A dangdut about biofuel?
Terry LaceyPublished: Feb 11, 2009 2:31 AM | Updated: Feb 11, 2009 2:38 AM
When it comes to 'Don’t Cry for Me Argentina', everybody knows about Evita Peron.
When it comes to developing biofuel in Indonesia everybody knows Evita H Legowo, the director-general of oil and gas in the Energy and Mines Ministry.
When it comes to 'Don’t Cry for Me Argentina', everybody knows about Evita Peron.
When it comes to developing biofuel in Indonesia everybody knows Evita H Legowo, the director-general of oil and gas in the Energy and Mines Ministry.
There is not yet a Broadway musical about biofuel in Indonesia, but maybe one day, there will be a dangdut song about it - for, if the biofuel industry works as Legowo wants it to, it could benefit some 40 million people mainly in rural areas, and that would be worth singing about.
Legowo has become one of the most powerful civil servants in Indonesia helping make big decisions about oil companies and gas fields. But she is still interested in how small villages will get fuel for lighting and cooking, and to make electricity.
She explained in an interview that only about 65 percent of the households have electricity. In her position, therefore, she cannot only focus on big energy investments, but has to keep a personal commitment to small-scale energy.
She wants village people to be able to substitute bioethanol for kerosene, or biodiesel for fossil fuel. And to use biofuels from plants they can grow themselves, for cooking or lighting as well as to run very small power generators.
That way villagers won't have to try and find scarce and expensive kerosene, or biodiesel made from fossil fuel oil.
Some experts predict biofuel in Indonesia will eventually be used 70 percent for power and 30 percent for transport.
Evita argues that biofuel will be used for transportation, power stations and household use, with use in vehicles eventually becoming first priority, to cut oil imports and clean up pollution. But she thinks household use will be important in rural areas.
She thinks one of the big problems will be how to make small-scale biofuel development and use viable, rather than only focusing on big plantations.
She says the challenge will be to develop small-scale technologies and installations that can work. Then to scale up to medium size so that small producers can sell surplus biofuel to the nearest town, while meeting village needs.
Creating a local market
She admits there is a danger that small producers could get ripped off by middle-men. So Legowo thinks that some sort of local cooperative structure would be needed to provide local markets for purchase of surplus fuel.
Also small farmers could sell biofuel feedstock to plantations with processing capacity, but this too would need fair pricing.
She thinks that biofuel pricing is one of the biggest issues to overcome, but hopes that the House of Representatives will soon pass her ministry’s proposal to subsidise each litre of biofuel by 1,000 Rupiah. This will allow Pertamina, the state fuel distribution company, to stay in the biofuel business even when biofuel is more expensive than fossil fuel.
Legowo feels that Indonesia has everything to develop a sustainable biofuel industry - the climate, the land, the know-how, the technology and the market. This could create a huge number of jobs and help reduce poverty.
Maybe her powerful position in government, alongside her modern working style, like a sensible unpretentious executive secretary, can achieve more than old-style civil service self-importance.
Real leadership comes from commitment and capacity, and Legowo shows plenty of both.
Her own background from the Bandung Institute of Technology and doctorate from the German University of Clausthal, shows that a new technically skilled generation is doing better in Indonesian public administration.
The controversies surrounding biofuel, especially on land use and its effects on food production, will be better resolved by the professional research-led approach that Legowo is encouraging.
If Indonesia can make a fresh start on biofuel this year, it will be because of her down-to-earth, professional approach.
DR TERRY LACEY is a development economist who writes from Jakarta on modernisation in the Muslim world, investment and trade relations with the EU and Islamic banking.
When it comes to developing biofuel in Indonesia everybody knows Evita H Legowo, the director-general of oil and gas in the Energy and Mines Ministry.
There is not yet a Broadway musical about biofuel in Indonesia, but maybe one day, there will be a dangdut song about it - for, if the biofuel industry works as Legowo wants it to, it could benefit some 40 million people mainly in rural areas, and that would be worth singing about.
Legowo has become one of the most powerful civil servants in Indonesia helping make big decisions about oil companies and gas fields. But she is still interested in how small villages will get fuel for lighting and cooking, and to make electricity.
She explained in an interview that only about 65 percent of the households have electricity. In her position, therefore, she cannot only focus on big energy investments, but has to keep a personal commitment to small-scale energy.
She wants village people to be able to substitute bioethanol for kerosene, or biodiesel for fossil fuel. And to use biofuels from plants they can grow themselves, for cooking or lighting as well as to run very small power generators.
That way villagers won't have to try and find scarce and expensive kerosene, or biodiesel made from fossil fuel oil.
Some experts predict biofuel in Indonesia will eventually be used 70 percent for power and 30 percent for transport.Evita argues that biofuel will be used for transportation, power stations and household use, with use in vehicles eventually becoming first priority, to cut oil imports and clean up pollution. But she thinks household use will be important in rural areas.
She thinks one of the big problems will be how to make small-scale biofuel development and use viable, rather than only focusing on big plantations.
She says the challenge will be to develop small-scale technologies and installations that can work. Then to scale up to medium size so that small producers can sell surplus biofuel to the nearest town, while meeting village needs.
Creating a local market
She admits there is a danger that small producers could get ripped off by middle-men. So Legowo thinks that some sort of local cooperative structure would be needed to provide local markets for purchase of surplus fuel.
Also small farmers could sell biofuel feedstock to plantations with processing capacity, but this too would need fair pricing.
She thinks that biofuel pricing is one of the biggest issues to overcome, but hopes that the House of Representatives will soon pass her ministry’s proposal to subsidise each litre of biofuel by 1,000 Rupiah. This will allow Pertamina, the state fuel distribution company, to stay in the biofuel business even when biofuel is more expensive than fossil fuel.
Legowo feels that Indonesia has everything to develop a sustainable biofuel industry - the climate, the land, the know-how, the technology and the market. This could create a huge number of jobs and help reduce poverty.
Maybe her powerful position in government, alongside her modern working style, like a sensible unpretentious executive secretary, can achieve more than old-style civil service self-importance.
Real leadership comes from commitment and capacity, and Legowo shows plenty of both.
Her own background from the Bandung Institute of Technology and doctorate from the German University of Clausthal, shows that a new technically skilled generation is doing better in Indonesian public administration.
The controversies surrounding biofuel, especially on land use and its effects on food production, will be better resolved by the professional research-led approach that Legowo is encouraging.
If Indonesia can make a fresh start on biofuel this year, it will be because of her down-to-earth, professional approach.
DR TERRY LACEY is a development economist who writes from Jakarta on modernisation in the Muslim world, investment and trade relations with the EU and Islamic banking.
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