Biofuel, a good green option

Photo: Filepic/The Star

MALAYSIA’S New Energy Transition Roadmap has identified biomass as a source of energy for the country. Biomass includes waste from agriculture as well as dedicated biomass crops. But it is specifically oil palm biomass, mainly the empty fruit bunches (EFBs), that is attracting much investor interest. Every year, about 20 million tonnes are available.

The National Biomass Action Plan provides a roadmap to developing this new biomass business. However, not everyone is comfortable with the meteoric rise of the palm oil industry. We now hear of another attempt to undermine it: A recent British news report says burning EFBs can lead to higher carbon emissions (“Viability of biomass energy in green race”, The Star, Aug 17; online at bit.ly/star_biomass). This is another nonsensical claim lacking in science. The fact is, for a palm oil-producing country like Malaysia, biomass is a much better option than even solar energy since the import element is almost zero. It is more inclusive economically because the ultimate value would trickle down to oil palm smallholders.