Energetic Efficiency of red palm oil
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Abstract
The main goal of this paper is to determine the energy efficiency in the production of red palm oil (Elaeis guineensis) by using the biophysical indicator EROI, postulated by the Ecological Economics. This indicator is applied to compare the energy used in the preparation of synthetic fertilizers (to fill its nutritional demands) versus the energy contained in the oil. In 2009, there were 195.550 hectares of land planted with African palm in Ecuador (INEC, 2011). In addition, between 2002 and 2009, there were 2,7 million tons of red oil (FEDEPAL, 2010). It is determined that for each unit of energy consumed, 4.82 units of energy are contained in the red oil. The energy used in making pesticides for cultivation, consumed in transportation, refining, and post harvest is excluded because this other energy would drastically reduce the absolute data of the indicator, which is already inefficient for the high energy consumption it requires to generate the energy contained in the oil. On the other hand, agroecology has proven to be more efficient in the generation of energy per unit of invested energy (Altieri et. al., 2010; Moore, 2004).
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