A New Dawn for Coconut Oil

A major dilemma developing countries like ours face is that we do not see ourselves as trail-blazers, as pioneers in any field of endeavor. Maybe it’s a legacy of the hundreds of years we endured as victims of colonial domination. I have long maintained that after religion, colonialism had the greatest impact on its victims, to the extent that even among those who fought against the system, I personally found many who were steeped in its trappings without even knowing they were.
However, many bright scholars we may have produced, the thinkers, the innovators, the inventors, we still see ourselves as followers, not leaders. The energy crisis that the world faces today gives us a unique opportunity to break out of this mould, but given our history, I don’t hold much hope, trinidadexpress.com said.
Fossil fuels-extracted from the earth and derived from the remains of living things-have been with us from the dawn modern society. Coal was king of this early period. But in the latter part of the 19th century, man discovered oil. In our own case, as far back as in 1866, Walter Darwent drilled the first successful oil well at Aripero, and by 1914 Trinidad was already producing one million barrels of crude oil annually.
Many people don’t know that back in 1959, Federation Chemicals was the first company to use natural gas on a commercial scale at its Savonetta ammonia plant. From around 1971, when natural gas was discovered off the North Coast, Dr Eric Williams pursued it with a passion (possibly one of the few occasions on which we were innovative).
From that period to this day, the country’s economy has hinged heavily on oil and gas. Agriculture declined almost as revenues from energy sources climbed, and other sectors of the economy prospered or suffered as the price of crude oil went up and down. With relatively cheap fuel available to power our electricity requirements, it was almost heresy to think of alternative sources of energy like wind, solar and a host of newer ones that have since been explored.
In fact -and people may laugh at this-in the poor Pacific islands of Fiji and Vanuatu, the much-maligned coconut oil is being mixed with kerosene (85/15 split) to be used instead of diesel. It is being actively pursued as a cheaper alternative in these countries that have tons of copra but no oil or gas.
Which brings me to where I left off last week: any fool can spend the money that flows from the oil and gas windfall that has virtually fallen into our laps, thanks mainly to Americans’ insatiable appetite for energy. But it takes a wise man (or government) to plan for many generations to come, to look at the alternatives we can explore so that future generations can survive the decline of fossil fuels.
I cited several experts in the business who see us (well, not me, but those who will be around then!) facing a world without oil. I add to the list Americans Matt Simmons, an investment banker. Simmons pointed to an immutable rule that governs energy: use cannot exceed usable supplies. At the moment the world is pumping three times as much oil as it’s discovering (Houston Chronicle).
Since the 1980s, architect and patriot Colin Laird has been looking at the solar energy option. He was moved to produce a paper on it, citing among numerous examples, Sacramento County in California, where they were committed to an 800MW “Conservation Power Plant“ and 400MW of renewable and advanced energy projects by the year 2000.
Initially, the solar energy program targeted hot water systems (Barbados is in the lead in the Caribbean in this respect), solar buildings, solar cooling and solar thermal and Photovoltaic electric generation. Laird also mentioned in his paper wind turbines. Last March, I happened to drive between Berlin and Poland, and was I shocked at the number of “wind farms“ I saw. I mean this was Germany, one of the most industrialized countries in the world, and there they were, using wind power! Indeed, last year, in Wales, the British Energy Minister formally opened a plant designed to produce 11,000 solar units annually-hear this-for Germany!
In Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer, solar energy is used to power several water desalination plants, and more and more the country is harnessing its inexhaustible solar potential. Now, can anyone tell me why our poor-ass Caribbean neighbors, rather than depend solely on subsidized Venezuelan oil, cannot tap into wind and solar power?
Indeed, I think that President Chavez would be doing them a favor by helping them with the capital required to undertake such projects. They are costly to establish, but once on stream, they require little maintenance or additional costs. They boast of “sun and sea“, but they are not using the real power of both these natural endowments.
Raffique Shah

The Ministry of Energy and Industry of Turkmenistan has developed a plan for the development of the country’s fuel and energy sector through 2020.
Priority tasks of the plan include the construction of 500-kV electricity transmission lines connecting the main cities of Turkmen provinces with the capital, Ashgabat, and exporting Turkmen electric energy to Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Pakistan.
The development plan provides for increasing the generating capacities at the operating power plants in Mary and Seiidi (east of the country) and in Turkmenbashi, Balkanabad and Abadan (in the west).
It is also planned to build new electric power plants in Ashgabat, Dashoguz and Atamurad with gas turbine units from General Electric, according to yahoo.com.
A project to reconstruct eight turbines has started at the Mary power plant.
A company from St. Petersburg, Russia has begun modernizing Thermal Turbine 2 with US$13 million allocated by the Turkmen government. The Russian company will later reconstruct all of the turbines that were assembled at the Leningrad Metal Plant and installed at the Mary power plant between 1973 and 1987.
After modernization, a turbine will be capable of working at its design capacity of 210 MW for a guaranteed period of 20 years.
After the reconstruction, the Russian company will launch automatic control systems, equip the power plant with the latest diagnostic and repair equipment, and organize training for Turkmen specialists.
Ukrainian specialists will soon start building Thermal Turbine 3 at the Seiidi thermal electric power plant and substations of 400 and 500 kV. The process of increasing electricity generation is part of the state strategy to increase the export of Turkmen electricity to neighboring countries.
Two years ago Iran began importing Turkmen electric energy for its northern provinces. Annual supplies add up to about 700 million kW/h at a price of US $0.02 per kilowatt/hour.
In August 2005 Iran imported more than 90 million kW/h from Turkmenistan. Iran pays 50 per cent with hard currency and 50 per cent with spare parts and materials (including the gas turbine units of General Electric).
Turkey imports about 580 million kW/h of Turkmen electricity a year at a price of US$0.0345.
Afghanistan receives about 148 million kW/h of Turkmen electricity a year at a reduced tariff. In August 2005 Turkmenistan delivered to Afghanistan more than 12 million kW/h at a price of US$0.02 per kilowatt.
The Turkmen government has exempted the Ministry of Energy and Industry from taxes, including the VAT, as well as from paying to the fund of the Inter-bank Currency Exchange of Turkmenistan for the fulfillment of electricity export contracts.
The electricity sector of Turkmenistan seems to be the most stable branch of the national economy, but this is only an illusion.
The unstable operation of the worn-out thermal turbines at the power plants in Mary and Turkmenbashi, the limited capacity of the electricity transmission line between the Mary power plant and Ashgabat (220 kV), and the untimely delivery of spare parts for General Electric gas turbines at the Abadan power plant often cause power supply failures.
The above reasons prevent the proper fulfillment of contracts of electricity exports to Iran. To supply the required volume of electricity to the northern provinces of Iran, the Turkmen Energy Ministry has been forced to reduce the electricity supply of industrial enterprises and some residential neighborhoods in the capital.
For this reason, fountains in Ashgabat were stopped in the evenings during the past two summers. Specialists think the optimal price for the export of Turkmen electricity is US $0.025 per kilowatt (the price paid by foreign companies working in Turkmenistan).
By comparison, the international price of electricity is about US $0.05 per kilowatt. Turkmen citizens use electric energy absolutely free.

China, the world's largest coal market by annual production and consumption, saw coal prices peak in the middle of 2005.

Investors have been jittery about the prospect of Chinese coal companies ever since coal prices showed signs of peaking in the middle of this year, giving a lukewarm reception to the country’s biggest coal producer China Shenhua Energy Co. soon after its market debut in Hong Kong in June.
But buying interest is beginning to rekindle as investors now see limited downside for coal prices. Prices are likely to be supported by two factors: diminishing supply after Beijing ordered the closure of small unsafe coal mines and China’s insatiable appetite for energy to fuel its economic boom.
Shenhua Energy, in particular, will likely benefit from sustainable high coal prices and robust production volume growth.
The company, which derives a large chunk of its sales from coal, owns the world’s No. 2 coal reserves and has exposures to power, rail and port assets. Many investors favor Shenhua Energy over its Hong Kong-listed rival Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. for the former’s growth potential and favorable revenue mix, according to AP.
“Shenhua Energy is a better buy than Yanzhou Coal due to slower output growth in the latter. Shenhua Energy has bigger growth potential,“ said Paul Pong, chief investment officer at Pegasus Fund Managers.
Shenhua Energy, which owns 5.9 billion tons of proved and probable reserves and operates 21 operating mines in western and northern China, expects production to rise by 47 percent to 149 million tons by 2007 from last year.
Shares of Shenhua Energy, which raised 25.5 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$3.3 billion) in a June IPO this year, have risen 14 percent since its IPO. But the stock has fallen nearly 4 percent from its peak early August.
Still, it has fared better than Yanzhou Coal, which has lost 14 percent over the same period because of its weak fundamentals, analysts said.
Of 17 analysts polled by Thomson Financial, 11 rate the stock a “buy“, “outperform“ or “accumulate,“ with the remainder rating it a “neutral“ or “hold.“
Pegasus’ Pong, who bought Shenhua Energy shares during the IPO, said if Beijing decides to narrow the gap between domestic and international oil prices, it would turn users away from oil toward coal.
“I’m positive on China’s coal industry, but the sector is somehow dependent on government policy. Coal prices are at their consolidation phase and they are unlikely to go up or down a great deal,“ Pong said.
If future policies prove favorable to the coal sector, Pong said he is ready to add more Shenhua Energy shares to his portfolio.
China, the world’s largest coal market by annual production and consumption, saw coal prices peak in the middle of 2005 but the decline since then, say analysts, has been due to seasonal inventory buildup and looks set to be temporary.
Qinghuangdao, China’s largest trading coal center, saw a 2.2 percent to 4.6 percent fall in coal prices in the three months to mid-September from the second quarter. But prices were still about 15 percent higher than those in the third-quarter last year.
“Coal prices have already peaked in the middle of 2005. For the remaining of this year and next year we’ll go through a mild downcycle,“ said Trina Chen, analyst at investment bank CSFB. “But margins will still be much higher than the mid cycle levels.“

All gasoline sold in Ontario will be required to include five per cent cleaner-burning ethanol fuel by the beginning of 2007 under new regulations confirmed Friday by the provincial government.
Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky said the province has forged ahead with the plan to require the cleaner additive be included in gasoline by Jan. 1, 2007.
The Liberals promised in the 2003 election campaign to require the use of ethanol, a high-octane alcohol normally made from wheat, corn and straw.
“This truly is a red-letter day for all the people of Ontario,“ Ms. Dombrowsky told a news conference. “We’re now ready to begin creating our future of cleaner air and greater prosperity by producing renewable fuels.“
Ms. Dombrowsky said that when added to gasoline, ethanol helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. She said it also results in cleaner vehicle exhaust and reduces dependency on non-renewable fossil fuels, theglobeandmail.com said.
The province said the new regulation will reduce emissions by an amount equivalent to taking 200,000 cars off the roads.
“We are taking action to reduce harmful emissions from vehicles to ensure we have safe, livable communities for this generation and the next,“ said Environment Minister Laurel Broten.
Proponents of the use of ethanol in gasoline, including the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, also say the move could eventually lead to lower prices at the pumps because ethanol is cheaper to produce than petroleum-based products.
The province also said it’s now ready to accept applications under the Ontario Ethanol Growth Fund to help companies fund the cost of constructing several ethanol processing plants in the province.
The 12-year, $520-million fund is intended to help build and operate plants that will produce as much as 750 million liters of ethanol annually.
Construction is expected to begin next month to convert a former Molson Brewery plant in Barrie into Ontario’s largest ethanol plant, with a capacity of 300 million liters per year produced from almost 30 million bushels of corn.
Ontario facilities in Windsor, Brantford and Collingwood are also sharing $46-million in federal funds with Alberta and Manitoba producers to build or expand ethanol plants.
The Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, which represents gasoline retailers, said its members will comply with the ethanol regulation. One of its members, Suncor Energy Products, is building an ethanol plant near Sarnia, where it already operates a refinery.
But the CPPI had hoped its members would get as much as three more years to put the proper technology in place to ensure they could meet the new standard. Small independent gasoline retailers, for example, may have to perform costly upgrades on tanks and other equipment, they argue.
CPPI spokesman Dane Bailey said his members will want to read details about the regulations before they begin to make technical changes to their tanks and processes.
“Our industry doesn’t tend to spend a lot of money until they see the regulations in writing,“ Mr. Bailey said.
“There is a tremendous amount of work that has to be done.“
NDP Leader Howard Hampton said the government’s ethanol strategy puts corporations ahead of farmers.
He argues the plan allows Ontario ethanol plants to use cheap subsidized corn imported from the United States instead of Ontario-grown corn.
Other provinces, such as Manitoba, require their ethanol plants to use crops grown by local farmers.
“The McGuinty government has $520-million for companies to build ethanol plants but no money for grain and oilseed farmers who are losing money growing the corn for the plants,“ Hampton said.