Dec 27 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Andrew Eder The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.

Consumers may not feel an immediate impact, but an energy act signed into law last week could signal long-term changes in the cars we drive, the auto fuels we pump and the appliances we use every day.

The provisions to boost automobile fuel efficiency and production of renewable fuels got the most attention, but the law also calls for more efficient lights, buildings and appliances, and research and development of advanced energy technologies.

"We've got the technical know-how to do almost everything cited in the energy bill," said Dana Christensen, the associate director for Oak Ridge National Laboratory who oversees energy and engineering sciences. "Now, the challenge is for U.S. manufacturing centers to adopt the new technologies."

The act, officially known as the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007, was also notable for what was left out: The Senate stripped a tax credit package for renewable energy generation from solar, wind and biomass, and a mandate that utilities get 15 percent of their power from renewable sources.

"It's good news on transportation, but bad news on utilities," said Stephen Smith, executive director for Knoxville-based Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

Christensen said the new policy will sharpen ONRL's focus on its transportation research, including designing lightweight materials and efficient diesel engines for passenger cars. By 2020, auto manufacturers will be required to produce vehicles that average 35 miles per gallon -- a 40 percent increase from current standards.

"It's going to take an aggressive, almost revolutionary move in the automotive sector," Christensen said.

The energy act calls for another large jump in the production of renewable fuels -- 36 billion gallons per year of biofuels by 2022, up from current levels of about 6 billion gallons per year.

ORNL led a research team that won one of three U.S. Department of Energy biofuels research centers earlier this year. The center's mission is to find ways to produce ethanol from nonfood crops like switchgrass.

The University of Tennessee is partnering with a private company to build a $40 million pilot plant in Monroe County to produce cellulosic ethanol. The new energy policy calls for 20 billion of the 36 billion gallons of biofuels to come from non corn sources.

"There is clearly going to be a limit to the extent to which food crops can be the source of fuel," Christensen said.

Smith said he supports the renewable fuel standard, but he said the loss of the tax credits threatens to stifle the renewable energy industry.

"We need a longer-term commitment to some of these things so that the industry can build out and get a stable footing," he said.

As for the renewable-energy requirement for utilities, TVA and other Southern utilities claimed it would have boosted electricity prices in the South. Smith said the 15 percent target was a "modest" proposal that could have been met in the South with sources like biomass.

But Christensen said he agreed with the senators who argued that different regions of the country are more suitable for certain types of renewable energy. He said the Tennessee Valley has already tapped its primary renewable source: hydroelectric power.

As world demand for energy is expected to increase more than 50 percent by 2050, Christensen said the United States needs to drive global deployment of the most efficient technologies available.

"We're going to consume every kilowatt produced, every BTU produced," he said. "The idea that renewables are worth more, it's a bit folly."