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GLOBALISATION OF INDIAN BUSINESS

             India’s economic integration with the rest of the world was very limited because of the restrictive economic policies followed until 1991. Indian firms confined themselves, by and large, to the home market. Foreign investment by Indian firms was very insignificant.

            With the new economic policy ushered in 1991, there has, however, been a change. Globalisation has in fact become a buzz-word with Indian firms now, and many are expanding their overseas business by different strategies.

            This section takes a look at the hurdles to and prospects for globalisation of Indian business and the different globalisation strategies.

Obstacles To Globalisation

            The Indian business suffers from a number of disadvantages in respect of globalisation of business. The important problems are the following.

Government Policy and Procedures: Government policy and procedures in India are among the most complex, confusing and cumbersome in the world. Even after the much publicised liberalisation, they do not present a very conducive situation. One prerequisite for success in globalisation is swift and efficient action. Government policy and the bureaucratic culture in India in this respect are not that encouraging.

High Cost: High cost of many vital inputs and other factors like raw materials and intermediates, power, finance infrastructural facilities like port etc., tend to reduce the international competitiveness of the Indian business.

Poor Infrastructure: Infrastructure in India is generally inadequate and inefficient and therefore very costly. This is a serious problem affecting the growth as well as competitiveness.

Obsolescence: The technology employed, mode and style of operations etc., are, in general, obsolete and these seriously, affect the competitiveness.

Resistance to Change: There are several socio-political factors which resist change and this comes in the way of modernisation, rationalisation and efficiency improvement. Technological modernisation is resisted due to fear of unemployment. The extent of excess labour employed by the Indian industry is alarming. Because of this labour productivity is very low and this in some cases more than offsets the advantages of cheap labour.

Poor Quality Image: Due to various reasons, the quality of many Indian products is poor. Even when the quality is good, the poor quality image India has becomes a handicap.

Supply Problems: Due to various reasons like low production capacity, shortages of raw materials and infrastructures like power and port facilities, Indian companies in many instances are not able to accept large orders or to keep up delivery schedules.

Small Size: Because of the small size and the low level of resources, in many cases Indian firms are not able to compete with the giants of other countries. Even the largest of the Indian companies are small compared to the multinational giants.

Lack of Experience: The general lack of experience in managing international business is another important problem.

Limited R & D and Marketing Research: Marketing Research and R & D in other areas are vital inputs for development of international business. However, these are poor in Indian business

            Expenditure on R & D in India is less than one per cent of the GNP while it is two to three percent in most of the developed countries. In 1994-95, India’s per capita R&D expenditure was less than when it was between S100 and 5 for most of the developed nations.

Growing Competition: The competition is growing not only from the firms in the developed” countries but also from the developing country firms. Indeed, the growing competition from the developing country firms is a serious challenge to India’s international business.

Trade Barriers: Although the tariff barriers to trade have been progressively reduced thanks lo the GATT/WTO, the non-tariff barriers have been increasing, particularly in the developed countries. Further, the trading “blocs like the NAFTA, EC etc., could also adversely affect India’s business.

Factors Favouring Globalisation

Although India has several handicaps, there are also a number of favourable factors for globalisation of Indian business.

Human Resources: Apart from the low cost of labour, there are several other aspects of human resources to India’s favour. India has one of the largest pool of scientific and technical manpower. The number of management graduates is also surging. It is widely recognised that given the right environment, Indian scientists and technical personnel can do excellently. Similarly, although the labour productivity in India is generally low, given the right environment it will be good. While several countries are facing labour shortage and may face diminishing labour supply , India presents the opposite picture. Cheap labour has particular attraction for several industries.

Wide Base: India has a very broad resource and industrial base which can support a variety of businesses.

Growing Entrepreneurship: Many of the established industries are planning to go international in a big way. Added to this is the considerable growth of new and dynamic entrepreneurs who could make a significant contribution to the globalisation of Indian business.

Growing Domestic Market: The growing domestic market enables the Indian companies to consolidate their position and to gain more strength to make foray into the foreign market or to expand their foreign business.

Niche Markets: There are many marketing opportunities abroad present in the form of market niches. (A niche is a small segment of a market ignored or not properly served by large players). Such niches are particularly attractive for small companies. Several Indian companies have become very successful by niche marking.

Expanding Markets: The growing population and disposable income and the resultant expanding internal market provides enormous business opportunities.

Transnationalisation of World Economy: Transnationalisation of the world economy, i.e., the integration of the national economies into a single world economy as evinced by the growing interdependence and globalisation of markets is an external factor encouraging globalisation of India business.

NRIs: The large number of non-resident Indians who are resourceful – in terms of capital, skill, experience, exposure, ideas etc., is an asset which can contribute to the globalisation of Indian

business. The contribution of the overseas Chinese to the recent impressive industrial development of China may be noted here.

Economic Liberalisation: The economic liberalisation in India is an encouraging factor of globalisation. The delicensing of industries, removal of restrictions on growth, opening up of industries earlier reserved for the public sector, import liberalisations, liberalisation of policy towards foreign capital and technology etc., could encourage globalisation of Indian business. Further, liberalisation in other countries increases the foreign business opportunities for Indian business.

Competition: The growing competition, both from within the country and abroad, provokes many Indian companies to look, to foreign markets seriously to improve their competitive position and to increase the business. Sometimes companies enter foreign market as a counter – competitive strategy, i.e., m fight the foreign company in its own home market to weaken its competitive strength.

C.Pavithira

M.Phil Scholar

Department of Commerce

Periyar University, Salem-11

We need only read the front page headlines of every major newspaper to understand the deepening oil crisis and the worldwide repercussions of supply and demand as it relates to our traditional energy resources. Is it any wonder that renewable sources of energy are gaining in popularity as an alternative resource? Biofuel is one emerging energy source that may help address the supply-and-demand dilemma versus modern world overdependence on petroleum and petroleum-based applications. Furthermore, biofuel advocates stress that biofuels give off cleaner emissions of carbon dioxide and sulfur oxide, two greenhouse gases that are responsible for climactic change and global warming.

The Difference Between Biofuel and Fossil Fuel

The critical difference between biofuel and traditional fossil fuel is the number of years it takes to form. Biofuel is derived from recently dead biological or organic material. Traditional fossil fuel comes from long dead (read: millions of years old) biological organisms. For this reason, biofuel is considered a renewable resource because it can be replenished in a short period of time. Fossil fuel is classified as a non-renewable resource because its reserves are being depleted much faster than it takes to form new reserves.

While biofuel and fossil fuel are carbon-based properties (they both derive from biological matter) biofuel is considered carbon neutral because the energy is derived from plants, which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Whereas, fossil fuels released carbon dioxide, which has been stored beneath the earth surface for millions of years, into the air. Carbon dioxide emissions are the number one pollutant.

Biofuel comes from a variety of feedstock sources, of which the more common ones are corn, sugar cane, palm, wheat, algae, and jatropha. From these feedstock sources, two popular fuels are produced for transportation and machineries. They are biodiesel and bioethanol. Broken down further, biodiesel is derived from plant oils; bioethanol is derived from fermented starch or sugar crops.

How Are Biofulels Used?

Biofuels can be used in a pure (denoted as B100) or a blended form (denoted as a percentage). Biofuel is the most common fuel used in Europe because European car manufacturers outfit their cars with diesel engines. For most unmodified diesel engines, advocates say blends of up to 20% (B20) are deemed safe. Higher concentrations require modifications to the diesel engine.

Bioethanol is suggested as a substitute for gasoline in vehicles. However, users have to be careful in choosing the proper blend of ethanol. Generally, a 10% blend of ethanol (E10) may be safe to be used in newer cars. Lower concentrations have been used in some older engines without having adverse effects on vehicle fuel lines, but users should consult their car manufacturers to find out if bioethanol is safe for their engines. In some cases, conversions can void the manufacturer warranty.

Proponents Say

Advocates suggest businesses, especially those in the transportation industry will benefit from using biofuels on two fronts: (1) When biofuel prices are more stable than oil prices, companies are in a better position to plan and budget fuel expenditures for the year. (2) Cleaner vehicular emissions may save transportation companies maintenance costs, while helping them meet new government mandated environmental standards.

Opponents Say

Opponents question how governments establish standards, regulations, and mandates and suggest that the underlying motivation for setting certain standards and enforcing mandates is political.

In other words, opponents contend that politicians are showing preferential treatment to their constituents and lobbyists. The end result is that governments, not the economy, are creating winners and losers. If your company or industry falls on the out of political favor side, you may wind up paying higher taxes or incurring higher costs to meet those politically inspired mandates

Car Manufacturer Status

Car manufactures today are being forced to produce more vehicles that are biofuel ready. In addition to using cheaper fuel, both manufacturers and buyers will be given government incentives (in the form of tax credits) to embrace renewable and alternative energy. Studies also suggest that certain types of biofuel (e.g., biodiesel) can make engines last longer when users maintain their cars by using the right biofuel blend.

The Food vs. Fuel Debate

Biofuel does have an underside and has been the subject of a current debate on food vs. fuel. Since biofuel uses plants that are also used in food supply (corn, maize, wheat, sugar cane, and coconut), this raises the question of whether it is appropriate to use food crops to create alternative fuel instead of filling world food demand. The debate has been further intensified as the world experienced what was deemed as a food crisis in 2007. Critics contend that using agricultural land to produce crops to be used in biofuel production led to this crisis.

These issues must be ironed out by policymakers and regulatory bodies to ensure a workable balance between access to energy and all other necessities.

Proponents and opponents come together around environmental and health benefits of going green. Thus the conversion to more biofuels is probably inevitable. Some are very concerned with how that is executed, since the timing of the changes is not clear. Also total direct and indirect costs and what groups benefit and which groups suffer are major concerns. With Congressional leadership dedicated to accelerating greener energy in a way that benefits their constituents and lobbyists (For example, why do tax deductions for trial attorneys help the general public?), there will definitely be winners and losers.

What the biofuels discussion is pointing to is the urgency to begin planning NOW for this inevitability to help protect industries and consumers from rising costs from energy, regulations and taxes.

VitalSpring Technologies Inc – VitalSpring Technologies
There are also important similarities. Both optometrists and ophthalmologists treat patients with medications, optical aids and eye exercises; orthoptists treat using optical aids and eye exercises. All are required to participate in ongoing continuing education courses to maintain licensure and stay current on the latest standards of care.

Sreedhar Potarazu Md : If there is a unilateral small pupil with normal reactivity to light, it is unlikely that a neuropathy is present. However, if accompanied by ptosis of the upper eyelid, this may indicate Horner’s syndrome.

If there is a small, irregular pupil that constricts poorly to light, but normally to accommodation, this is an Argyll Robertson pupil.

VitalSpring Co
Gray eyes have less melanin than blue eyes,

VitalSpring Technologies Co :Clinical developments at Moorfields and the founding of the Institute of Ophthalmology by Sir Stewart Duke Elder established the site as the largest eye hospital in the world and a nexus for ophthalmic research.

VitalSpring Technologies Co In the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries like India, those training for the medical profession complete either a 5-6 year course or an accelerated 4-year graduate entry course that leads to the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, MBChB, or other similar abbreviation)

VitalSpring Technologies Inc Co Like most professions, optometry education, certification, and practice is regulated in most countries. Optometrists and optometry-related organizations interact with governmental agencies, other health care professionals, and the community to deliver eye and vision care. Optometry is one of four eye care professions, the others being Ophthalmology (which is a branch of surgery) Opticians and Orthoptics (a sub-specialty of ophthalmology primarily dealing with strabismus).

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Shared by Sustainable Energy

Why Are Energy Monitoring Systems Important?

There are a number of energy monitoring systems available on the market. What do these systems do? Fundamentally they monitor energy usage in a facility. This is a very vital system that many companies do not have in place. The only resource they have is their power bill that comes once a month. They look at their regular monthly costs rising, but they do not know where they can help you save energy. Imagine operating a business without an accounting system. You do not know your income or your expenditures. This is the exact same for a company with no energy monitoring system; they have not a clue that there are energy efficiencies in the organization. Now some corporations prefer to get an energy audit, instead than investing in a system. But what use is that in a year, in 5 years. Equipment improvements, consumers change and all that knowledge is lost. If you install a system that monitors energy usage, then it is there for a very extended time, and it works 24/7.

How Does It Work?
The program will assess energy utilization on phases in the main distribution panel. This is done by setting up CT’s (Current Transformers) on electrical loads in the main distribution panel. The information then is fed to an Internet based interface that will allow users to download reports, alter set-points and compare energy usage by size, location etc. In addition, energy monitoring systems can be used to authenticate energy usage reductions from “energy saving” equipment like new compressors, lighting, control systems etc.
The energy supervisor can do facility benchmarking, view energy usage by equipment type and verify financial savings from commissioned facilities. The energy monitoring system made by EG Energy Controls is capable of monitoring up to 2500 stores within the company’s network. The system can keep track of any desired electrical, gas or oil loads.
Examples of loads that can be measured are:

Main entrance, Lighting, Low and Medium temperature compressors (can monitor pending equipment failure), HVAC, Motors (can monitor pending equipment failure), Parking Lot Lights, Water usage, Oil/Propane Usage
The system will monitor equipment kWh usage and send e-mails to alert the Energy Manager of abnormal energy usage. The system will also contact the weather station daily to gather weather information to allow it to accurately predict energy usage for the next day and avoid inaccurate alerts. This is a very important feature, since the problem with some energy monitoring systems is that they send redundant emails that end up annoying people.

The other good aspect of an energy monitoring system is the capacity to foresee pending equipment failures. This is called motor performance tracking:
Motor performance. Traffic monitoring motor current levels and unbalances is a main component of a superior online monitoring system. Often it’s found that current level is identified as the average current level for all phases. For predictive maintenance reasons, however, the highest line current level developed is of much greater importance. The heat in each motor winding is interdependent on the amount of current that flows through it. Hence, the the most fragile point of the motor’s insulation with respect to current level is the phase with the largest current

Energy Monitoring and Energy Awareness

It is incredible how energy usage drops in a facility when employees know that there is a system that is monitoring what they are doing. Since the system can also be used to monitor sections of a facility, or even individual departments, people become naturally more energy conscious. For example, turning of lights when they leave the room or not leaving the computer on at night. These may seem to be minor changes; however the mindset is already being changed to become more energy conscious. These people then come to their own home and start noticing energy efficiencies, and they start doing changes in their own home.
By: Edward Herniak

About Sustainable Energy Coalition: The Sustainable Energy Coalition (SEC) brings together more than 60 national and state-level business, environmental, consumer, and energy policy organizations. Founded in 1992, the Coalition promotes increased federal support for ENERGY EFFICIENCY and RENEWABLE ENERGY technologies and reduced federal support for unsafe or polluting energy resources.

As news of a weakened economy continues to saturate the media and bombard business owners with negative messages, one company has found a creative way of adapting its services to fit within the current economic conditions and help businesses succeed.    

Miles Technologies, a provider of business technology solutions, has created Monthly Budget Plans that allow customers to budget their technology-related expenses without having to commit to a long term contractual agreement. 

According to Chris Miles, Chief Executive Officer of Miles Technologies, the company’s Monthly Budget Plans integrate separate services into one managed services package.  In a single plan a customer can select business services that include IT Help Desk & Support, Business Software Support, Website Updates, and Online Marketing and Public Relations, as well as strategic consulting for all services. 

Miles says that the Monthly Budget Plans were developed as a way to help customers continue productive business operations within the unsteady economic conditions by making managed services more cost effective.

“The Monthly Budget Plans were specifically designed with flexibility in mind,” explains Miles.  “Most managed services providers require that customers sign a contract committing them to a certain monthly fee with a two to three year contract term.  They lock in the customer which lowers the need to provide exceptional service in order to retain the customer. We’re different in that we do not require any specified length to the contract and they can cancel at any time. This way, the customer is using our services because we add value and not because of a contract term. We also allow for month-to-month flexibility in the plans in terms of both the level of services provided and the costs for those services.”

To further ensure the practicality of its monthly budget plans, Miles Technologies offers a one hour guaranteed response time for all budget plan customers 24 hours a day and seven days a week.  In addition, customers may roll over any unused monthly budget time from month to month.  

“We customize each budget plan in order to empower our customers with the best technology available for their businesses,” says Miles.  “These plans are meant to provide a complete realm of services, from supporting a custom software application to identifying and resolving network issues before they result in downtime.” 

According to Miles, the costs of outsourced IT services are easily justified when compared with the costs of a full time IT staff or the costs of unnecessary system downtime.  He emphasizes that the predictability of the newly developed Monthly Budget Plans make the services especially realistic in the current economy. 

Miles reports that the Monthly Budget Plans have been met with significant enthusiasm from customers.  “Our main goal is to exhaust all possible options for helping our customers thrive in these conditions,” Miles says.  “We are looking out for their businesses and trying to help them understand technology’s full potential so that they can make the best business decisions possible.  In short, if our customers succeed, then we have succeeded.”

Everyone is currently at loggerheads about globalisation. But who actually appreciates its landscape? There is nothing new-fangled about globalisation as such. It can be seen everywhere. The events of 11 September instantaneously echoed across the world. But more importantly, their reasons and effects demonstrated that in the composition of everyday life. We are without doubt side by side not just in catastrophes, but in trading, financial markets and environmental change. However, the revolution in communications, media, and transportation systems are not just embellishments. They are re-creating the fundamentals of the way the world is doing business.

So, what does that mean? The service sector jobs are going to become increasingly less skilled, and the skilled service sector jobs will become outsourced. Education diplomas will start looking bleaker. The raison d’être is that technology and globalisation are breaking down educational, cultural, social, political and economic barriers that have stood for years. The problem is not that the barriers are being torn down, but rather the rate with which it is happening.

Deplorably enough, the global economy at present is still in fact a game of two-and-a-half players. What’s really significant is that when you break up the global economy into what it is, it remains the European Free Trade Area, NAFTA and Japan. We can then argue that in 1914 there were eight great powers, now there is the G8. The difference between then and now is that Austro-Hungary has been replaced by Canada and Russia shows up as the poor guest. Thus, the global economy is still concentrated more or less around the same rich countries.

Even if you live on the margins of this hierarchical economic order, you are still profoundly affected by it. Take the African countries, for instance, when the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank shows up in to negotiate loan structures. If the country refuses to sign the loan packages on the grounds that this was a new form of colonisation. These esteemed but yet lofty organisations simply leave. No agreement signed, therefore, no loans.

The excitement over globalisation, however, has succeeded to conceal the bona fide social and economic inequalities that are not just a surplus from the past, but are products of the new global economy. The promise of globalisation is just that, a promise, while globalisation itself generates new forms of economic and political exploitation and marginalisation.

Anti-globalisation movements, is anyone listening?

“We are looking to brands for poetry and for spirituality, because we’re not getting those things from our communities or from each other.” (Naomi Klein)

Anti-globalisation may occur in order to maintain barriers to the international transfer of people, goods and beliefs, particularly free market deregulation. Moreover, as Naomi Klein argues in her book ‘No Logo’ “anti-globalism can denote either a single social movement or an umbrella term that encompasses a number of separate social movements such as nationalists and socialists.”

These protesters’ apprehension about the dominance of the market economy, the freedom to accrue almost enormous wealth, the priority given to consumption, brands and promised quick fixes, points to an intersection with the concerns of many in the developed and developing world. Their apprehension is that unrestrained economic power, weak democratic governments, politicians’ selfishness, and the endangered invasion of the public realm by large corporations – all defy our sense of social justice and democracy.

However, we have to agree that Davos and Porto Alegre are part of the same world, and must communicate. In their different ways, advocates of the Washington consensus and the anti-globalisation movements are both materialists.

Nevertheless, anti-globalisation movements do have a point in such criteria as: (1) Exploitation of foreign poor workers: The decline of protections for weaker nations by stronger industrialised powers has resulted in the exploitation of the people in those nations to become cheap labour. It is true that the workers are free to leave their jobs, but in many poorer countries, this would mean starvation for the worker, and possible even his/her family if their previous jobs were occupied by others. (2) The shift to outsourcing: The low cost of offshore workers have inveigled corporations to buy goods and services from foreign countries. The laid off manufacturing sector workers are forced into the service sector where wages and benefits are low, but turnover is high. This has contributed to the disappearance of the middle class which is a major factor in the increasing economic inequality.

(3) Weak labour unions: The surplus in cheap labour united with an ever growing number of companies in transition has caused a weakening of labour unions. As a result unions hold less power over corporations that are able to easily replace workers. (4) Increase exploitation of child labour: countries that are experiencing an increase in labour demand due to globalisation and consequently goods produced by children will experience a greater demand for child labour. This can be both “hazardous” and “exploitive”, e.g. trafficking, forced labour, prostitution, pornography and other illegal forms of labour.

            WTO: “re-inventing the wheel” or “mid-life crisis”??!

“The world’s poor do not resent the rich anywhere nearly as much as the left-wing parties in the developed world imagine.  What they resent is not having any pathways to get rich and to join the flat world and cross that line into the middle class.” (Thomas L. Friedman)

Peter Sutherland, who created the World Trade Organisation (WTO), says “name me a country that hasn’t benefited from greater access to free trade”. The more countries enter the WTO arrangements the greater their benefit will be. In which way shall we look at it? Is the WTO better than what was going on before? In all fairness and so not to be querulous, it is a less hierarchical, more culpable, and more open to rapid improvements. At the very least it forces the well-heeled to stage an auction in front of the less fortunate. The dilemma is with the notion that somehow this regime will benefit all, or that it represents free trade.

The WTO agreements on free trade have functioned principally to prise open markets for the benefit of multinational corporations at the expense of national economies; workers, farmers and other people; and the environment. They should not solely focus on opening markets but also allow trade to be restricted to support human rights, labour rights and environmental objectives in other countries. The WTO and trade agreements should also allow non-government organisations a direct voice in their governance.

We cannot easily dismantle the causal relationship between globalisation and inequality, though the “champagne glass” approach comes really close. Relatively speaking, it argues that, the rich have got richer and the poor have got poorer. In reality, every developing country, the numbers living on less than a dollar a day have increased over the last two decades.

Globalisation has its advocates like Sutherland – for whom globalisation inherently works – and its critics, the anarchist protesters – who claim that globalisation is intrinsically polluted and beyond salvation. Clearly, both approaches aren’t in fact working for everyone.

The need to be a “Global Citizen”

“Before you finish eating breakfast this morning, you’ve depended on more than half the world.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Today, every single one of us is a ‘Global Citizen’, whether we are conscious of it or not. Global inter-dependence happens everyday. We rely on countless different people from all over the world for the clothes we wear, the food we eat and the technology we use. Our daily lives are constantly affected by what people on the other side of the planet are doing!

We all live in a great time. The internet gives us the chance to come together as never before while still reaching for our individual dreams. We also live in a time of great danger. Global problems like climate change, dwindling natural resources, economic recession and conflicts between nations threaten the very existence of humanity. The time has come to overcome our fears and prejudices. We drifted apart and forgot our shared destiny. The burden of global citizenship binds us together. So everyone of us is required to do more, not less! The crave to be a “global citizen” is highly underestimated, craves that are vividly apparent in our everyday life,  for instance, the ‘Facebook’ phenomenon.

            Civil society at its best

“Globalisation in its current

South Africa is not yet actively involved in big scale biofuels production. Interest is high and the industry is eagerly awaiting the formal announcement of the official policy on biofuels, which will set the stage for the development.

This report is a complete coverage of the ethanol and biodiesel market in South Africa.

Biofuel is any fuel that is derived from biomass – recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts, such as manure from cows. It is a renewable energy source, unlike other natural resources such as petroleum, coal, and nuclear fuels.

Ethanol is manufactured from microbial conversion of biomass materials through fermentation. Ethanol contains 35% oxygen. The production process consists of conversion of biomass to fermentable sugars, fermentation of sugars to ethanol, and the separation and purification of the ethanol. Fermentation initially produces ethanol containing a substantial amount of water. Distillation removes the majority of water to yield about 95% purity ethanol, the balance being water. This mixture is called hydrous ethanol. If the remaining water is removed in a further process, the ethanol is called anhydrous ethanol and is suitable for blending into gasoline. Ethanol is “denatured” prior to leaving the plant to make it unfit for human consumption by addition of a small amount of products such as gasoline.

Biodiesel fuels are oxygenated organic compounds – methyl or ethyl esters – derived from a variety of renewable sources such as vegetable oil, animal fat, and cooking oil. The oxygen contained in biodiesel makes it unstable and requires stabilization to avoid storage problems. Rapeseed methyl ester (RME) diesel, derived from rapeseed oil, is the most common biodiesel fuel available in Europe. In the United States, biodiesel from soybean oil, called soy methyl ester diesel, is the most common biodiesel. Collectively, these fuels are referred to as fatty acid methyl esters (FAME).

Table Of Contents :

List of Figures and Tables 3

Executive Summary 4

What are Biofuels? 6

Introduction to Biofuels 6
Biomass Power Systems 8
Background 10
What are the Major Biofuels? 11
Utilization of Biofuels 14
Analysis of Ethanol 16
Analysis of Biodiesel 18
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Biofuels 19
What the Future Holds for Biofuels
24

South Africa�s Energy Industry 26

Overview 26
Oil Market 26
Natural Gas Market 32
Coal in South Africa 33

Biofuels in South Africa 34

Introduction 34
Biofuels in South Africa vs Rest of the World 34
Government Policy towards Biofuels 36
Market Profile 37
Biofuel Value Chain Analysis 41
Feedstock Production 42
Production Costs 44
Environmental Effect of Biofuel Production 44
Challenges Facing the Industry 47
Growth Drivers for Biofuels in South Africa 47
Is Biofuel Production a Threat to Food Security in South Africa? 48

Biodiesel Market in South Africa 56

Market Size 56
Policies Favoring the Development of the Market 58
Capital Investment 63
Manufacturing Costs 68

Major Players 73

Ethanol Africa 73

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Sasol 75
Biodiesel One 76

Appendix 77

GLOSSARY 84

Abbreviations 84
Units of Measure 87
Terms 88

About the Publisher 92

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figures

Figure 1: South Africa Crude Imports, 2006 27
Figure 2: South Africa’s Oil Production and Consumption, 1986-2006 28
Figure 3: South African Oil Refinery Capacity 2007 29
Figure 4: Top Recoverable Coal Reserves Holders 33
Figure 5: Diagrammatic Value Chain 41
Figure 6: Capital Investment Needed for a Biodiesel Plant 67
Figure 7: �Net Feedstock Costs� per ton Biodiesel of the Different Feed Stocks 71
Figure 8: Cost Contribution to Total Manufacturing Cost of a SEBP Plant 72
Figure 9: Average Potential Ethanol Produced (1988/89 – 2005/06) 77
Figure 10: The World’s Largest Producers of Ethanol 78
Figure 11: Biofuels: A Subset of Renewable Energy 80
Figure 12: Global Ethanol Production, 2006 81
Figure 13: Biofuels Immediate Value Chain 82
Figure 14: Relative Global Production Economics for Ethanol 83

Tables

Table 1: South Africa Produced 244 Million Liters of Liquid Fuel Products in 2006 42
Table 2: Quantity of Feedstock Use in Biofuels Production 45
Table 3: Estimated Biofuels Production/Consumption/Trade 45
Table 4: Estimated 2006 Production Costs 44
Table 5: Saving of GHG Emissions and Associated Value to Credit the Production Process 51
Table 6: Future Biodiesel Needed to Replace Fraction of Fossil Diesel in South Africa 64
Table 7: Fixed Capital Cost for a Biodiesel Production Plant 71
Table 8: Total Capital Investment for Biodiesel Plants in South Africa 73
Table 9: Manufacturing Costs of a SEBP Plant Using Canola as Feedstock 76
Table 10: Manufacturing Costs of a SEBP Plant Using Soybeans as Feedstock 77
Table 11: Forecasts for World Ethanol Market 2010 79

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