Bucking Up for Biofuels

Bucking Up for Biofuels

Location: New York
Author: Ken Silverstein
Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Obama administration is bucking up and funding research into biofuels, which can be used as power for electric generators or fuel for automobiles. Altogether, it is placing $800 million into such projects under the federal stimulus plan.

It's all part of a broader effort by the White House to foster a variety of green energy forms. Biofuels are not without controversy. But experts generally agree that advanced technologies that involve the use of algae, waste or wood chips can produce cleaner electricity supplies while also eroding the country's dependence on foreign oil.

The Energy and Agricultural Departments have worked jointly to turn biomass into electricity. Their findings: billions of tons of biomass could be diverted without drastically altering farming or other kinds of industrial practices.

About 20 utilities in North America, for example, are now using wood chips to replace 5-25 percent of the needed coal or natural gas. Other utilities in the southeast are using sawdust as a fuel from nearby manufacturing facilities. Consider Kentucky: The state wants to make power for generators and fuel for cars from grass and wood chips -- a move that an internal report there says would create 10,000 new jobs over 15 years.

Among non-hydro renewable sources, biomass plays a key role today with 7,000 megawatts of installed capacity and producing 37 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year, says the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration.

Biomass crops, such as trees, absorb carbon dioxide. When burned, however, the biomass material releases the carbon back into the atmosphere. But such discharges are considered "neutral," meaning that the plants absorbed the same amount as the materials released -- unlike traditional fossil fuels that essentially discharge all new emissions.

Biomass from waste or wood is being used in states that do not have much wind and solar. Officials from those areas say that such resources should qualify as a green energy in the event that national renewable energy standards pass Congress.

In a carbon-constrained world, facilities that use biomass will increase in value. But building a plant that can run purely on biomass is expensive. If, however, those plants would supplement their fossil plants with wood chips, they would achieve positive results. While anthracite coal has more BTUs than biofuels, it also contains large quantities of sulfur, nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, mercury and carbon.

"The south is with rich forests," says Glenn McCullough, former chair of TVA. "When Congress looks at applying renewable standards, I would hope that it would recognize the advantages associated with each region and not apply a one-size-fits-all solution."

Broader Package

Biofuels are also being extended into the transport sector. The focus is now on using first-generation corn-based ethanol to supplement petroleum but the longer-term goal is on using cellulosic ethanol made from switch grass, municipal waste and plant stems. The administration says that it also wants to use algae for both the ground and aviation transport sectors, all within the context of the existing infrastructure.

"Advanced biofuels are crucial to building a clean energy economy," says Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "By harnessing the power of science and technology, we can bring new biofuels to the market and develop a cleaner and more sustainable transportation sector. This investment will help spur the creation of the domestic bio-industry, while creating jobs and reducing our dependence on foreign oil."

The drive to find alternatives to conventional oil is necessary. Some are predicting an increase of oil consumption in this country of 25 percent over the next 15 years and 35 percent around the globe, particularly in less developed countries that will expand.

The U.S. utility industry says that hybrid cars or all-electric cars are a critical part of the solution. National policy is geared to this development. But it also sets out to gradually increase ethanol production as a way to cut foreign oil consumption. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is requiring 4 billion gallons in 2006 and 7.5 billion by 2012. Altogether, there are 112 ethanol plants in operation and another 76 under construction, which is plenty to meet the requirements under the current law.

Ethanol detractors, however, contend that the funding and the requirements are meant to appease the agricultural lobby. They say that the amount of energy it takes to convert corn to ethanol produces less energy and more emissions than if oil is just refined and combusted. Critics also note that in prior years, 13 percent of the U.S. corn crop was used to make ethanol, creating food shortages and higher market prices.

Ethanol has its admirers. Among them is oil giant BP, which is on record saying that biofuels could provide 30 percent of the global energy demand by 2030 and do so without harming food supplies. But the next generation of advance cellulosic biofuels is superior. And while they are too costly by today's standards, government's involvement in the research and development phases are expected to lower the barriers to entry.

Biofuels comprise one asset in the total renewable energy portfolio. The potential is there, which is why the current administration is funding those biofuel technologies that could clean up the power and transport sectors.