January 21st, 2011

At the beginning of the New Year, FACT welcomes all stakeholders in biofuels and bioenergy for local development to join efforts to make these energies more affordable and reliable. It seems that after the abundance of interest that biofuels generated some 5 years ago, its popularity has now passed its peak. Biofuels do not seem to be a world wide alternative for transport fuels: large scale efforts lead to undesirable social effects and alternative food and land use were destined to ground the biofuel trend. The climate change mitigation effect of biofuels was found to be less than anticipated.

At the same time, the development of biofuels and bioenergy for local communities in developing countries has received relatively little attention. This is a shame as it can truly contribute to social and economic development while avoiding the drawbacks of large scale biofuel production.

While the demand on biofuels and bioenergy grows, soft funding seems to be drying up. As such, biofuel and bioenergy system development have to be accelerated to become commercially viable. In FACT's view, this means that these systems need to be cheaper than the current ones: liquid biofuels have to compete with fossil fuels, bioenergy must compete with other renewable energy and diesel generated electricity. Next, entrepreneurs will have to move in and invest money to open the market, starting with the more obvious projects, and then moving to more isolated areas.

FACT has initiated a number of activities in R&D and demonstrated that innovations in the biofuels and bioenergy sector can be lucrative and interesting. We work with several project implementers to do just that: demonstrate that biofuels and bioenergy are a viable and sustainable business case. We invite you to join us in this endeavor!