United States

From BioenergyWiki

(Redirected from US)
Jump to: navigation, search

Bioenergy > Regions > North America > United States

This page needs work!
You can help us by editing this page: add information, links, images or make other changes! This is your wiki, too!
The United States of America
Population: 298,444,215 (July 2006)1
GDP (PPP): $12.31 trillion (2005)1
Petroleum
– consumption
– imports:
– Gasoline to diesel ratio:
20.03 mil. bbl/day (2003)1
13.15 mil. bbl/day (2004)1

80% to 20%

Electricity
– consumption
– Main sources:
3.656 tri. kWh (2003)1
50% coal, 19% nuclear, 17.5% gas, 7% hydro, 3% oil, 1% biomass2
Renewable energy targets: 5% to 30% of electricity in 20 states (including DC).3
Ethanol
– production:
– target:
– feedstocks:
4,855 mil. gal. (2006)6
28.35B liters of biofuels by 20124
corn
Biodiesel
– production:
– target
– feedstocks:
250 mil. gal. (2006)6
see ethanol
soy, Canola, Peanuts, waste oil
1: World Factbook, 2: IEA 3: REN21 Renewables Global Status Report 2005 p. 20, 4: UNCTAD (PDF) p.20-21., 5:Earthpolicy.org World Ethanol and Biofuels Report, p. 365. 6:USDA estimate


Contents

Background

Liquid biofuel use in the United States

Ethanol

  • The United States is the world's largest producer of ethanol, with an annual production capacity in 2008 of 8.06 billion gallons.[2]
  • The United States produced and consumed approximately 5 billion gallons in 2006, an increase of about 28% over 2005, when about 3.9 billion gallons were produced.2
  • Almost all of domestically produced ethanol was produced from corn, utilizing 20% of the US total corn crop.1
  • By energy, ethanol accounted for approximately 1.5% of US crude oil consumption and 2% of gasoline consumption.1
  • There are at least 73 ethanol plants under construction and another 8 facilities expanding. This could bring ethanol capacity in the United States to 11.4 billion gallons per year by 2008-09 or before1.
  • E85 use is being promoted, for use in flex-fuel cars. However, E85 is available at less than 0.5% of gasoline retailers.[3]

Biodiesel

Initiatives

  • 25x'25 - a multi-sectoral initiative to promote the vision that "By 2025, America's working lands will provide 25 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States while continuing to produce abundant, safe and affordable food, feed, fiber and fuel."[5]
  • Governors' Ethanol Coalition - A coalition of State Governor's who are working towards an increase use of domestic ethanol.

Policies

American Clean Energy and Security Act supporters rally in front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on 24 June 2009 to show their support for the proposed climate legislation.

National-level laws and policies

A federal tax credit instituted in 2004 that provides a tax credit of $0.51 per gallon of renewable fuel sold through the end of 2010.
  • Tariffs
    • 54 cent tariff on ethanol imports, renewed until January 1, 2009. (source: [8] Needs bill number etc.)

Proposed laws and policies

  • Proposed national laws and policies:
    • Vehicle and Fuel Choices for American Security Act (S. 2025 & H.R. 4409).
      • Intended to reduce demand for oil "by 36% in 25 years" through "1) boosting efficiency in heavy trucks, tires and cars; 2) dramatically ramping up production and distribution of alternative fuels; and 3) funding for more transit in targeted areas." (Source: "The Heat Is On" by Deron Lovaas, Natural Resources Defense Council)

State-level laws and policies

Northeastern U.S. pine forest. Selectively harvested biomass from forests can be transformed into different forms of bioenergy.

Detailed information on individual states

Organizations

Government Organizations

Companies

Non-profit Organizations

Industry organizations

Go here for a list of industry organizations.


Renewable portfolio standard goals for the United States from the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency. Figure courtesy of the World Resources Institute (September 2009). [1].

News

2010

  • 'Black Carbon' Crackdown Offers Fast-Action Solution to Slow Warming, 17 March 2010 blog post by Stacy Feldman: "Lawmakers, scientists and advocates in the U.S. intensified calls Tuesday to immediately cut emissions from climate-warming soot — also known as black carbon — as deadlock continues in Congress over far more complicated regulation of carbon dioxide."
    • "Black carbon causes up to 600 times the warming of CO2 and lasts just a few weeks in the atmosphere, whereas CO2 lingers for a century or more. Because of black carbon's short lifespan, the impact of efforts to knock out the potent, heat-absorbing particle would be near immediate."
    • "The U.S. contributes 5.5 percent to that global total, estimates say, mainly from diesel engines. Advocates argue the nation could easily shrink that number down to almost nothing, starting now. The filters to trap up to 90 percent of diesel pollution, for instance, are ready to go."[9]
  • The Case Against Biofuels: Probing Ethanol’s Hidden Costs, 11 March 2010 opinion piece by C. Ford Runge in Yale environment360: "Despite strong evidence that growing food crops to produce ethanol is harmful to the environment and the world’s poor, the Obama administration is backing subsidies and programs that will ensure that half of the U.S.’s corn crop will soon go to biofuel production. It’s time to recognize that biofuels are anything but green."
    • President Obama "and his administration have wholeheartedly embraced corn ethanol and the tangle of government subsidies, price supports, and tariffs that underpin the entire dubious enterprise of using corn to power our cars. In early February, the president threw his weight behind new and existing initiatives to boost ethanol production from both food and nonfood sources, including supporting Congressional mandates that would triple biofuel production to 36 billion gallons by 2022."
    • "Yet a close look at their impact on food security and the environment — with profound effects on water, the eutrophication of our coastal zones from fertilizers, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions — suggests that the biofuel bandwagon is anything but green."
    • Due to fertilizer usage, "loadings of nitrogen and phosphorus into the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico encourage algae growth, starving water bodies of oxygen needed by aquatic life and enlarging the hypoxic 'dead zone' in the gulf."[10]
  • Obama Announces Steps to Boost Biofuels, Clean Coal, 3 February 2010, US Department of Energy Press release: "At a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors from around the country, the President laid out three measures that will work in concert to boost biofuels production and reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil."
    • "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a rule to implement the long-term renewable fuels standard of 36 billion gallons by 2022 established by Congress. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a rule on the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) that would provide financing to increase the conversion of biomass to bioenergy."
    • "In addition, President Obama announced a Presidential Memorandum creating an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage to develop a comprehensive and coordinated federal strategy to speed the development and deployment of clean coal technologies."[13]
  • White House Clears Rules on Indirect GHG Emissions From Biofuels, 2 February 2010 by Greenwire/New York Times: "The White House has completed its review of controversial U.S. EPA regulations aimed at curbing renewable fuels' greenhouse gas emissions."
    • "The Office of Management and Budget signed off on the rule yesterday..., clearing EPA to finalize the long-delayed implementation of the renewable fuels standard that Congress included in the 2007 energy bill."
    • "The standard requires EPA to assess the "lifecycle" emissions of biofuels -- weighing the emissions from growing crops, producing fuels made from them, and distributing and using the fuels."
    • "The draft regulations EPA proposed last year sparked outrage from biofuels advocates and farm-state lawmakers who maintained the agency was unfair to ethanol."
    • "The EPA proposal measures emissions from "indirect" land-use changes associated with biofuels -- such as land that is deforested in other countries because of increased crop growth in the United States. The agency concluded, depending on the time frames modeled, that traditional corn ethanol could have a slightly larger emissions footprint than gasoline when land-use changes are factored in."[14]
  • U.S. Feeds One Quarter of its Grain to Cars While Hunger is on the Rise, 21 January 2010 press release by Earth Policy Institute: "The 107 million tons of grain that went to U.S. ethanol distilleries in 2009 was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels. More than a quarter of the total U.S. grain crop was turned into ethanol to fuel cars last year."
    • "In a globalized food economy, increased demand for food to fuel American vehicles puts additional pressure on world food supplies."
    • EPI calculates that "even if the entire U.S. grain crop were converted to ethanol..., it would satisfy at most 18 percent of U.S. automotive fuel needs."
    • "The amount of grain needed to fill the tank of an SUV with ethanol just once can feed one person for an entire year....Continuing to divert more food to fuel, as is now mandated by the U.S. federal government in its Renewable Fuel Standard, will likely only reinforce the disturbing rise in hunger."[15]
Change in Corn Plantings as Percent of County Area, 2004-2007 in the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region.
  • Lawsuit: LCFS violates US Constitution, 4 January 2010 by Todd J. Guerrero in Ethanol Producer Magazine: "In a case that will be closely watched throughout the country, Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association recently filed suit in federal district court alleging that California’s low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) violates the federal Constitution."
    • "Adopted by the California Air Resources Board in 2009, the LCFS is intended to reduce California greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by reducing the carbon intensity of transportation fuels used in California by an average of 10 percent by the year 2020."
    • "In its lawsuit, the trade groups assert that the LCFS stands as an obstacle to Congress’ intent in adopting the Environmental Security and Independence Act of 2007," which "exempted existing corn ethanol producers from claiming or demonstrating GHG reductions." The lawsuit also alleges that the LCFS violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which concerns interstate commerce, in particular because it requires calculating land use changes that occur mainly outside the state.[17]
  • Bad year for biofuel ends on a dour note, 1 January 2010 by AP/Washington Post: "A federal tax credit that provided makers of biodiesel $1 for every gallon expired Friday. As a result, some U.S. producers say they will shut down without the government subsidy."
    • "Biodiesel's woes come on top of a year of problems for the fledgling biofuel industry - an irony given the push to cut down on greenhouse gases and ease the nation's need for foreign oil. A key driver for the alternative fuel - the high cost of oil - disappeared as diesel prices dropped 18 percent since the beginning of the recession. Then in March the European Union placed import-killing tariffs on biodiesel and other biofuels."
    • "The biodiesel industry is now operating at only 15 percent of its potential capacity, according to the National Biodiesel Board, largely because the price of traditional diesel has collapsed. There are close to 180 biodiesel plants operating in about 40 states."
    • "There is little chance that the U.S. will reach alternative fuel benchmarks of 36 billion gallons a year by 2022 in hopes of weaning the nation off foreign oil."[18]

2009

  • In Copenhagen's Dark Mood, a Ray of Light for Forests 17 December 2009 by TIME: "there has been progress on ...REDD, which would allow developed nations to pay countries to preserve their rain forests and earn carbon credits. A draft text presented to the delegations on Wednesday had most, if not all, of the major issues ironed out."
    • "REDD got another boost on Wednesday when U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. would commit $1 billion over the next three years to help protect tropical forests."
    • "Negotiators of the draft text say far more will eventually be needed, somewhere north of $20 billion, but the U.S. pledge is a good start and perhaps the first of many others."
  • EPA delays action on more ethanol in gasoline, 1 December 2009 by Reuters: "Newer American cars will likely be able to handle higher ethanol blends in their gasoline but the decision to approve an industry request to change the fuel mix will have to await final testing next year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday."
    • "The EPA was supposed to decide by December 1 on a petition from Growth Energy and 54 ethanol manufacturers to let gasoline contain up to 15 percent ethanol."
    • "While farmers who provide the corn to make ethanol also support the initiative, automakers asked the EPA during the summer not to approve higher blends until the agency had test results showing the fuel would not damage vehicles."
    • "Energy legislation passed by Congress in 2007 set binding targets for fuel blending each year, with ethanol use rising from 4 billion gallons in 2006 and 11.1 billion gallons in 2009 to 20.5 billion by 2015 and 36 billion by 2022."[19]
  • Climate bill a farm income boost, USDA estimates, 22 July 2009 by Reuters: "U.S. farmers and foresters could earn more money from carbon contracts than they pay in higher costs from legislation to control greenhouse gases, the Agriculture Department estimated on Wednesday."
    • "USDA's "preliminary analysis" was one of the first attempts at a broad-spectrum examination of the House-passed climate bill. Most of its 13 pages were devoted to grains, cotton and soybeans. Limited space went to livestock and none to fruits and vegetables."
    • "Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the House climate bill would increase farm expenses by $700 million, or 0.3 percent, from 2012-18. That would be offset by revenue from a carbon offset market, estimated by USDA at $1 billion a year in the near term and $15 billion in 2040. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said offsets would be worth nearly $3 billion a year in 2020 for farms, ranches and forests."
    • "Beyond that, said Vilsack, is income from biofuels, worth a net return of at least $600 million a year."
    • "The EPA estimates U.S. cropland accounts for 6 percent of greenhouse gas emissions but growing vegetation removes 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere."[22]
  • For climate change bill, hard part starts now, 31 May 2009 by San Francisco Chronicle: "To get the climate change initiative to the House floor - and ultimately passed by the chamber - Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, must first run it through a gantlet of eight congressional committees headed by fellow Democrats who claim a piece of the action."
    • " [The] 46-member Agriculture Committee...is poised to make major alterations of the climate change plan, including overhauling the way the Environmental Protection Agency calculates the greenhouse gas emissions from alternative fuels made from corn and other plant materials...to make sure that when corn and other crops are made into biofuels, they qualify as low-carbon fuels under federal mandates."
    • "...corn-based ethanol advocates are worried about an EPA proposal to include 'indirect land use' changes - such as the clearing of forest for new farmlands - as part of any calculations on the carbon footprint of biofuels."
    • "Republicans...have largely united against the legislation, which they say would impose a hefty 'energy tax' on every U.S. business and consumer."
  • Obama seeks growth in biofuels beyond ethanol, 27 May 2009 by Reuters: U.S. President Barack Obama "wants to see new types of biofuels commercialized as quickly as possible, but the corn-based ethanol industry needs to remain viable in the meantime."
    • "The U.S. government wants to boost production of renewable fuels made from non-food crops like switchgrass and plant waste left over from harvesting grain."
    • "Regulators and lawmakers are debating how to measure the impact of land-use change on the environment -- for example, emissions released when corn production displaces other crops, giving farmers the incentive to turn forests into cropland."
    • "Obama said the next generation of biofuels will be successful only if 'long-standing artificial barriers to market expansion' are removed."
  • Obama’s Remarks on New Auto-Emissions Rules, 19 May 2009 by New York Times: President Barack Obama announced tough new nationwide rules for automobile emissions and mileage standards. The goal is to set one national standard that will rapidly increase fuel efficiency by an average of 5 percent each year between 2012 and 2016, building on the 2011 standard set by his Administration. The Department of Transportation and EPA will adopt the same rule, avoiding an inefficient and ineffective system of regulations that separately govern the fuel economy of autos and the carbon emissions. The state of California has also agreed to support this standard.[24]
  • (Obama) Administration addressing ethanol, climate change, 5 May 2009 by Associated Press: "President Barack Obama directed more loan guarantees and economic stimulus money for biofuels research and told the Agriculture Department to find ways to preserve biofuel industry jobs."
    • "Obama said an interagency group also would explore ways to get automakers to produce more cars that run on ethanol and to find ways to make available more ethanol fueling stations."
    • "The reassurances to the ethanol industry came as the Environmental Protection Agency made public its initial analysis on what impact the massive expansion of future ethanol use could have on climate change. Rejecting industry and agricultural interests' arguments, it said its rules...will take into account increased greenhouse gas emissions as more people plant ethanol crops at the expense of forests and other vegetation and land use is influenced worldwide by the demand for biofuels."
    • "The ethanol industry and farm-state members of Congress had wanted only a comparison of direct emissions".[25]
  • Biomass 2009, 17 March 2009 in the Des Moines Register: "If there’s any good news in the biofuels industry, it’s tough to find it. That includes a conference the Energy Department is sponsoring this week called Biomass 2009."
    • "The view is pretty grim...and the reasons are many: The drop in the price of oil, which has hammered the corn ethanol industry; the meltdown in the financial services sector, which has dried up financing for the plants; or the many barriers to increasing the ethanol market, including the paucity of E85 stations and the so-called 'blend wall,' the limit on the amount of ethanol that can be blended into gasoline for conventional cars."
    • "There also is the prospect that new biofuels plants will face greenhouse gas emission targets they can’t meet when EPA releases a long-awaited formula."
    • "And add at least one more problem to the list: Patent reform. Biofuel developers worry that the software industry will win changes in patent law that make it harder for energy companies to protect their inventions."[27]
  • Brazil wants help lifting US ethanol tariffs, 17 March 2009 by the International Herald Tribune: "Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday implored American businessmen to help convince the United States to lift the 53-cent-per-gallon import tariff it places on his country's ethanol fuel."
    • Silva, "who met with President Barack Obama on Saturday, has made little progress persuading the U.S. to reduce the tariffs, which are in place to protect American farmers who make ethanol from corn. Brazil makes ethanol from sugar, in a process that is much more efficient and costs less."[28]
  • Agriculture secretary wants more ethanol in gas, 9 March 2009 by MSNBC: United States "Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the government should move quickly to increase the amount of ethanol allowed in gasoline."
    • "Ethanol producers asked the Environmental Protection Agency last week to increase the amount of ethanol that refiners can blend with gasoline from a maximum of 10 percent to 15 percent, which could boost the demand for the renewable fuel additive by as much as 6 billion gallons a year."
    • "It is up to the EPA to lift the cap. Adora Andy, the EPA's press secretary, said in a statement Friday that the agency will review the request and 'act based on the best available science.'"[29]
  • EU slaps duties on U.S. biodiesel imports: sources, 3 March 2009 by Reuters: "A key European Union trade panel approved on Tuesday temporary anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on imports of biodiesel from the United States, sources with knowledge of the decision said."
    • "From March 13, U.S. firms exporting biodiesel into the EU will have to pay additional tariffs for an initial six months, ranging from 26 euros ($32.88) to 41 euros per 100 kg."
    • "The EU firms say exporters in the United States are involved in so-called 'splash and dash,' whereby they import cheaper biodiesel from countries such as Brazil and add less than 5 percent of U.S. mineral diesel so they can pick up the subsidy from Washington before exporting to Europe."[30]
  • A New North American Consensus in Biofuels, 18 February 2009 by MSNBC: "As America and Canada look for ways to provide economic opportunity, reduce the impacts of climate change, and develop renewable energy sources, the role of biofuels in the energy plans of both nations is becoming increasingly important. Both nations are investing in alternatives to imported oil."
    • "Paralleling efforts in the U.S. to expand the use of ethanol, the Canadian Parliament last year passed a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requiring gasoline sold in Canada to contain an average of 5% renewable content, including ethanol, and 2% renewable content, including biodiesel, in the diesel supply.'
    • "Finally, based on a number of recent studies, it is clear that renewable fuels using both grains and cellulosic feedstocks are better for the environment than gasoline."
  • Ethanol, Just Recently a Savior, Is Struggling, 12 February 2009 by New York Times: "Barely a year after Congress enacted an energy law meant to foster a huge national enterprise capable of converting plants and agricultural wastes into automotive fuel, the goals lawmakers set for the ethanol industry are in serious jeopardy."
    • "As recently as last summer, plants that make ethanol from corn were sprouting across the Midwest. But now...the industry is burdened with excess capacity, and plants are shutting down virtually every week."
    • "In the meantime, plans are lagging for a new generation of factories that were supposed to produce ethanol from substances like wood chips and crop waste, overcoming the drawbacks of corn ethanol. That nascent branch of the industry concedes it has virtually no chance of meeting Congressional production mandates that kick in next year."
    • "Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, a trade group, estimated that of the country’s 150 ethanol companies and 180 plants, 10 or more companies have shut down 24 plants over the last three months. That has idled about 2 billion gallons out of 12.5 billion gallons of annual production capacity. Mr. Dinneen estimated that a dozen more companies were in distress."
    • "In an effort to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil and to lower the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, Congress mandated a doubling of corn ethanol use, to 15 billion gallons a year by 2015. Congress also mandated, by 2022, the use of an additional 21 billion gallons of ethanol and other biofuels produced from materials collectively known as biomass."[32]
Ret. General Wesley Clark, at Growth Energy press conference, 5 February 2009, in Washington, D.C.
  • Former NATO Commander Clark joins ethanol group, 5 February 2009 by The Hill: "A new ethanol group in a lobbying war with the Grocery Manufacturers Association has tapped a man with real fighting experience to help run the campaign."
    • "Former NATO Commander and Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark was introduced today as co-chairman of Growth Energy, a new organization designed to promote corn ethanol."
    • "Growth Energy is also pushing to increase a regulatory cap on the amount of ethanol that can be mixed with gasoline and for the continued tax support for the industry."[33]
  • VeraSun plans to auction all ethanol plants, 5 February 2009 by Reuters: "VeraSun Energy Corp...which is under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, will put all of its ethanol plants up for sale, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Thursday."
    • "VeraSun, the second largest ethanol producer in the United States behind privately owned Poet, filed for bankruptcy protection in October, citing high corn prices and a lack of access to financing."[34]

2008

  • U.S. will fail to meet biofuels mandate -EIA, 17 December 2008 by Reuters: "The United States will fall well short of biofuels mandates on the uncertain development of next-generation fuels made from grasses and wood chips, the government's top energy forecasting agency said on Wednesday."
    • "The country, the world's top producer of the main biofuel ethanol, will only blend about 30 billion gallons of fuels like corn-based ethanol and the advanced fuels into gasoline by 2022. That is about 17 percent short of the U.S. mandate of 36 billion gallons by that year, the Energy Information Agency (EIA) said in the forecast."
    • "It calls for corn ethanol, but also an increasing amount cellulosic ethanol made from fast-growing grasses and trees, and biodiesel made from non-food sources. Cellulosic is not yet made commercially."
    • "For the moment U.S. ethanol capacity is too high, which is helping to make distilling ethanol barely profitable. U.S. capacity to make ethanol is slightly above the 2009 mandate for blending of 11.1 billion gallons of biofuels into gasoline."[35]
  • U.S. biofuels sector sees ally in Obama, 5 November 2008 by The Guardian: "U.S. biofuel makers, struggling to make a profit at a time of tumbling oil and gasoline prices, look upon President-elect Barack Obama as a staunch ally for growth."
    • "Obama has expressed support for the federal requirement to use ethanol, made mostly from corn, as a motor fuel and says he will accelerate the development of new feedstocks."[36]
  • Economy Shifts, and the Ethanol Industry Reels, 4 November 2008 by the New York Times: "As producers of ethanol navigate a triple whammy of falling prices for their product, credit woes and volatile costs for the corn from which ethanol is made, an economic version of 'Survivor' is playing out in the industry."
    • "Last week, VeraSun, one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, announced that it had filed for bankruptcy protection after its bets on the price of corn turned out to be wrong — and costly."
    • "Fewer than 10 of the country’s ethanol plants have stopped operating, according to Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, an industry group. But construction times have slowed and some plants in the planning stage have been halted."[37]
  • Economy Shifts, and the Ethanol Industry Reels, 4 November 2008 by the New York Times: "As producers of ethanol navigate a triple whammy of falling prices for their product, credit woes and volatile costs for the corn from which ethanol is made, an economic version of 'Survivor' is playing out in the industry."
    • "Last week, VeraSun, one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, announced that it had filed for bankruptcy protection after its bets on the price of corn turned out to be wrong — and costly."
    • "Fewer than 10 of the country’s ethanol plants have stopped operating, according to Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, an industry group. But construction times have slowed and some plants in the planning stage have been halted."[38]
  • Biofuel plants hit economic road block, 12 October 2008 by the Associated Press: "[W]eeds have begun to encroach on the [Lilbourn, MO] Great River Soy biodiesel plant, which produced just 94,000 gallons over two weeks before it ran out of money and was shuttered."
    • "It's a scene that has been repeated throughout the United States."
    • "Hopes ran high in many small towns amid an explosive interest in biofuels and a rush to build large plants. Unseen by planners, however, was the coming spike in crop prices and a financial meltdown unlike any that America has seen since the Great Depression."[39]
  • World needs to rethink biofuels - U.N. food agency, 7 October 2008 by Reuters: "The Western world needs to rethink its rush to biofuels, which has done more harm pushing up food prices than it has good by reducing greenhouse gases, a United Nations report said on Tuesday."
    • "The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said policies encouraging biofuel production and use in Europe and the United States was likely to maintain pressure on food prices but have little impact on weaning car users away from oil."
    • "Biofuels' rise could provide an opportunity for farmers in developing countries to develop the new cash crops, the report said, but that would only happen if subsidy regimes were changed to favour poorer countries rather than richer ones."[41]
  • Biofuels surge slows in Southeast, 30 September 2008 by Southeast Farm Press: "'If each of the 171 completed biodiesel plants in the Southeast ran at full capacity, we would use 26.9 billion pounds of raw material. The U.S. produces 24.6 billion gallons of vegetable oil and another 11 billion pounds of animal fats. At current full capacity, Southeastern plants would use over 70 percent of all the fats produced across the U.S. That is not realistic,'" according to Don Camden, a Southeast regional manager for Cargill."[42]
  • U.N. Chief to Prod Nations On Food Crisis, 2 June 2008 by the Washington Post: "U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will issue an urgent plea to world leaders at a food summit in Rome on Tuesday to immediately suspend trade restrictions, agricultural taxes and other price controls that have helped fuel the highest food prices in 30 years, according to U.N. officials....The United Nations will also urge the United States and other nations to consider phasing out subsidies for food-based biofuels -- such as ethanol".
    • The article notes that a "World Bank analyst estimated that biofuel production has accounted for 65 percent in the rise of world food prices, while the IMF has concluded that biofuel production is responsible for 'a significant part of the jump in commodity prices.'"
      • "But the United States has defended the production of biofuels, saying it has driven down oil consumption over the past three years. 'According to our analysis, the increased biofuels production accounts for only 2 to 3 percent of the overall increase in global food prices,' said Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer".[47]
  • "Corn... fuel... fire! U.S. corn subsidies promote Amazon deforestation", 8 January 2008 press release from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute: According to STRI researcher William Laurance, "Amazon deforestation and fires are being aggravated by US farm subsidies...that promote American corn production for ethanol." Corn subsidies also result in farmers reducing production of soy -- thus increasing global soy prices, which in turn promotes burning of forests in the Brazilian Amazon in order to clear land for soy cultivation.
    • According to Laurance, "The evidence of a corn connection to the Amazon is circumstantial, but it's about as close as you ever get to a smoking gun."[49]

2007

  • San Francisco Fleet is All Biodiesel from the New York Times, 14 December 2007, the mayor announced that the city has completed a year-long project to convert its entire vehicle fleet to biodiesel created from midwestern soy oil.
  • US and China sign biofuels cooperation pact, Biopact, 11 December 2007, The two governments have signed a memorandum of understanding that they will share technology through scientific exchanges. It is hoped that this initiative will help meet both countries' lofty goals for biofuels, and assist farmers in the process.
  • Brazil case accents need for new biofuels rules. Brazil is preparing to finally take their case against US ethanol tariffs before the WTO. It is expected that regardless of the results of the case, the WTO will be prompted to develop new rules for the regulation of biofuels.
  • Solar Panels, Biofuel and Tidal Turbines in Bloomberg Plans, 12 June 2007 from the New York Times. The mayor of New York City has announced a plan to increase renewable energy use through tide-driven turbines, as well as outfitting municipal buildings with solar panels and buying heating oil containing biofuels. By summer 2008, "30 percent of the city’s heating oil purchases would be required to contain 5 percent biofuel, which could grow to 10 percent by 2010 and 20 percent by 2012. A City Councilman has also proposed a requirement that private buildings, including homes and offices, use a 5 percent mix by 2009, increasing to a 20 percent mix by 2012.

2006

  • Stover to Fill Part of Ethanol Goal for US 22 November from the Des Moines Register. A report issued by the Biotechnology Industry Organization on Tuesday estimated that it was "realistic" to harvest 30 percent of the available stover nationwide to yield 5 billion gallons of ethanol. Most of the stover would continue to be left in the field for environmental reasons as the decaying plant material prevents soil erosion and adds ground nutrients. The US DOE has set a goal of 60 billion gallons of ethanol by 2030. However that goal assumed the use of 70% of stover for ethanol.
  • US Ethanol Industry Growth to Slow, say Economists 14 November 2006 from the Des Moines Register. Iowa State University economists cautioned that increased costs and delays in ethanol plant construction, transportation bottlenecks, and rapidly rising corn prices signaled that the expansion of the ethanol industry might be cooling.

Events

Also see the main events page.

2010:

2009:

2008:

Publications

  • Forest Management Solutions for Mitigating Climate Change in the United States. (2009, Society of American Foresters, Bethesda, Maryland, USA). PDF copy of the Malmsheimer et al. publication (ISBN: 978-0-939970-96-4).
    • Includes chapters that propose strategies in the United States for "Preventing GHG Emissions Through Biomass Substitution", "Preventing GHG Emissions Through Avoided Land-Use Change", "Preventing GHG Emissions Through Wood Substitution", and "Preventing GHG Emissions Through Wildfire Behavior Modification".
  • Sustainable Ethanol: Biofuels, Biorefineries, Cellulosic Biomass, Flex-Fuel Vehicles, and Sustainable Farming for Energy Independence, authors Goettemoeller, Jeffrey and Adrian Goettemoeller, Praire Oak Publishing, Maryville, Missouri, 2007, 195 pages. ISBN 978-0-9786293-0-4.
  • This book presents a very comprehensive stat-of-the-art of the ethanol industry in the United States up to early 2007.

References

1Biofuels: Statement Of Keith Collins Chief Economist, U.S. Department Of Agriculture Before The U.S. Senate Committee On Agriculture, Nutrition And Forestry (PDF) - 10 January 2007.

United States government edit
Departments and Agencies: Agriculture (Biomass Crop Assistance Program, CRP, Forest Service - Woody BUG)
Commerce | Defense | Education | Energy | EPA | FTC | Interior | Transportation
United States edit
Events | Issues | Policy | Organizations (US Government, US Companies, US NGOs)

States / Regions: Midwest | Northeast | South | West


Navigation
What is bioenergy? | Benefits/Risks | Who is doing what?

Events | Glossary | News | Organizations | Publications | Regions | Technologies/Feedstocks | Policy | Timeline | Voices
Wiki "sandbox" - Practice editing | About this Wiki | How to edit

Retrieved from "http://www.bioenergywiki.net/United_States"
Personal tools