugin car. It can run for long, and only emit our 13% Carbon gas. Toyaota are readjusting the prices to make this car affordable. It has carbon balance system to ensure that the carbon emission is not high. And of course, the government is the supervisor of the whole project.

Lastly ou last destination is Jambi, at Indonesia.

This is not about how good going green is. This is talking about the sacrifices that people have been making just for biofuel, in the hands of the cruel government. PLantations that used to grow, durians, fruits are now being taken over by the government forcefully, just to grow oil palm. There was no compensation given to these farmers, as they were unable to prove the certification of ownership of the land, even though their grandparents tombstone are there. These farmers are forced to work in the oil palm plantation as they had a family to feed. Does bio fuel being a great reason for people to be inhuman?

Foods prices rise, land and home are taken away, all for the cause of bio fuel. Is bio fuel worth these sacrifices, or is human just too blind by money.

Look out for the next saving gaia, on channel newsaia 8:30pm.=D

2:03 PM sHaRiLyN LiM