Department of Energy
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Information on the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and biofuels and bioenergy:
- The Department of Energy has supported research on cellulosic technologies, including "enzymatic, thermochemical, acid hydrolysis, hybrid hydrolysis/enzymatic and a variety of other approaches.[1]
- "DOE has set a goal of displacing 30 percent of gasoline demand (2004 levels) with biofuels, primarily ethanol, by 2030." (EESI Press Release)
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Biomass Program
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) Biomass Program works with industry, academia and their national laboratory partners on research in biomass feedstocks and conversion technologies. Through research, development, and demonstration efforts geared at the development of integrated biorefineries, the Biomass Program is helping transform the nation's renewable and abundant biomass resources into cost competitive, high performance biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower.
The President established a goal to reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent in 2017 through efficiency and alternative fuels and to displace 30 percent of gasoline consumption with biofuels by 2030. Therefore, the Biomass Program is focusing its R&D efforts to ensure that cellulosic ethanol is cost competitive by 2012. Another major effort of the Program is to further develop infrastructure and opportunities for market penetration of biobased fuels and products.
- To learn more about the current research and development activites, see the technologies page.
- Read recent publications by the Office of Biomass programs here.
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Bioenergy-related offices and activities
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Office of Science
- Sun Grant Initiative
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News
- DOE, USDA Granting More Than $10M to Ten Biofuel Genomics Studies, 31 July 2008 by GenomeWeb: "The US Departments of Energy and Agriculture today said that they will provide nearly $11 million over three years to fund 10 genomics research programs that can help develop bioenergy feedstocks for use in cellulosic biofuels."
- Boosting Cellulosic Biofuels - A catalytic process could improve thermochemical routes to ethanol, 28 July 2008 by Technology Review: "The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL) is to begin work testing a catalyst developed by Dow Chemical...to see if it can be used to massively boost the production of ethanol made from biomass".
- "The partnership will attempt ways to make ethanol biofuel from cellulosic biomass, such as waste from corn or wood, using thermochemical processes".[3]
- DOE to Provide up to $40 Million in Funding for Small-Scale Biorefinery Projects in Wisconsin and Louisiana , 14 July 2008 press release by the U.S. DOE: "The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the selection of two small-scale cellulosic biorefinery projects in Park Falls, Wis. and Jennings, La. for federal funding of up to $40 million over five years."
- "These two biorefinery projects are the final round of selections for DOE’s competitive small-scale biorefinery solicitation. Earlier this year, DOE selected seven other projects, comparable in size and scope, to receive up to a total of $200 million."[4]
- Three New Cellulosic Biorefineries to Receive $86 Million from DOE, 23 April 2008, DOE Press Release: DOE announced on April 18 that it will invest $86 million over the next 4 years in three new cellulosic ethanol biorefineries, to be built by Ecofin, LLC; Mascoma; and RSE Pulp & Chemical, LLC. The small-scale biorefineries will produce ethanol from non-edible cellulosic biomass sources, such as corncobs, wood chips, and switchgrass. Cellulosic biomass has three main components: strong crystalline strands of cellulose, which are protected by hemicellulose, a complex carbohydrate, and the glue-like lignin...
- DOE Responds to TIME Magazine's Criticism of Ethanol, 24 April 2008, DOE Press Release: In the April 28 issue of TIME magazine, Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman and Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer rebutted the magazine's recent article about the use and development of ethanol. In their response, the Secretaries noted that second and third generation biofuels have the potential to reduce greenhouse gases, and that modern agriculture has the capacity to manage land use responsibly—balancing our nation's needs for both fuel and food (also see food-versus-fuel debate).
- U.S. Department of Energy Selects First Round of Small-Scale Biorefinery Projects for Up to $114 Million in Federal Funding, 29 January 2008, DOE Press Release: "DOE will invest up to $114 million, over four years, (Fiscal Years 2007-2010) for four small-scale biorefinery projects" in Colorado, Missouri, Oregon and Wisconsin.
- "Building on President Bush’s goal of making cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive by 2012, these ten-percent of commercial-scale biorefineries will use a wide variety of feedstocks and test novel conversion technologies to provide data necessary to bring online full-size, commercial-scale biorefineries....Today’s announcement is part of over $1 billion DOE has announced within the last year for multi-year biofuels research and development projects."
- U.S. DOE to Invest in Cellulose-to-Ethanol Projects, 1 March 2007 by Renewableenergyaccess.com, reported that DOE announced 28 February 2007 that funding totalling $385 million will be provided to "six U.S. biorefinery projects over the next four years." The funding will promote research and development of cellulosic ethanol and methanol production. The companies are Abengoa Bioenergy, ALICO, BlueFire Ethanol, Broin, Iogen, and Range Fuels.
- Read the DOE Press Release.
- U.S. sees delay in big rise in alternative motor fuels, 20 September 2006, Reuters, reported that the U.S. DOE stated that goal of having alternative fuels meet 30 percent of fuel needs for cars and trucks will not be met by the mandated year of 2010, but will require an additional 20 years.
- "New ethanol plants are coming online, but output would have to soar to 60 billion gallons a year by 2010 to replace 30 percent of petroleum-based motor fuel supplies, the DOE said."
- "That would not be possible, according to the department, because all the corn currently grown by U.S. farmers could make just 18 billion gallons of ethanol a year."
- "The department said achieving the 30 percent replacement fuel requirement also becomes more difficult each year because more vehicles are put on the road and vehicle miles traveled increase."[5]
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Websites
| Department of Energy News via RSS | ||
The following are recent news items provided by the Department of Energy, accessed by RSS (please note that due to software issues, some characters appear incorrectly as question marks):
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