2006: A Turning Point for Biofuels?

by Edan Prabhu,  President Flex energy inc, USA

exclusively for indianelectrricity

Three years ago when I sat on the U.S. National Biomass Advisory Committee, we considered biomass to be a sleeping giant in the quest for alternatives to fossil fuel.  We charted a vision to make 25% of all U.S. energy and plastics from biomass in 25 years. One of our main concerns was that biomass had no respect; it was treated as a waste product, incidental to corn, almonds, timber and other products.  We were just not able to attract heavy hitters to the promise of biomass. When big-name companies were invited to conferences, a fifth or sixth-level employee would show up. With two oilmen running the country, it didn't seem likely that biomass would gain status as a major fuel.   

Have times changed? Have two years of high oil prices and political turmoil changed mainstream thinking? On Oct. 10-12 this year I attended the “Advancing Renewable Energy: An American Rural Renaissance” conference sponsored jointly by USDA and DOE.  No less than three U.S. cabinet members (DOE Sec. Bodman, USDA Sec. Johanns and EPA Administrator Johnson) spoke, as did the CEO's of DuPont, ADM, and other name-brand companies.  Former CIA Director Woolsey delivered a passionate plea, and, hold the presses! President Bush flew in to close the conference!

DuPont, ADM, Monsanto, Cargill and others are now bragging about ethanol from corn, breakthroughs in ethanol from cellulose, bio-diesel and even plastics from soy.  It is soy nice (to make a bad pun) to see that conservatives have embraced, even temporarily, the limitations of fossil fuel.

U.S. agricultural productivity has grown between about five percent per year for decades.  Vast tracts of arable land lie fallow, with farmers paid not to produce in order to keep grain prices are stable.  We have the potential to double and quadruple corn and other crops, perhaps even in a sustainable way.  Far more than solar and wind, energy from biomass offers the promise of being an honest replacement for oil and gas; a fuel that is there when you need it.  Biomass has energized nations before…for example, India, three hundred years ago, and to some extent, Brazil today.  Is it the next big wave? 

The optimist in me says, “YesSSSS!”  The realist in me says, “Wait until oil prices drop again.  Our politicians and captains of industry will go back to what they do best: make money the old fashioned way.”   

Renewable energy from the Bushes?  I dare not stretch that into another bad pun.