THAILAND: Thaksin’s Push for Fuel Alternatives Attracts Criticism

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jun 15 2004 (IPS) - The Thai government’s recent push to seek alternative sources of fuel, as a remedy for rising oil prices, has failed to win applause from the country’s environmental community.

Such lack of support stems from doubts activists have about the government’s commitment to pursue a more green-friendly strategy to make this South-east Asian country less dependent on fossil fuels, such as petroleum.

”The current decision is based more on economics rather than developing a cleaner environment,” said Srisuwan Kuankachorn, general secretary of NGOCOD, a coalition of 300 non-governmental organisations working on environmental issues.

”We have not seen any messages that explain the environmental benefits of this plan to develop alternative fuels,” Srisuwan explained during an interview with IPS.

”The danger is that some technocrats in the government may use this occasion to campaign for more large hydropower dams,” he warned.

Thailand’s record in times of steep global oil prices is also holding back environmentalists from welcoming the announcement by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that the production of ”new fuels” will become a national priority.

”When oil prices increased in the 1970s the government of that time made the same noises, but after the prices dropped the talk of renewable energy ended,” Suphakij Nuntavorkarn of the non-governmental Sustainable Energy Network of Thailand told IPS.

The need of the hour, he added, were long-term solutions aimed at changing the heavy dependency on fossil fuels as an energy source and also improving the efficient use of energy by those who need it for their daily life.

”Saving energy through its efficient use, such as more people using public transport than their private cars, is a form of sustainability,” he said.

”This is a cheaper way of reducing energy cost, but there is little effort to address this on the demand side,” added Suphakji.

In unveiling his plan on Jun. 9 to increase the production of alternative fuels, Thaksin zeroed in on palm oil as a viable alternative and called for the development of vehicles that can run on natural gas.

The same week, the Ministry of Agriculture announced plans to increase the production of cassava and sugar extracts to be used for the production of ethanol, which, when combined with petrol, is the fuel gasohol.

The measures announced this month added weight to a seminar on renewable energy held last August, where Thaksin announced that the country should achieve concrete targets for the use of alternative fuels.

The government’s interest in alternative fuels comes days after it appealed to the public for support on measures to be introduced to slash energy consumption.

They include closing petrol stations from midnight to 5 a.m., switching off neon-lit street signs at 10 p.m., an increase in the annual registration fees of private cars with large engines and a 10 percent cut in the consumption of petrol and electricity by government agencies.

According to figures from the Ministry of Energy, about 50.8 percent of the country’s energy supply comes from oil, followed by natural gas at 35.4 percent. Coal supplies 11.2 percent of Thailand’s energy needs and hydropower, a mere two percent.

On the demand side the transportation sector consumes the most energy, at 37 percent of total production. The industrial sector comes next, at 36 percent, followed by the residential and commercial sector at 21 percent.

Thailand’s agriculture sector uses six percent of the country’s total energy requirement.

Since January, Bangkok has been footing a heavy oil subsidy bill to cushion the effect of rising petroleum prices on the transportation sector.

By June, the specially created Oil Fund had ”run into the red to the tune of 12,760 million baht (311 million U.S. dollars),” revealed Sunday’s ‘Bangkok Post’ newspaper.

The news of rising oil prises, however, has not deterred the Thai public from their love for new cars. During the first four months of this year, the sale of vehicles was up 24 percent than the same period last year, market analysts indicate.

At such a pace, they add, the demand for cars is expected to reach 600,000 vehicles by the end of this year, exceeding the estimated 580,000 new vehicles that rolled on to the streets last year.

According to Chuenchom Sangarasri Greacen, an independent energy analyst, the challenge before the government to shift away from such a high petroleum dependency is daunting.

”In 2002, the petroleum consumption bill was 438 billion baht (10.68 billion U.S. dollars),” Chuenchom told IPS.

”While the push for ethanol is a good idea, I don’t think the government has concrete measures to achieve the targets it has in mind to replace a share of petroleum and oil with ethanol,” she added.

Last August, the Thaksin administration announced it wanted the country’s renewable energy supplies increased from its prevailing state of 0.5 percent to eight percent by 2011.

”But if you look closely at that strategy there will only be a two percent reduction of fossil fuel by 2011,” said Chuenchom. ”One could legitimately argue that the targets constitute only a two percent net increase in renewables.”

However, researchers involved in Thailand’s burgeoning alternative energy sector appear more hopeful that the blueprint for new fuels will make a mark.

”We aim to gain a market share of eight percent of fuel consumption in the transport sector by 2011,” said Capt Samai Jai-in, director of research and development in the Thai navy.

”At the moment we only have one ethanol factory, but by the end of this year we will have four factories,” Samai, who is also a specialist on the national ethanol committee, told IPS.

”By the end of 2005, we hope to produce one million litres per day.”