<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Malaysian company may build an additional 12 plants]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by Julia Olmstead http://www.grist.org/article/now-ethanol-not-biodiesel-from-palms/ Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:41:53 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/now-ethanol-not-biodiesel-from-palms/1 Sounds pretty good

Almost too good? I've not heard of this yet, but it merits investigtion, no? All the usual questions crop up -- energy efficiency of production, sustainablitity of high-volume extraction, how much of the profits stay with local communities, etc.

]]> Sounds pretty good

Almost too good? I've not heard of this yet, but it merits investigtion, no? All the usual questions crop up -- energy efficiency of production, sustainablitity of high-volume extraction, how much of the profits stay with local communities, etc.

]]> Comment #2 by sunflower http://www.grist.org/article/now-ethanol-not-biodiesel-from-palms/ Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:50:01 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/now-ethanol-not-biodiesel-from-palms/2 Also source of heat?

What energy will be used for cooking and distillation?

]]> Also source of heat?

What energy will be used for cooking and distillation?

]]> Comment #3 by amazingdrx http://www.grist.org/article/now-ethanol-not-biodiesel-from-palms/ Wed, 10 Jan 2007 01:17:33 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/now-ethanol-not-biodiesel-from-palms/3 Combustion

Combustion of course sunflower, not solar, wave, or wind power.  Yet another natural wetland destroying fuel farming scam that will release millenia worth of cO2 stored there and prevent any further cO2 sequestration.

How much of the 92 million per year will go into swiss bank accounts of government officials?  what will the slave class put into service tapping the sap get?  The shaft.

How long will it be until these plants have GMO versions destroying the natural wetland ecosystem on every coast suitable for growing it?  Or be grown on desert land wasting precious water and using chemicals that contaminate aquifers?

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

]]> Combustion

Combustion of course sunflower, not solar, wave, or wind power.  Yet another natural wetland destroying fuel farming scam that will release millenia worth of cO2 stored there and prevent any further cO2 sequestration.

How much of the 92 million per year will go into swiss bank accounts of government officials?  what will the slave class put into service tapping the sap get?  The shaft.

How long will it be until these plants have GMO versions destroying the natural wetland ecosystem on every coast suitable for growing it?  Or be grown on desert land wasting precious water and using chemicals that contaminate aquifers?

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

]]> Comment #4 by Ron Steenblik http://www.grist.org/article/now-ethanol-not-biodiesel-from-palms/ Wed, 10 Jan 2007 03:29:23 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/now-ethanol-not-biodiesel-from-palms/4 Don't be too quick to condemn

I don't know all the answers to your questions, folks, but I think Julia is on the right track. It sounds promising, but more information is needed.

If the sap is extracted from the palm's globular inflorescence of female flowers, as when making tuba, the palms will remain in place, and the locals will have an incentive to protect them. That seems to be implied by this article, which refers to tapping the trees for sap (not cutting them down):

"This include[s] the building of nine refinery plants at areas where we are given the right to tap nipah sap," he said, adding that all the areas would be turned into mini-estates.

Tajol Rosli said the state government would share profits from the ethanol production based on land ownership.

"We are only giving the company the right to tap nipah sap while maintaining the titles of all the sites they are operating on.

"Based on our share of land equity in the project, we expect an annual income of at least RM324mil," he said.

He said Pioneer Bio Industries was also given the right to tap the sap from 14,000ha of nipah trees found in the state's coastal areas.

The article continues, however:

"We also agreed to allow the company to convert 1,000ha of coconut smallholdings in Bagan Datoh to plant nipah on a commercial scale," he said.

So, yes, there will be plantations.

]]> Don't be too quick to condemn

I don't know all the answers to your questions, folks, but I think Julia is on the right track. It sounds promising, but more information is needed.

If the sap is extracted from the palm's globular inflorescence of female flowers, as when making tuba, the palms will remain in place, and the locals will have an incentive to protect them. That seems to be implied by this article, which refers to tapping the trees for sap (not cutting them down):

"This include[s] the building of nine refinery plants at areas where we are given the right to tap nipah sap," he said, adding that all the areas would be turned into mini-estates.

Tajol Rosli said the state government would share profits from the ethanol production based on land ownership.

"We are only giving the company the right to tap nipah sap while maintaining the titles of all the sites they are operating on.

"Based on our share of land equity in the project, we expect an annual income of at least RM324mil," he said.

He said Pioneer Bio Industries was also given the right to tap the sap from 14,000ha of nipah trees found in the state's coastal areas.

The article continues, however:

"We also agreed to allow the company to convert 1,000ha of coconut smallholdings in Bagan Datoh to plant nipah on a commercial scale," he said.

So, yes, there will be plantations.

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