Building a Biofuels Industry | Green Energy News

March 6, 2005 – Vol.9 No.50

BUILDING A BIOFUELS INDUSTRY.

Right now renewable fuel technologies are in a state of competition. Which one will win the grand prize of powering tomorrow’s cars and trucks is still up in the air. All have their merits. All have their drawbacks.

Two recently released studies support biofuels as the answer to the nation’s growing energy problems.

The first - Growing Energy; How Biofuels Can Help End America’s Oil Dependence - points to bioethanol, ethanol made from crop residues and other non-grain sources. The report says that the U.S. now makes about 3 billion gallons of ethanol per year from grain, but new processes could turn many other bio-sources into 40-70 billion gallons per year of ethanol.

A major investment in bioethanol would not only reduce the nation’s energy dependence on oil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but farmers’ profits would increase by $ 5 billion each year by 2025, says the report issued by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The second report - 25 by 25: Agriculture’s Role in Ensuring U.S. Energy Independence - asks that farmers, ethanol and biotech industries work together to focus on energy production as a primary objective - while not hampering food supply.

The report, put out by the Ag Energy Working Group of the Energy Future Coalition shows how American farmers can contribute 25 percent of the nation’s energy supply by 2025.

To reach that goal the agricultural sector needs to educate the public and political leaders, develop policy, develop business strategies, secure funding, and begin building production and distribution capacity for renewable fuels. In other words, their strength in numbers could build a strong biofuels industry.

Both reports are available through the Biotechnology Industry Organization at http://www.bio.org/ (See News and Media - Tilling for Energy...)