This paper was written for my freshman English public service research project. My co-author is Linda Garcia. She is married and has a new last name that I don't know. The paper filled a request from the Sierra Club's local chapter. -Kurt Schwehr 3/24/95 --------------------------------------------------------------- 2-6-91 Research Project for The Sierra Club We will be writing a research paper on the use of biomass as an alternate fuel source for cars in the Philippines. It will be used as a counter proposal by the Sierra Club to try to stop the instillation of about 20 geothermal sites that will destroy massive amounts of rain forest. We will use the successful program Brazil as a model for the paper. The paper will be approximately 15 to 20 pages. --------------------------------------------------------------- Conversion of Sugar Cane to Ethanol for the Philippines Although the twenty-two proposed geothermal plants would provide the Philippines with much needed energy and a decreased dependence on foreign oil, we believe that the Philippines should instead convert excess sugar cane (biomass) to ethanol fuel for cars because the geothermal plants will cause a great deal of damage to the Philippine rainforests. The Current Situation The Philippine government is currently planning to build twenty-two geothermal plants in the Mt. Apo National Park that is one of the few areas of precious rainforest left in the Philippian islands. This geothermal project would lead to the destruction of a large portion of the remaining forest. Drilling wells and constructing production facilities will take up a significant portion of land. Beyond the actual facilities there are various other pressures that will be placed on the rainforest such as the clearing of rainforests for roads and utilities. The destruction of rainforest would mean the end to one of the Philippines most valuable, but untapped, resources. Proposal In order to reap the greatest benefits, we propose that the Philippines should follow a course different from the present plan of building 22 new geothermal plants to produce electricity. It is true that the creation of new geothermal plants would produce much of the needed electricity for the Philippines; however, the country could install an alternate method of energy production, a conversion of sugar to ethanol. Ethanol would have two uses: it would provide fuel for Philippine cars and it would generate electricity by burning ethanol. The excess sugar cane that is currently burned every year could supply much of the needed feedstock for ethanol production. Feedstock is the raw material, such as grain, fruit, or other agricultural products, used as the sugar source in the fermentation process. Briefly, an ethanol production industry would have the following benefits to the Philippines: a decreased dependence on foreign oil, a more favorable balance of trade, a fuller utilization of the agricultural output, a significant number of new jobs, a renewable energy source, less pollution from cars, and a greater preservation of the rainforest. It is often impractical to begin a new program without experience. This is not so with ethanol production. Several Third World countries have ethanol production programs. The most applicable, the world's largest and most efficient ethanol production program is in Brazil. Brazil has been on large scale production of ethanol since 1975 with the ProAlcool program. Since Brazil has done all the hard work of developing the technology and frame work that is expensive and time-consuming, the Philippines are able to follow the paths Brazil has taken and possibly avoid many of the problems and mistakes that Brazil has made in developing this program. Geothermal Geothermal production of electricity has been depicted to the world as a clean, safe, renewable energy source without any problems. Unfortunately with today's minimal technologies and methods this is not true. Geothermal currently has a wide variety of problems associated with various aspects of its use. Geothermal energy is obtained through the tapping of the Earth's internal heat by drilling wells where the Earth's heat has risen close to the surface as magma. Geothermal energy is captured in reservoirs of fluid saturated rocks thousands of feet below the Earth's surface that are estimated to be around three thousand degrees Celsius. The presence of hot springs, geysers or fumaroes are the visible signs of geothermal energy below. (Meeker-Lowry, P. 11) Water enters the heated region from the regions underground water reservoir. Wells are drilled to potentially productive zones. The heated water rises as steam through the well which then drives electric generators on the surface to produce electricity. The steam condenses into water and is usually pumped back down into the well to create a continuous cycle (Press, P. 592). Environmental Impact of Geothermal The production and the use of geothermal energy has proven to be anything but clean, safe and renewable. Pollution to the environment, damage to the surrounding area and loss of what appears to be a non-renewable water source have been attributed to the production of geothermal energy. A major drawback to geothermal use is the pollution of the surrounding environment. It is already happening in the Philippines to the water and fish that the local people of Tiwi rely on heavily as a food source (Meeker-Lowry, P. 11). Varying amounts of carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane, hydrogen sulfide, mercury, radon, boron and trace metals have been found in the air around geothermal plants. Some these elements are causing damage to not only the air but to the people that work in and around the plants. According to the article "Shattering A Geothermal Myth," twenty six local residents complained of headaches dizziness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea soon after the drilling began. This was found in a report from the Department of Health with the final recommendation to evacuate the residents or stop the drill activities. This was believed to be caused by H2S (hydrogen sulfide). "Hydrogen sulfide in high concentrations can cause respiratory failure and asphyxia." When boric acid escapes from the cooling towers in droplets, it rains on the trees around the area. The trees are severely damaged and stressed by the boron. Arsenic, a known poison and carcinogen, and mercury are frequently found in geothermal fluids. Muds used for drilling contain petroleum-based additives that will contaminate groundwater if they are leaked on to the surface. Drilling, road building and other activities cause further damage by increased erosion and sedimentation. The process of removing water from the ground without replacing it can quickly become an enormous problem. At many geothermal areas, reinjecting the water would damage the underground natural "piping" that bring the superheated water to the wells. The water (called as brine) contains large amounts of chemicals that are very toxic. This water is extremely difficult and expensive to dispose in a way that will not severely pollute the environment. The removal of water from the ground causes three major problems: land subsidence, reduced underground water supply, and possible damage to the aquifers (underground channels) that bring more underground water to the area. When water is pumped out faster than it can be replaced naturally or manually, irreversible damage occurs. Water is contained in the crevasses and cracks between the rock and mud. When that water leaves and is not replaced, the ground compacts, causing the land above to sink. Because the crevices and cracks have now disappeared the ground becomes unpenatrable by water. Land subsidence, the change in the ground level, can be very costly. In San Jose, California, for example, land subsidence broke many underground pipes which had to be replaced. Steam does not appear to be a renewable source. Logically, it seems that if the water removed from the ground was be reinjected back into the ground, it would be recycled into new steam by the intense heat. Water is ususlly reinjected into the ground a good distance from where it was originally removed. From its new location the water has to seep back to the place where it can be heated. Because water takes a long time to seep through rock, steam pressure in the wells drop over a period of time. The greatest example of this is the world's largest geothermal-power production field, The Geysers near Clear Lake in California. It was thought that The Geysers would be able to support 3,000 megawatts (MW) of power, but by 1987 only 2,000 MW were installed. Now 400 MW of capacity is standing idle. Currently, more steam is being removed than can be replaced by the hot underground magma (Mowris, P. 4). The steam pressure is down 20% and has been predicted to go down and additional 30% by the end of the century. Tom Sparks, a UNOCAL geothermal expert said, "No one foresaw this happening. We had thought there was a steady boiling mechanism 15 miles down, but that theory isn't working." (Meeker-Lowry, P.11) Rainforests The rainforests are one of the worlds most valuable yet fragile resources. Although they cover less than seven percent of the world's surface, rainforests receive over one half of all rainfall. When forests are intact rivers run full and clear throughout the year. The clearing of forests causes rivers to swell with muddy sediment after rainfall and shrink during dry spells. When flooding and draught prevail, soil erosion accelerates (Lewis, pg. 37). Rainforests play an essential role in weather. They absorb solar energy, helping to drive the circulation of the atmosphere. This affects wind and rainfall patterns worldwide (Lewis, p.9). Not only do they provide shelter for thousands of species of plants, animals, the rainforests are also home to many indigenous people. In an article in Scientific American, Edward Wilson notes that "it is a potential source for immense untapped material wealth in the form of food, medicine and other commercially important substances." (Sept. 1989, P. 108). For example the rosy periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus, yields two alkaloids: vinblastine and vincristine. These two substances have been proven to be very effective in fighting Hodgkin's disease and acute lymphoctic leukemia. Wilson claims that these two substances bring in over one hundred million dollars a year. The potential for extracting the biological resources from the rainforest without damaging the forest is tremendous sorce of wealth that has not been tapped. Ethanol Fueled Vehicles Benefits of Biomass for the Philippines There are two ways in which ethanol can be used in cars as fuel. The first is to blend ethanol with gasoline to produce a mixture called gasohol. Gasohol is extremely important to an ethanol program because it can be used in a standard car that uses unleaded gasoline. In the seventies and early eighties, a blend of 90% unleaded gas and 10% anhydrous ethanol (100% ethanol and 0% water) was used to make gasohol(Fuel from Farms, P. 9). It is extremely important that the ethanol contain no water as it causes the ethanol and gasoline to separate in the gas tank. With today's improved engines, a blend of 77% gasoline and 23% anhydrous ethanol is being used in standard cars in Brazil (Hall 1987, P.340). If gasohol is put in widespread use throughout the Philippines, there will be a guaranteed market large enough to absorb all the ethanol in the first year or two of ethanol production. With the money that set aside the geothermal plants and loans from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, a quick jump start into ethanol production can be made. There will be a fair amount of financial backing from the money that is made in the first two years that will help the program. Even though there is no major industry for ethanol production, ethanol is used in most gasoline sold in the United States. It is put in as an additive to increase the octane rating and to clean the engine. The octane number is simply a rating of the gasoline's freedom from the "knock" or "ping" that is heard while driving the car. The noise comes from the uncontrolled burning of the gasoline. High compression engines require high octane which burns more slowly. The octane number also refers to the number of cleaning agents added the gasoline as well. The octane number is based on the chemical make-up of gasoline which is made up of hydrogen and carbon atoms combined into various molecules called hydrocarbons. The liquid hydrocarbons usually used to produce gasoline have from four to twelve carbon atoms in each molecule, and vaporize or burn from about 100'F to 400'F. The quality of the gasoline is affected by the proportions of hydrogen and carbon atoms in each molecule and also by the way the atoms join together to form molecules. There are only two problems associated with the use of gasohol. One is that the ethanol tends to dissolve the residual oils on the cylinders. This causes small amounts of extra wear on the pistons and rings. Cars can be easily be converted to burn hydrated ethanol (95% ethanol and 5% water) which resolves this problem. David Blume, a man who teaches a workshop through the West Coast Valley College District on how to make ethanol, claims that a car can be converted for about $20 worth of parts in three hours (Converting Cars, 8 N). The other problem with gasohol is that cars using ethanol have a hard time starting in cold weather. This should not be a problem in the Philippines with its tropical location. If it does become a problem there are two quick solutions. The easiest is to park the car in garage if one is available. The second is to place a small heating element in the engine compartment when parking overnight. This method is commonly done in the mid-west region of the United States during the winter. In the past two decades these problems have become even less significant because of the many technological improvements to the gasoline engine. The second way to use ethanol as an automotive fuel is to have a fleet of cars that are built to run purely on ethanol. With these cars, it is no longer a requirement to remove all the water from the ethanol. This significantly decreases the cost of production of ethanol. There are two major concerns with ethanol cars. One, ethanol will get about two thirds the distance as the same volume of gasoline (Parfit P. 49). This occurs because ethanol contains fewer calories of energy in the same volume. With a slightly larger fuel tank and the small size of the Philippine islands as compared to mainland Brazil, the lower miles per gallon should not bother the Philippine driver. The other question is the supply of cars that run on hydrated ethanol. Who builds these cars? Seeing that Brazil is the only major market for ethanol cars it might be assumed that no major car manufacturers produce these cars. This is not the case since five major car manufactures supply Brazil with its ethanol cars: Volkswagen, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler (S.F. Chronicle 4/1/80). With major car makers producing ethanol cars, it should be fairly easy to obtain a fleet of cars that consume the ethanol produced by the Philippines. The ethanol car runs on a type of engine call the Otto-cycle engine. This engine has a major advantage over the standard gas engine. The standard gas engine has a thermal efficiency of 27% while burning gasoline. This means that 73% of the energy of combusting gasoline is converted to heat that provides no power for motion. The thermal efficiency of an ethanol engine varies from 36 to 38%. Ethanol has 9 to 11% more energy available to the driver, giving the better performance. Increased efficiency in the gas engine is unlikely since over seventy years of intense research have already found most of the viable ways to improve the gas burning engine. However, the ethanol engine should be able to reach an estimated 42% thermal efficiency (Hall P. 340). A final question about ethanol fuel is how it compares in price to gasoline. In 1989, the cost of ethanol was 18.5 cents per liter on average in Brazil. It was estimated that ethanol could easily compete with imported oil without subsidies if the price of oil were $24 a barrel. Due to technological and production improvements, the price of ethanol has fallen about 4 percent a year (Reddy P. 115). With the world's supply of oil slowly depleting, the price of oil will continue to rise in the future while the price of ethanol will continue to decrease. These factors plus the addition of a small gasoline tax would make ethanol very attractive to both the Philippine government and its population. One of the benefits of an ethanol program would be that ethanol production can be used to control the price of fuel for cars. Most of the worlds economies are based on the availability of motor fuel. A sharp increase in fuel costs could be extremely damaging. This can be seen from the effects caused by the war in the Middle East. According to the reporter Cameron-Moore, "...high oil prices are hurting the world's poor -- in the Philippines they are turning on the Government, in West Africa they are turning to Nigeria, and in Brazil they are turning to alcohol." Between August and October of 1990, the price of crude oil doubled. In the Philippines, the resulting 32 per cent rise in gas prices for consumers caused street protests and led to wide spread unrest. The Philippines have little if any control of the price they pay for crude oil. On the other hand, production of ethanol would be completely in the hands of the Philippines. Gasohol provides a quick and cheap market for ethanol. Ethanol cars and trucks can then easily take over gasohol's place to create a safe and secure market for ethanol. With a well planned introduction of ethanol into the fuel market, there is little to no danger to the Philippines and the industries involved with ethanol production. Brazil's Ethanol Program The program in Brazil began in 1922. More recently, dependence on outside oil supplies and the 1973 Arab embargo on oil caused Brazil to begin a major program on alternative energies. In 1975, a program called ProAlcool or P.N.A (Programe Nataional de Alcool) was created by a government decree. At the time, the country was producing about 0.6 billion liters of alcohol per year (Hall P. 331). The program was set up in two phases. Phase I (1975-1978) was mostly designed to get a quick increase in alcohol production without a large investment in new production facilities to save the counties sugar industry from complete destruction. Phase II's (1979-1985) goal was to build a full fledged energy program to strengthen the entire country. (Demetrius P. 11) At the beginning of the program, the economic development council came up with a list of goals for the program: reduction of regional and personal income disparities, fuller utilization of idle land and labor, expansion of production of capital goods produced in Brazil, and a production of three billion liters of ethanol a year by 1978. The economic development council set an overall goal to produce ten billion liters of ethanol a year by 1985 (Demetrious P. 43). Brazil's ethanol program is working extremely well. Almost all aspects of the goals set up by the development council have been fulfilled. The ethanol program has been able to steadily improve Brazil's balance of trade. In 1980, the substitution of alcohol for gasoline removed about $500 million U.S. dollars from the trade deficit. In 1985, 10.7 billion liters of alcohol substituted for 125,000 to 140,000 barrels of liquid fuel of variant forms per day. This saved Brazil from having to import one billion dollars of oil for 1985 (Demetrius P. 45). If the projected production of 256,000 b.d.p.e (barrels per day petroleum equivalent) for 1993 (Hall P. 332) is reached, Brazil's ProAlcool program would save them from importing 1.7 billion dollars of oil for 1993. Many experts raised the concern that the production of ethanol has reduced the profits that are brought in by sugar export. This is true except that if Brazil were to put the large amount of sugar cane it uses in ProAlcool into the world market, the market would become flooded with more sugar than is currently consumed. This excess in supply would cause a large drop in the price of sugar that would endanger the Brazilian economy. (Demetrius P. 47) Barzil's ProAlcool program has been a great success in producing many new jobs ranging from management to production. In 1980, the program employed about 150,000 people. By 1985 this rose to 353,000 people. The most recent figure for 1989 is about 700,000 Brazilians employed by the ethanol production industry. Unfortunately about 60 percent of the jobs are seasonal. Staggered planting of the sugar cane has been successful extending the length of many seasonal jobs. It is extremely important to provide the poor with productive jobs with which they can support themselves. The Problems with Brazil's Program The problems that have cropped up in the Brazilian ethanol program provides the Philippines with a great opportunity to learn from others' mistakes. One major troubles inhibiting the Brazilian ethanol program is its focus primarily on the use of large sugar plantations for production of ethanol. The narrow approach to ethanol production has prevented the program from growing to its full potential. The larger facilities that were used could only exist in the areas where a large sugar milling industry already existed. If they had gone with small medium production facilities scaled to individual farmers and small groups of farmers the poor sorghum farmers would have been able to become apart of the ethanol program. The money coming into the production system instead stayed with the rich plantation owners thereby failing the objective of ProAlcooh of trying to more evenly distribute wealth. Another problem with the large sugar plantations is that they desired to be close to the cities. Because of the large subsidies from the government they were able to displace much of the local food crops. This resulted in higher food prices for the imported food staples which hurt the poor workers. If they had gone with a widely distributed system of smaller ethanol plants, the agricultural system would be better able to support ethanol production. There is easily reachable market for ethanol which the Brazilians missed in the beginning -- the farms and plantations. The tractors and other vehicles on farms can use ethanol. Currently all major manufactures of tractors have ethanol models. Small and medium sized distilleries should be used rather than the large ones Brazil has because they are more efficient. Smaller distilleries can adapt to new technological advances faster than large ones. If farmers have distilleries on their premises a fair amount of money can be saved because they can supply their own fuel. Furthermore, the wealth will be distributed more evenly. The ethanol available to farms would be cheaper than for cars as there is no need to transport the ethanol over any great distance. Another market that is currently undeveloped in Brazil is the light and medium truck industry (Hall P. 340). The Process of Production Ethanol Production of ethanol is the result of three processes-cooking, fermentation and distillation. Cooking converts carbohydrates into simple, fermentable sugars. Alcoholic fermentation, or anaerobic fermentation, is the process by which sugar is decomposed by certain yeasts in the absence of oxygen to form ethanol and carbon dioxide. Distillation is the process which concentrates dilute ethanol and separates it from the water and nonfermentable materials. The preferred form of sugar for fermentation is glucose-the building block for carbohydrates and cellulose. Green plants produce both making them all possible potential resources for ethanol production. This also makes it possible for the entire sugarcane plant, including the normally unused leaves, to be used instead of just the stalk. The carbohydrates are converted to simple sugars by preparing a "mash" from potable water and crushed grain or other feedstock. Feedstock is the raw material, such as grain, fruit, or other agricultural products, used as the sugar source in the fermentation process (Hunt, pp. 12, 545). The pH, a term used to describe the hydrogen concentration of the solution, is adjusted according to the particular enzyme being used. Enzymes are catalysts that help chemical reactions go faster without altering the reaction in any other way. Liquefying enzymes are added to the mash which is then agitated and heated until it becomes a liquid. After this has been done a saccharifying enzyme is added and the mash is held at a constant temperature until the conversion of the carbohydrate to glucose is complete (Hunt, p.13). The sugar must be removed from the sugarcane stalk before this process can begin. This can be done by slicing and leaching or by squeezing through roller presses. Fermentation is the conversion of simple sugars to ethanol. Fermentation is a complex process caused by enzymes produced by specific varieties of yeast. It goes through four characteristic phases; (1) the lag phase while the yeast cells become acclimated to their new environment; (2) the exponential growth phase in which the yeast cells propagate most rapidly; (3) the stationary phase; and (4) a death phase in which the alcohol concentration is high and the available sugar for yeast metabolism is low if proper conditions are maintained throughout all phases, relatively complete fermentation can be achieved in forty-eight hours. With the improvement of the fermenting process, over 95% of the glucose can be converted into ethanol in about two hours(Fuel from Farms, pp. 48-51). After the liquid passes from the fermenter, the remaining solid material is strained as the liquid is sent two the distillation columns. The liquid that enters a distillation column is mostly water and ethanol. Heat is added two the liquid two bring it up to the point where ethanol boils at 78.5 degrees Celsius. This causes the ethanol to boil at a rate faster than the water. This process is repeated until the liquid is 95% ethanol and 5% water. This solution is called hydrated ethanol. At this stage it can be used as a fuel for vehicles built to run on hydrated ethanol (Fuel from Farms). If the alcohol is to be blended with gasoline, it must be almost completely free from water. The water is removed from the ethanol by filters in a rectifying column and then sometimes often through a "molecular sieve." (Fuel for farms, P. 67). At this point the 200 proof ethanol can be blended to make gasohol for use in cars that use unleaded gasoline. The removed solids are called stillage. Large amounts of this plant product is produced while making ethanol. At first it appears that the process will create a huge environmental mess. This material does have the potential to cause sever pollution, but it also have some excellent uses on farms and plantations. The easiest use is to apply the stillage to the fields as fertilizer. This reduces the need to purchase expensive fertilizers. The second use is based on the high protein content. In the manual Fuel for Farms, the process is described by which stillage can be used as a protein supplement for a variety of farm animals. For example, one cow can eat, in one day, the stillage resulting from the production of one gallon of ethanol. For detailed explanation of the setting up and running of an ethanol production plant, please refer to the Gasahol Handbook and Fuel for Farms. They go into great detail on how to build and operate the necessary equipment. Conclusion We feel that the use of geothermal energy at this time would be a wise choice. It is not clean, safe and renewable. It may help with the need energy but not for long and not in a very efficient way. The use of ethanol would not be sufficient for all the energy demands of the Philippines but it would help. The islands have an excess amount of sugar that can be put to use. Jobs will be provided as well as protection for the beautiful but quickly disappearing rainforest. All in all, ethanol would help more people, plants, animals and the earth if the Philippines would start a program like Brazil did. SOURCES Bowman, S., "Hawaiians Try to Preserve a Rain Forest," The Christian Science Monitor, Thurs. Jan. 3, 1991, P. 10. "Brazil Drivers On a Binge - Alcohol Fuel," S.F. Chronical 3/30/83, United Press "Brazil Getting Alcohol Cars," S.F. Chronical, 4/1/80, Associated Press. Brigham, John, International Chairperson, Loma Prieta Chapterm Sierra Club-interviews 1/31/91, 2/25/91. Cameron-Moore, S. "Developing Nations Struggle to Cope With High Oil Price," Reuter Library Report, Oct. 19, 1990 01:07 E.T., (c) 1990 Reuters Information Services, Inc.. Caufield, Catherine, In the Rainforest-Report from a Strange, Beautiful, Imperiled World, Univeristy of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1984 "Converiting cars into `alcoholics' can save money," San Jose Mercury News, September 17, 1980, page 8 N Demetrius, F. J., Brazil's National Alcohol Program - Technology and Development in an Authoritarian Regime, Praeger, New York, 1990. Fuel from Farms - A Guide to Small-Scale Ethanol Production, May 1980, Solar Energy Information data Bank, U.S.Department of Energy, U.S. Government Printing Office, Stock # 061-000-00372-0 Gray, C.L. Jr., "The Case for Methanol.," Scientific America, Nov. 1989, pp. 108 - 114. Hall, D.O, BIOMASS Regenerable Energy, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1987 Heimoff, S. H., "Geysers Failing - Steam pressure inexplicably falls in power-generating wells," The Tribune, Oakland, Ca., Sun, Nov. 5, 1989, P. A-1 and A-12. Hunt, V. D., The Gasohol Handbook, Industrial Press Inc., New York, 1981. Kampis, Mike, of the Philippine Eagle News Paper, interview 3/6/91. Lee, Patrick, "Unocal's Geothermal Projects Are Gaining Steam," The Pacific, L.A. Times, Monday, October 23, 1989, Page D3. Meeker-Lowry, S., "Shattering the Geothermal Myth," Catalyst, Vol. VII, Nos. 1&2, pp. 11-13. Mowris, R.J., Energy Effiency and Least -Cost Planning: The Best Way yo Save Money and Reduce Energy Use in Hawaii, Unpublished Draft, May 21 1990, 205 Fairlawn Drive, Berkeley, Calif. 64708. Pereira, A., Ethanol, Employment and Development: Lessons from Brazil, International Labour Office, Geneva, 1986. The Philippine Year Book, 1989 Press, Frank, Earth, Fourth Edition, W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, c 1986 Reddy, A. K. N., "Energy for the Developing World," Scientific America, Sept. 1990, pp. 111- 118. Repetto, R., "Deforestation in the Tropics," Scientific America, April 1990, pp. 36-42. Rubin, C., "One Family Over the Volcano," Parenting, March 1991, pp. 23-24. Szvetecz, Annie, Hawai'i Campaign Coordinator, Rainforest Action Network, San Fransisco, Interview - 3/7/91. What is the FUTURE of energy?, conference at Stanford University, Tuesday, Feb. 19th ------------------------ End of Paper ------------------------------------ RESEARCH NOTES/OUTLINE: What we need: cost of oil per barrel throughout the last year. Phillipines: Oil production Oil consumption Sugar Production Sugar Burned/stored/otherwise unused Other agricultural products and excesses. Geothermal Production Geothermal Plan Rainforest Statistics of various years? Pilot Prgram that was cancelled. Brazil: Current Ethaonl Production Current program - is it still succeeding/failing? Production facilities Other sources used? Linda Garcia Kurt Schwehr O U T L I N E ------------- I. Situation in Philippines and General Proposal A) Current Geothemal Proposal by Philippine Governement B) Damaging aspects of above C) Our proposal for a replacement: Biomass Conversion to Ethanol D) Benifits of Above II. Discussion of Brazil's Ethanol Program A) Pros/Successes B) Cons/Failures III. Application of Brazil's Program for Use in the Philippines A) Source material B) Production Facilities C) Car conversion D) Government support required E) Financing F) Benifits to Phillippines IV. Discussion of previous pilot Program in Philippines