25x’25

A recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that an energy technology revolution is now underway. However, to sustain the “revolution,” the report, Energy Technology Perspectives 2010, underscores the need for policy support that will emphasize energy efficiency and spark rapid growth of renewable energy to reduce energy-related carbon dioxide emissions that could nearly double by 2050 under current fossil fuel use.

The IEA says global investment in renewable power generation reached an all-time high of $112 billion in 2008, then remained broadly stable in 2009 despite the economic downturn. Developed countries have also accelerated their energy efficiency gains, while funding for low-carbon energy research increased by one-third between 2005 and 2008.

The 25x’25 Alliance has long promoted the policies and funding that are necessary to accelerate the development of zero-to-low-carbon technologies that harness wind and solar resources, explore and extract geothermal energy, more efficiently and cost effectively produce biofuels, and improve the transmission of power. Advanced technology is critical for a new energy future. Policies that enhance the rapid evolution of existing renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, and the wave of new inventions that will come with that evolution, will optimize our adaptation to a reduced-carbon economy.

Sustaining these advances in technology will not come cheaply. The IEA says the shift could increase global spending by $45 trillion over the baseline scenario over the next 40 years. However, the report points out that such spending will have positive returns on investment, along with other economic, social, and environmental benefits.

It is critical to remove barriers to the development and transfer of low-carbon technology. Advanced energy technology will not only help address emissions, but also will help reduce the dependence borne by the United States and the rest of the world on oil generated by regimes that are unstable or have a self-serving agenda. Technology growth also brings with it the development of new economic opportunities and markets, creates good quality jobs, and in many countries, reduces poverty.

Unfortunately, there remains a lack of access to finance, both private and public, that imposes a barrier to technology development and deployment. And the absence of a long-term, comprehensive energy policy in many developed nations, particularly in the United States, remains a major impediment to the development and deployment of low-carbon technology.

Calls for an increase in low-carbon R&D spending must be taken seriously. The EIA report offers some critical guidance by recognizing the role of technology in enabling countries at all stages of development to reach environmental and sustainable development goals simultaneously. Policy makers here in the United States and around the globe should provide focused incentives, including government-led financing to reduce the higher risks associated with large scale low-carbon technology deployment.

25x'25 Research Agriculture, Congress, energy technology, Forestry, GHGs, green jobs, greenhouse gases, Obama Administration, Private Sector, Research, Sustainability

A principle element of support for the role of biofuels in the pursuit of a new, clean energy future is the conviction that the production of the alternative transportation fuels is benefiting from improved technology, resulting in greater efficiencies. That view was recently sustained by newly published research in the scientific journal Biotechnology Letters, which shows major gains in production efficiencies by America’s dry mill ethanol biorefineries.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association, dry mill facilities represent nearly 90 percent of America’s total ethanol production, estimated to be in excess of 12 billion gallons in 2010. Comparing the dry-mill production efficiencies in 2008 to those in 2001, Dr. Steffen Mueller, of the University of Illinois at Chicago, showed:

• Thermal energy use was less than 26,000 BTU/gallon on average, a reduction of 28 percent compared to 2001 data
• Electricity use was reduced by 32 percent compared to 2001 data
• Ethanol yields per bushel processed improved 5.3 percent since 2001
• Total water use was 2.72 gallons per gallon of ethanol produced, down significantly from previous estimates

The findings underscore the constant state of evolution that exists in the America biofuels industry. Producers are investing in the latest technologies, retrofitting older ethanol facilities and incorporating these technologies in new construction, all resulting in greater environmental and net energy benefits.

The research incorporates responses from approximately 66 percent of the nation’s installed dry mill ethanol production capacity, making it the most comprehensive to date on U.S. ethanol industry efficiencies. The data will play an important role in ongoing efforts to determine the carbon footprint of ethanol and how that determination will play in congressional consideration of energy and climate legislation, and state plans for low carbon fuels standards.

Because the research is expected to buttress arguments in favor of the overall environmental and economic sustainability of ethanol, it can also be expected to surface in the ongoing debate over indirect land use change (ILUC). The EPA earlier this year adopted a revised Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) that qualifies corn grain ethanol as a conventional biofuel. In reaching its decision, the agency considered ILUC, a concept that claims higher domestic corn production in the United States to meet ethanol demand is leading to the displacement of sensitive acreage overseas to make up for food production lost here. Yet the EPA also acknowledged that technology is continuing to advance feedstock yields, suggesting up to 230 bushels per acre by 2022 (the 2009 crop year average was a record 165.2 bu/acre, compared to less than 120 bu/acre 20 years ago). If ILUC was taken out of the equation, the EPA says corn ethanol would actually reduce GHGs as compared to gasoline by more than 50 percent.

Legislative proposals aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating renewable energy markets to meet the nation’s growing energy require a careful and thorough review of previous ILUC assumptions. Recent research from Purdue University that contends potential land use change impacts are half of that concluded by EPA (and the California Air Resources Board in reaching its low-carbon fuel standard last year) highlights the need for careful study of a concept that, if unfairly implemented, could place an unnecessary burden on producers, despite technological advances that result in greater feedstock and biofuel production efficiencies. Calls for continued study of ILUC by research institutions such as the National Academy of Sciences are reasonable and necessary to insure biofuels provide the greatest energy security, economic and environmental benefits.

25x'25 Policy/Funding, Research Agriculture, Biofuels, Congress, Efficiency, EPA, ethanol, GHGs, green jobs, greenhouse gases, Obama Administration, renewable energy, Sustainability, USDA

Among the factors critical to achieving a clean energy future, innovation is likely to be the element that will make the United States a global leader in the development of energy resources that are renewable, sustainable and economically viable. Much, if not most, of the uptick in funding that has targeted renewable energy and energy efficiency programs in recent years is for the research that is fast providing the innovative solutions that will contribute to a stronger economy, greater energy security and a cleaner environment.

That research is taking place in scores of public and private facilities across the country that rely on federal investment to bring to the table energy products that will change how the country, and the world, will fuel its vehicles, heat and cool its buildings and light its streets. For example, the Sustainable Energy Research Center (SERC), which was established in January, 2006 at Mississippi State University (MSU) through funding from the DOE, is just such a facility.

The SERC was formed to create an infrastructure for coordinated interdisciplinary collaboration at MSU in the development of environmentally and economically sustainable energy sources specific to the Southeastern United States. The center serves as a conduit for the development of integrated research and educational programs at MSU. The center is also a catalyst for forging partnerships between academia, business, and the government.

By marshalling resources and work undertaken at five MSU colleges and dozens of departments, schools, labs, institutes, extension centers and other facilities, the SERC draws upon the expertise of researchers, scientists and professors from many different disciplines and entities to research and develop energy technology that is environmentally and economically sustainable for Mississippi and the Southeast.

In the four years since the center was established, researchers there have undertaken cutting-edge research in biofuels feedstocks, with a particular focus on lignocellulosic crops to determine cultural practices that optimize their productivity potential. With an emphasis on sustainable agronomic, economic and environmental practices for the purpose of bioenergy production, significant progress has been made in evaluating the effects of environmental stresses (such as high and low temperature tolerances) on castor, canola, switchgrass and big bluestem. Sweet sorghum and energy cane are showing promise as direct feedstocks in creating ethanol. Research at the center has produced the recently licensed “Freedom” varietal of giant miscanthus.

The center also examines nutrient cycling, opportunities to grow grasses alongside trees during the wood replacement cycle, as well as recent tonnage per acre results for switchgrass, naipergrass (elephant grass), sweet sorghum and energy cane. A new commercial release from the center, named “Expresso” for the partnership SERC researchers have with the ARS extension office in Coffeeville, MS, is expected shortly. A pyrolysis system that breaks down agricultural and forestry feedstocks through heat and the absence of oxygen to produce biofuels has been developed at the facility.

The center at MSU takes its place among other facilities across the country that pioneer the field of sustainable energy research, development and education. However, only by sustaining and building on the far-sighted policies and funding decisions that allow these facilities to flourish can federal and state leaders insure that we attain a clean energy future. The work done at the SERC is a prime example of the unique contributions that public-private collaborations can make to the U.S. goal of energy independence and environmental preservation. Policy makers must nurture those contributions.

25x'25 Policy/Funding, Research Agriculture, Biofuels, Biomass, Carbon, cellulosic, clean energy, Climate Change, Congress, Emissions, ethanol, Farms, Federal Leadership, Forestry, GHGs, green jobs, greenhouse gases, Industry Developments, renewable energy, Research, Sustainability, switchgrass, Universities, USDA

The DOE’s recent formation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is being touted by the agency as a means of developing nimble, creative and inventive approaches to transform the global energy landscape while advancing America’s technology leadership. The initiative also falls in line with 25x’25’s advocacy of those policies and funding mechanisms that accelerate the development of zero-to-low-carbon technologies that harness wind and solar resources, explore and extract geothermal energy, more efficiently and cost-effectively produce biofuels, and improve the transmission of power.

ARPA-E has been designated by DOE officials to oversee the award of some $151 million in funding for 37 research projects that will, for example, allow intermittent energy sources like wind and solar to provide a steady flow of power. The projects are the recipients of the first round of funding under ARPA-E, which is receiving $400 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The administration says it wants the nation to return to its stature right after World War II as the unrivaled leader in basic and applied sciences, producing enormous technological advances.

Advanced technology is critical for a new energy future. Optimizing the use of renewable energy resources and adapting to a reduced-carbon economy will be enhanced with the rapid evolution of existing technology and a wave of new inventions. ARPA-E is characterized as part of a new effort to launch a second Industrial Revolution in the United States, this one in clean energy technologies, leading to the development of new economic opportunities and markets, and creating good quality jobs.

The intermittent nature of both wind and solar power, which poses a major challenge for utilities, is among the research initiatives being addressed by ARPA-E and its funding. A report issued earlier this year by Clean Edge Inc., a clean technology market research firm, notes that since the peak power output of the wind and the sun doesn’t always sync up with peak power demand, the technology solution is utility-scale energy storage. Clean Energy Trends 2009 says storage is emerging as a major arena of attention, innovation, and, as evidenced by the ARPA-E initiative, investment, both private and public.

Because large-scale storage for renewables is a prominent barrier to significantly scaling renewables in the energy mix of a utility, state or nation, several storage technologies are vying for utility business. Clean Edge says there is not likely to be one clear winner. And despite learning curves and high costs, there is a significant business opportunity that the ARPA-E initiative can nurture. Lux Research, another firm that focuses on the emerging technologies industry says the current global market for grid energy storage is $2.4 billion, but estimates a $60 billion market for batteries alone by 2013.

The diversity of those receiving the first round of grants from ARPA-E (of the lead recipients in 17 states, 43 percent are small businesses, 35 percent are educational institutions and 19 percent are large corporations) is cultivating the kind of innovation from some of America’s brightest researchers to pioneer a low cost, secure, and low carbon energy future for the nation.

25x’25 commends the DOE for making good on its pledge to mount an aggressive technology strategy that will encourage far-reaching proposals, and urges policy makers to support high risk, high reward energy research that can provide transformative new solutions for climate change and energy security.

25x'25 Research 25x'25 Vision, DOE, Federal Leadership, national security, Obama Administration, Private Sector, renewable energy, Research, Solar, Wind