Post 11 of 20: Bring down consumer prices thru clean power!
OTA Formula 2: Consumer Prices Way Down thru Clean Ethanol Industry! Target: Bring down consumer goods prices by 50% or lower thru low-priced clean electric power and vehicle fuel. Here's how:
[All mega co-ops (after MC Movt-initiated charter change)] as [20 to 50-member consortia] invest P20M to P50M capital each to contribute [50% capital in several thousand mini ethanol distilleries] to which is added to said distilleries [50% capital from foreign JV partners (Brazilian, Indian, US, EU fuel-grade ethanol producers)] which qualify for green loans from [trillion-dollar world Climate Change and Millennium Development Funds] @ [60-70% project cost, low interest, & 10 yrs revolving terms under Phil. govt guarantee] that create for each of said Ethanol-based JVs [100+ hectares sweet sorghum farms] their combined production feeding [sets of mini ethanol distilleries at appropriate sites] thereby creating [200k-up rural ethanol mini distilleries nationwide] enabling the Phils. to produce [billions of liters of fuel-grade ethanol per year] a good part of which gets exported to [India, Japan, Pacific Rim, etc.] another part becoming fuel for [100k-up MCs' rural ethanol-fed turbine power plants at 50-100MW capacity each per agroforest] as [JVs with US' Gen Electric, Jap keiretsu or EU cos.] a further part becoming fuel for [ethanol-powered (E85) cars, vans, busses, trucks and boats] and {100% ethanol-fueled (ex-diesel) buses, trucks, lorries} + [hybrid ethanol-electric railways on elevated tracks (JVs w/ Scania Sweden, Jap & EU cos)] the combined schemes resulting to [general consumer prices down 50% or lower] because of [MCs' ethanol prices at less than half gasoline and diesel prices] which means [power and transport costs (major industrial costs) of all companies down by 50% or lower] & further resulting to [millions of jobs created for Phil. bottom poor] + [endless quadrillions in wealth for involved masses and companies] + [Phil. govt tax & other income rising 20-50x current levels] + [endless billions of $s in interest income for involved world Green Funds] + [endless billion-ton level sequestration of atmospheric CO2 & methane versus global warming]
Q1: Why develop ethanol fuel industries? A1: Current Brazilian & US ethanol (fueling millions of flex-fuel vehicles) derived from corn or sugar cane retails at 40-50% less than prices of gasoline and diesel. Ethanol also exudes some 50% less CO2 than said fuels, and corn or sugar cane plantations further absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Philippine MCs may further greatly reduce said ethanol price rates thru the following tactics: (a) MC JVs should distil ethanol out of sweet sorghum which grows faster (harvest every 4 mos. vs one harvest yearly for sugar cane), requires 2/3 less irrigation, & has higher sugar content vs. corn and sugar cane. Sweet sorghum can also be ratooned (grows again after being cut at base at harvest time) which means no further cultivation costs for 2 repeat cropping. (b) The Phils. already has the technologies and talents for sweet sorghum farming thru its Tarlac College of Agriculture & other State & private orgs. (c) Eight Phil. sugar centrals have been producing over 250 million liters/yr of fuel-grade ethanol using sugarcane molasses as feedstock at super high local prices for 10% mixing with gasoline. Local engineers and technologists for ethanol distillation therefore already exist to train engineering graduates and technicians on distillery operations. Local ethanol imports come up to almost double local production at State-required 10% ethanol/gasoline blend. For an ideal 85/25% blend plus exports, demand for Phil. ethanol can come up to billions of liters yearly, ensuring endless multibillion-dollar yearly profits for Phil. mega co-ops that operate ethanol distilleries. (d) Indian, US and Brazilian ethanol distillery cos. are currently available to provide technologies for JV turnkey construction of large or small and even micro-scale ethanol distilleries per mega co-op consortium requirements; (e) An option for fast-track (just one year) construction of a rural ethanol industry is for thousands of MCs as 5 to 10-member consortia to set up a JV mini ethanol distillery per consortium (suppliers: Green Social Bioethanol of Brazil, Indian distilleries, etc.) per mega co-op agroforest. Part of production should feed ethanol-powered 50-100 MW US' GE or Jap JV turbine power plants or sets of ethanol-fueled Scania (Sweden) ex-diesel engine generators (for isolated villages) per MC. (f) Distilleries & ethanol-fed power plants all owned by MCs should reduce local electricity prices by 70% current levels as MC 'subsidy'. Huge profits may come from exports at international prices whereby the world's lack of expensive oil plus green requirements drive power & fuel prices to the stratosphere. (g) Sweet sorghum juice as ethanol distillery feedstock may be extracted by small mills powered by engines that run on ethanol & milling waste. The mills may be scattered all over MC agroforest areas, each mill surrounded by strip-cropping sweet sorghum farms sited between 10 to 20-hectare forest patches. The juice should then be transported to respective central MC distilleries within agroforest factory centers, a cost-cutting system that should further help bring down ethanol price rates. (h) For mega coops' ethanol station retailing, MC joint ventures with existing gasoline/diesel pumping station construction companies can build said facilities nationwide. (i) MC JVs with ethanol-fed car, truck, coaster & bus manufacturers from EU, Brzl, Jpn & US should reduce Phil cargo, train, bus & boat fare rates by 60-70% current levels. (j) For ethanol industry development general direction, the industry may rely on the expertise of the past Phil. Agriculture Secretary (Dr. William Dar), former director general of the International Crop Research Institute for Sub-arid Tropics, the world's principal R&D institute for sweet sorghum and its distillation as fuel grade ethanol. (k) Sweet sorghum stalks may also be processed to produce sorghum syrup rich in minerals and antioxidants for sale to local and international food & pharmaceutical factories. Joint ventures with a local company or US and Indian syrup makers may provide the technologies. (l) Copious sorghum stalks, leaves and seeds should likewise become bases for a Philippine export-oriented livestock feeds industry supplying ranchers and raisers of cattle, goats and sheep in cold countries nearly devoid of greens. Cassava chips, high-protein leaves of Tricanthera and other pod-bearing trees, napier and other grass forages, water hyacinth, sprouted sorghum seeds, seaweeds and other local ingredients may be shredded and ensilaged (for six-month storage) for export to Aus, NZ, Japan, Taiwan, SoKor, Russia, and other 'cold and greenless' regions for their ranchers' feed needs. Sweet sorghum seeds may also be included in production of organic feeds for chicken, quail, ducks, birds and turkey, 90% for export.
Q2: What groups should initiate ethanol-based power, vehicle fuel and related industries in rural Philippines? A2: All State Agricultural Universities and Colleges and related State agencies, led by their retired doctors, masters, professors, specialists & technologists, plus retired officers and technologists of local private sugar cane based ethanol distilleries, plus top-level retirees of private corps should lead in setting up MCs that set up agroforests, sweet sorghum farms and ethanol distilleries. Retired corporate officers and engineers of transport companies, engine & vehicle parts-making and assembly plants should lead in setting up MCs that will 'hook' 1st World companies towards JV production of ethanol-fed engines, trucks, trains, lorries, coasters and cars. Similarly, retired officers & engineers of the country's power sector (hydroelectric & geothermal plants, power transmission systems companies, alternator assemblers, turbine and biogas power plant maintenance companies, etc.) should lead in building ethanol-fed turbine, biogas and ex-diesel power plants within agroforests. Each MC power plant should be at megawatt-level sufficient to supply power to agroforest factories, residences, and their surrounding towns, & villages, plus sales to the national grid. Finally, retired engineers and technologists from local parts manufacturers and assemblers of elevators, as well as retired engineers from high-rise construction companies should lead in building mountain freight elevator factories and cable car transport lines, as well as providing construction services for tier-type mountain elevators for MC agroforests. Said elevators and cable systems should provide access to agroforests' upland heights at 1,500 to 2,000 meters for endless planting, harvest and tourism purposes. At 'project selling' stages, all talents described combined with engineering specialists and trainers supplied by 1st World joint venture companies should help build the tremendous trust needed for Green Funds to finance the described industries at 60-75% project cost. Green Funds' intense desire to end global warming, plus interest income offered to them by Phil MCs, plus Phil. govt loan guarantees should further combine to build the needed confidence that will facilitate Green Funds' grant of the described clean & green credits.
Q3: Why the need for terawatt-level electric power generation in rural Philippines? A3: The object is to ensure cheap and copious power 24/7 within MC agroforests and rural areas that currently either suffer frequent brownouts or have zero power. Extra power generated by MCs should be sold to the national grid. Such distributed (not centralized nationwide) power system should greatly reduce power costs & prices due to great reductions in expensive national-level transmission lines. Additionally, independent power generation will facilitate quick repairs & rebuilding after typhoons, floods & calamities while ensuring no total blackouts in case of war. Further, distributed power generation avoids total control of power industries by elites as currently happens.
Thousands of dedicated power-producing setups nationwide that offer ultra-low power prices will enable rural Philippines to attract millions of JV factories, since all factories run on electricity. The target is reduction of Phil. power prices from 2nd highest in the Pacific Rim (which scares away almost all investors) to lowest in all Asia, a powerful attractor for 1st World cos. to flock to the Phils. as JV maker of parts, components, assemblies & finished products to further expand their world markets thru lower costs & prices. Concurrently, Phil. ethanol fuel at less than 50% the price of gasoline and diesel will proportionately reduce manufacturing and service costs for all local industries, resulting to low prices of local goods and services, since all industries run on electricity & transport fuels. Voluminous MC production of goods and services will further bring down local prices due to competition, yet 80% production for exports (including ethanol) will rain down foreign exchange to the Phils in yearly trillions, which means local industries making grand profits despite low local prices. High incomes and low local prices will maintain 1st World level middle class standards for local masses. In due time, the Philippines will become part of the 1st World on permanent basis.
Q4: Why should an ethanol industry be built only after charter change? A4: In the 1990s, the Arroyo regime tried to promote establishment of an ethanol industry to help address high prices of hydrocarbon fuels. Sweet sorghum developed by the International Crop Research Institute for the Sub-arid Tropics sited in India (led at the time by Dr. William Dar of the Phils) was planted & converted to syrup (in Central Luzon) as 1st step to distillation. Unfortunately, interest among Phil politicians & entrepreneur-elites were so low that the nascent program soon fizzled out. The usual 'professional critics' declared that foreign oil interests scuttled the program thru politician payouts for obvious reasons. To somewhat comply with world global warming targets, politicians instead promulgated a law requiring a mere10% ethanol blend on Phil. gasoline. Local sugar centrals then produced some 250 million liters of ethanol yearly using sugar cane molasses as feedstock but demand required over twice more. Imports from USA met the missing requirements but retail prices shot up even higher than local gasoline prices. Up-down sugar prices that will compete with sweet sorghum juice have also been blamed. Comparatively, Brazilians had been producing & selling sugarcane-based ethanol for their flex-fuel vehicles since 1970s at just 50% or so of gasoline prices. Meanwhile India largely failed to build a sorghum-based ethanol industry despite maturity of its distillery technologies due to limited farmland & higher prices of cane sugar. Farmers preferred to grow sugar cane instead of sweet sorghum to gain higher profit. For the Philippines, developing a multi-trillion dollar sweet sorghum-fed ethanol industry (all over ASEAN) has long been highly promising due to over six million hectares of idle & semi-idle lands in the country, plus tens of millions more hectares in the rest of ASEAN. The proposed MC Movt's development of sweet sorghum based industries as herein described is hence the most promising prices-reduction & wealth-generation schemes for the long-suffering Phil. masses. For the required investment & foreign partnership courage, we have to persuade all the previously described retired talents to lead in promotion, organization & management activities of MCs for the ethanol sector & its related industries. Said top brains' 'names' combined with the international reputations of 1st World joint venture companies & their techno experts will create the needed lending courage for world Green Funds, boosted by Phil. govt loan repayment guarantees towards lending of dollar billions to the said projects as perpetual global cooling strategy.
Read next post that describes mega co-ops' establishment of billion-dollar industries by investing near-zero capital: leasing out satellite resort-school sites to 1st World Pacific Rim elementary and high schools that suffer crowded environs. (For Android cellphones, swipe screen up & down, tap arrow at left of title, and tap Post 12: Mega Co-op Resort Schools for Crowded Pacific Rim Cities).
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