Friday, May 12, 2017

Energy Development Based on Al Qur'an

Allah SWT hinted in the Qur'an Surah Yaasiin (36): 80 and Surah Waqi'ah (56): 71-72 that energy comes from green trees. From this it is very clear where the direction of energy development so that, that comes from the trees, so do not need to be confused with other sources such as grass, vines, plants that float or float in the waters and so forth. Of course, much wisdom and excellence about the source of energy from green trees because Allah Almighty Creator, Ruler, Regulator and Sustainer of the universe is hinted. The fossil energy we use today also comes from plants - millions of years ago. The instructions from Allah who accompanied the planting of trees, were the shepherding among the trees in the Qur'an An-Nahl (16): 10-11, A'basa (80): 24-32 and QS Thaahaa (20): 54 ). In the Qur'an Surah Al An'am (6): 143-144 among eight eight animals in pairs (4 pairs) are two (one pair) sheeps, a pair of goats, a pair of camels and a pair of cattle and sheeps mentioned in the first, of course this sheep has its own privileges, among others, sheep selected as the best animal for qurban (QS Ash Shaaffaat (37): 107) and animals that are pastored by all Prophets. By shepherding it among the woody trees, sheep farms are cheap because they feed on the grasses among the trees, the dirt from the sheep will fertilize the soil where the trees are planted and the grass that the sheep feed, the trees Will also absorb CO2 and release O2 for human breathing, the root of the trees prevents erosion, lowers the surface temperature of the earth, rebuilds ecosystems and so on. The absorption of CO2 by these trees will decrease CO2 concentrations in the earth, as greenhouse gases are causing climate change, and now the concentrations are already exceeding 400 ppm. Human with the limitations of their knowledge is very likely not able to capture all the wisdom contained from the verses of Allah.
For energy, our ranking is ranked only 63 out of 124 countries according to the World Economic Forum. It is not encouraging and it means demanding hard efforts also from various parties to be able to achieve adequate energy sufficiency. In the 1980s our oil production was estimated to be around 1700 Barrel Per Day (BPD) while consumption was only in the range of 400 BPD, while the current oil production is around 800 BPD while the consumption of 1400s BPD. Indonesia became a net importer of oil with a volume of about 600 BPD. Very large, so that in a short time the production volume will equal the volume of imports, until finally could be all the needs of oil comes from imports. It is predicted that in 10 years Indonesia will run out of this type of energy and must buy (import) from oil exporting countries. It could be in the coming years that Indonesia will buy all its oil needs, but keep in mind also as the increase of the population of exporter countries oil will also require more oil so that it is used for domestic consumption, and may not be exportable to other countries. Indonesia's natural gas is expected to run out in the 30s and coal 80s of the year from now. Are we going to continue to drain our natural resources as we do today until we become dysfunctional because we do not have adequate energy sources? While on the other hand hundreds of millions hectares of abandoned land, not used and only save the potential for disaster that can happen at any time. Are we going to pass on the natural damage to our children and grandchildren? Of course not. But how is the solution? The solution is to return to the direction of Allah through the verses of the Qur'an above.

Based on the form of energy or fuel grouped into 3, namely solid, liquid and gas. The three types of energy can be generated from the green tree. The solid-state energy or solid fuel, obviously derived from its wood can also be processed to be more efficient in transportation and its use by being a wood pellet and briquette (wood briquette). Wood briquette (sawdust briquette) is furthermore can also be made charcoal (carbonization) into charcoal briquette (sawdust charcoal briquette). The need for sawdust charcoal briquette is increasing from year to year especially in Saudi Arabia and Middle East as the huge need/consumption of sheeps there. Liquid fuels such as bioethanol can be obtained from fermented fruits and plants rich in sugar content. Woods with pyrolysis process will also produce liquid fuels in the form of bio-oil, in addition to gas fuel-rich methane and charcoal. Other liquid fuels are obtained by extracting the oil from the fruits produced such as palm oil, coconut oil and olive oil which can then be used as biodiesel. While gas fuel can be obtained by processing organic wastes from the process of processing these fruits by fermentation (biological route) so that biogas is formed rich methane gas, for example: the production of biogas from palm oil mill effluent or pome. Woods can also produce gas with technology, especially gasification (thermal route). These gases from both the thermal route and the biological route in addition to being fuel can also be processed into useful products for human life such as bioplastics and so on.

Densification technology into wood pellets and wood briquette is the easiest scheme or route in woody biomass processing and its current and future needs are also very large. This time also began to emerge producers of wood pellets and wood briquette in various regions in Indonesia. Generally, the production of the above two commodities still uses wood waste as its raw material with limited supply. Palm oil empty fruit bunches are solid waste palm oil mills that are currently not widely processed. As the world's largest CPO producer with a palm plantation area of nearly 11 million hectares and more than 600 palm oil factories, the waste of empty fruit bunches are also very abundant.

Making energy plantation is the best way to get raw materials. Moreover, energy plantation is also added with activity of sheep grazing and cattle fattening, as described in link 5F Project ForThe World!. Calliandra as a legume crop species and can harvest quickly with high productivity of wood and can grow again so that it can be harvested continuously every year without replanting until decades very suitable for plant of energy plantation. Extensive plantations with similar crops (monocultures) will make them vulnerable to disease. Fruit trees or hardwood trees are either made into a distraction from the calliandra energy plantation. The harvest of calliandra wood can be processed into wood pellets to meet domestic and export energy needs. The export market of wood pellets is huge because a number of countries in Asia and Europe have encouraged the use of energy from biomass especially wood pellets.

In the end with the motivation or encouragement of the Qur'an is coupled with the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad SAW about syirkah (muslim cooperation) should every Muslim is increasingly compelled to implement these guidelines. Economic aspect or financial advantage as the main motivation to try will certainly also be obtained in addition to the main one is blessing. Only with these guidelines the management of nature will continue to be sustainable and provide optimal benefits for all human beings. Specifically for energy or fuel from woody biomass can be started from the manufacture of calliandra plantation and then processed for wood pellet production, to further fill the ready market as in European countries, Korea, Japan and so on, and while educating / preparing the domestic market. The second potential which is also very abundant but not yet widely used today is the empty fruit bunches of palm oil mill waste, to be made EFB pellet.

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