THE Biofuel Thread pt 3 (merged)

[Graeme]

All Biofuel Politics Are Global

Biofuel policy in Washington these days has gotten too far off course. Ethanol opponents are hard at work trying to shift focus to the alleged impacts of American ethanol use on the decisions of farmers, ranchers, loggers, developers and governments half the world away, despite scant evidence to suggest any relationship exists.

By focusing on international developments that may or may not have any relationship to American ethanol production, official Washington has created the opportunity for farmers and biofuel producers all over the world to stand up and speak with one powerful voice. Worldwide ethanol production has made a significant difference in the economic marketplace and the environmental arena. The OPEC oil cartel hates ethanol because it eats into their domination and excess profits. Every gallon of gasoline not consumed in favor of ethanol means 50% to 60% fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Renewable fuels have only taken hold in countries such as the U.S. and Brazil that have created and sustained programs to encourage its production. These incentives have included tax advantages, tariffs, export enhancement, debt forgiveness, infrastructure development and outright subsidies. It is important that countries be allowed to create similar programs, and grow their own biofuels industries, using whatever indigenous raw materials are available to them.

The model that the U.S. and Brazil have utilized is now helping farmers and biofuel producers in Canada and countries all across Europe, Africa, and Asia. They are developing infrastructure and deploying biofuel technologies making them more energy secure while addressing economic and environmental concerns brought on by a dependence on imported oil. Sweden, for example, is shifting vodka distilleries to ethanol production and increasing its fleet of E-85 vehicles.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-dinneen/all-biofuel-politics-are_b_210544.html

[Graeme]

Biofuels beneficial to human health, says UC Berkeley

In the recent fervor to quantify the impact of biofuels on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, the other public health benefits of ethanol have often been overlooked. In ongoing research at the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), researchers are finding that “a biofuel eliminating even 10-percent of current gasoline pollutant emissions would have a substantial impact on human health in this country, especially in urban areas.”

Ethanol in gasoline can favorably impact mobile source emissions in at least four main air quality areas: fine particulate matter (e.g., PM2.5), carbon monoxide, toxics, and global warming.

Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5): A Colorado study finds that with 3.5 percent oxygen (the amount found in E10 blends), the PM reduction is 36 percent for the normal fleet and 64.6 percent for the high emitters studied.

Carbon Monoxide (CO): A statistical analysis of ambient CO concentrations in areas using oxyfuels (those containing an oxygenate such as ethanol) indicates that these fuels appear to reduce local CO by an average of 14 percent nationally.

Toxics: Benzene appears to be the most significant toxic compound emitted from vehicles. EPA models indicate that a 10 percent ethanol blend can reduce benzene by 25 percent compared to conventional gasoline. In addition to a 25 percent benzene reduction, the use of 10 percent ethanol is shown by the EPA to reduce total toxic mass emissions by 13 percent.

Global Warming Emissions: According to a 2009 study by the University of Nebraska, direct effect greenhouse gas emissions were estimated to be equivalent to a 48% to 59% reduction compared to gasoline, a twofold to threefold greater reduction than reported in previous studies.

environmental-expert

[Graeme]

Global Biofuel Market to Top One-Quarter Trillion

The dream of cellulosic ethanol powered vehicles and biorefineries is slowly coming to life, climbing through contentious issues of fuel versus food, low petroleum oil prices and sustainability. Brazil is growing quickly alongside the expanding biofuel market with predicted long term demand.

A recently released biofuels report by the Pike Institute held a positive outlook for biofuels, which will be supplemented by increasingly advanced feedstocks, but will eventually face competition from drop-in fuels like "green gasoline and renewable diesel."

The Pike report also predicts the world biofuel market to surpass $280 billion by 2022, due in no small part to national biofuel consumption mandates. These consumption mandates result in impressive global evolution rates, with the worldwide compound annual growth rate for biodiesel from 2009 to 2022 to be 15 percent, according to Pike Research.

Big oil is also making forays into biofuel, such as BP, which has already pledged over a billion to biofuel projects. In a report commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute, oil and gas companies were found to have invested $58.4 billion between 2000 and 2008.

reuters

[Graeme]

Biofuels can be ‘done right’, say US scientists

Biofuels can be ‘done right’ if they use low life-cycle greenhouse gas emission feedstock that does not compete with food production, say a group of US scientists.

Writing in the prestigious journal Science, the scientists from the University of Minnesota, Princeton, Massachusetts Institute of Techology and the University of California, Berkeley conclude that we cannot afford to miss out on the potential greenhouse gas emissions reductions and other benefits offered by biofuels.

Next generation biofuels could be produced in substantial quantities from perennial crops grown on abandoned land, crop residues like corn stover and straw, sustainable wood and forestry waste, double crops grown between conventional crop seasons and municipal and industrial waste.

“We need to transition away from using food for biofuels toward more sustainable feedstocks that can be produced with much less impact on the environment,” says Jason Hill of the University of Minnesota.

Policy and technology must ensure that land should not be cleared of its native ecosystem to produce biofuel crops, which impacts both greenhouse gas emissions and food production, say the scientists.

“Biofuels ‘done right’ have a bright future in solving our energy and environmental challenges,” says University of Minnesota colleague Jonathan Foley.

“Both new and existing biofuel strategies have the potential for being among the green energy solutions we need today.”

The current administration remains bent on pursuing biofuels and this week announced a $6.3 million injection into research aimed at improving the plant feedstocks used for biofuels.

The joint effort between the Departments of Energy and Agriculture will support seven projects that promise to accelerate the use of lignocellulosic materials, which are less intensive to produce and can be grown on poor quality land.

energyefficiencynews

[Ferretlover]

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/23073/

A startup based in Cambridge, MA--Joule Biotechnologies--today revealed details of a process that it says can make 20,000 gallons of biofuel per acre per year. If this yield proves realistic, it could make it practical to replace all fossil fuels used for transportation with biofuels. The company also claims that the fuel can be sold for prices competitive with fossil fuels.

[Ferretlover]

That 20k -- is this per growing season? How many vehicles will this supply for how long?
Biofuel or food. One can't have both, and it won't be too long before we have neither.

[TreebeardsUncle]

i would rather biofuels not be used as they are much worse for the natural environment than fossil fuels.

geoff

[pstarr]

I can't wait . . .

. . . for you to make a bigger fool of yourself.

Won't be easy though.

[OilFinder2]

Hmmm . . .

The US is using about 18 million bpd of oil these days. That's 6.57 billion barrels per year.

There are 42 gallons in a barrel, so that's 275.94 billion gallons per year.

Producing 20,000 gallons per acre per year of this stuff would require 13.797 million acres.

There are 640 acres in a square mile, so that 13.797 million acres is equal to 21,557 square miles.

That's roughly the land area of West Virginia.

Meh. Maybe.

[kpeavey]

Inputs? Fertilizer/pesticide/herbicide? EROEI? MPG of the fuel in the vehicles? Engine modifications/conversions required? Can existing infrastructure be used in marketing/distribution?

Simply substituting one carbon based fuel for another is not the answer to either Climate Change or exponential growth. An energy resource that requires the surface of the planet for production has a production limit.

[ian807]

Algae biofuels might be useful. The problem is that, if done carelessly, they are capable of initiating an ecological disaster.

Do you *really* want an algae escaping into the environment that decays into hydrocarbons, or worse, excretes them when alive? Sounds like a great way to poison entire ecological systems.

Of course, they can be done safely. The problem is, that's expensive. Unsafe is cheap so that's where things go.

[DantesPeak]

Algae fuel costs $800 a barrel, yet they claim a cost of $50 due to a better process. Let's see a real world example first to see if this has any competitive potential.

[pstarr]

Algae fuel costs $800 a barrel, yet they claim a cost of $50 due to a better process. Let's see a real world example first to see if this has any competitive potential.

Where does the $800/barrel figure come from? I suspect it is also made up, as algae biofuel has never been anywhere near commercial production. I kind of doubt that any process has progressed far enough to measure output.

It is all a big, fatty, oily scam

[DantesPeak]

Where does the $800/barrel figure come from? I suspect it is also made up, as algae biofuel has never been anywhere near commercial production. I kind of doubt that any process has progressed far enough to measure output. It is all a big, fatty, oily scam

I don't know, but I guess the expert mentioned looked at projects by Exxon, etc., without considering what the profit motive of those projects was (if any).

[MD]

That 20k -- is this per growing season? How many vehicles will this supply for how long?
Biofuel or food. One can't have both, and it won't be too long before we have neither.

Actually, the theoretical maximum may be closer to 30k, but anyone claiming more than 3k per acre at less than $5/gal equivalent today , is being...enthusiastic.

Think for a minute though...go to your neighborhood farmer and tell him that from 3 acres of dead ground he can produce 3000 gallons of diesel #2 equivalent per year at $2.50/gallon (10-yr depreciation).

See if his ears open and his eyes light up.

train's leaving station folks...run!

[TheDude]

This refs R Rapier for $33/gal biodiesel as an average: Bleak future for mass production of algae biodiesel « Biofuels and Bio-Based Carbon Mitigation If Robert comes across an unstoppably economic biofuel you'll be sure to hear about it, he does his homework and then some.

Report: Khosla to Launch $1B in New VC Funds

Many of his investments have been lingering in the capital-needy growth stage of development, like cellulosic ethanol maker Coskata, which recently said it could only build its first commercial plant if it gets help from the U.S. government.

They announced $1/gal last year. Sigh.

Also throwing money into the retort: CalPers. Building airplanes on the deck of the Titanic, you know.

[MD]

They announced $1/gal last year. Sigh.

Also throwing money into the retort: CalPers. Building airplanes on the deck of the Titanic, you know.

$1/gal suggests something that will never happen. It suggests a continuation of business as usual

Algae can provide a nice positive energy stream, but it will be into a completely new consumption model.

Unless of course your Titanic analogy continues to play out. Then who the hell knows.

[TheAntiDoomer]

http://www.boston.com/business/technolo ... eculation/

Fueling speculation

Joule Biotechnologies Inc.’s secret ingredient - a designer organism - looks like green Jell-O before it’s refrigerated. The stuff is kept behind several locked doors in an unmarked brick building on Rogers Street, where Joule researchers are still tinkering with how the organism, which no one here will name, consumes sunlight and carbon dioxide, then sweats ethanol. The 2-year-old company, which just made public news of its possibly revolutionary process, said that one day soon, its SolarFuel could be used to power vehicles. But until then, Joule officials said they intend to keep quiet about just what goes into their product.

[vision-master]

[urlhttp://www.technologyreview.com/business/23073/[/url]

A startup based in Cambridge, MA--Joule Biotechnologies--today revealed details of a process that it says can make 20,000 gallons of biofuel per acre per year. If this yield proves realistic, it could make it practical to replace all fossil fuels used for transportation with biofuels. The company also claims that the fuel can be sold for prices competitive with fossil fuels.

Great news, no sense in you to hanging around here anymore, eh.

[pstarr]

I have this big inheritance I was going to spend on matching artificial lungs for the twins, but my wife and I decided instead to invest all the money in the green jello. We told the kids we'd take them to Micky D's Play Patio instead for a workout. They're fine with that. So where can I send my check?