A look at Africa's biofuels potential |
Jul 2006
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Now that African states have decided to create a "Green OPEC", it is time to look at the biofuels and bioenergy potential of the continent as a whole. Assessing and projecting this biomass energy potential is extremely complex because there are so many factors at play. Some of those factors can be predicted quite precisely (demographic trends), for others this is far more difficult (e.g. climate change effects).
Several studies have been published though, and in this article are highlighted the most detailed ones, according to the author’s opinion, as they relate to sub-Saharan Africa's long-term potential. Both studies were produced by the Copernicus Institute at the University of Utrecht, by scientists who also head the International Energy Agency's Bioenergy Task 40 study group, which deals with assessing large-scale bioenergy production, global logistics and trade.
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