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Biofuels: DOE Lacks a Strategic Approach to Coordinate Increasing Production with Infrastructure Development and Vehicle Needs (56-page PDF)
U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Why GAO Did This Study
The U.S. transportation sector is almost entirely dependent on oil, a condition that poses significant economic and environmental risks. Biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, have the potential to displace oil use in transportation fuel. GAO was asked to describe the status of and impediments to expanding biofuel production, distribution infrastructure, and compatible vehicles as well as federal policy options to overcome the impediments. GAO was also asked to assess the extent to which the Department of Energy (DOE) has developed a strategic approach to coordinate the expansion of biofuel production, infrastructure, and vehicles and has evaluated the effectiveness of biofuel tax credits. GAO interviewed representatives and reviewed studies and data from DOE, states, industry, and other sources.
What GAO Found
…Existing biofuel distribution infrastructure has limited capacity to transport the fuels and deliver them to consumers. Biofuels are transported largely by rail, and the ability of that industry to meet growing demand is uncertain. In addition, in early 2007, about 1 percent of fueling stations in the United States offered E85-a blend of about 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline-or high blends of biodiesel, such as B20 or higher. Increasing the availability of E85 at fueling stations is impeded largely by the limited availability of ethanol for use in high blends. Several policy options, such as mandating their installation, could increase the number of biofuel dispensers in stations. However, until more biofuel is available at a lower cost, it is unlikely that more fueling stations would lead to significantly greater biofuels use.
… DOE has not yet developed a comprehensive approach to coordinate its strategy for expanding biofuels production with the development of biofuel infrastructure and production of vehicles. Such an approach could assist in determining which blend of ethanol-E10, E85, or something in between- would most effectively and efficiently increase the use of the fuel and what infrastructure development or vehicle production is needed to support that blend level. In addition, DOE has not evaluated the performance of biofuel-related tax credits, the largest of which cost the Treasury $2.7billion in 2006. As a result, it is not known if these expenditures produced the desired outcomes or if similar benefits might have been achieved at a lower cost.
(June 2007)
Report says biofuel puts developing countries’ water at risk
Inside Greentech
Increasing agricultural output for biofuels is further expected to put more pressure on water resources, says a new report from India-based research company RNCOS.
Countries struggling with the problem of inadequate water supplies would be particularly hard hit by increased demand for agricultural land predicts the report.
RNCOS, which publishes Biofuel Market Worldwide (2007-2010), cites a study conducted by the Sri Lankan International Water-Management Institute that found, at a global average, 1,000-4,000 liters of water is consumed by the biomass needed to produce one liter of biofuel.
The exact quantity of water that evaporates during the process depends on the feedstock and conversion technique used.
(12 June 2007)
Biofuel is glod rush of the 21st century, says FAO
Kazinform (Kazakhstan)
BANGKOK – The worldwide upsurge of interest in biofuels can best be described as the “Gold Rush of the 21st Century”, said Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) deputy regional chief for Asia and the Pacific Hiroyuki Konuma.
He said that worldwide, about 14 million hectares or about one per cent of the world’s available arable land, were already used for biofuel production and this could rise to 3.5 per cent or higher in the near future.
“In this bioenergy rush, FAO is calling for policies that protect land, water and forest resources, promote socially acceptable land use, and guide bioenergy development in an equitable and sustainable direction,” he said, Kazinform cites Bernama.
FAO said this as key agriculture, environment and energy officials from Great Mekong Region (GMS) countries of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam agreed after a two-day meeting here to initiate efforts that could dramatically change the
rural landscape in those countries in the near future.
(13 June 2007)
Goldrush – perhaps that’s the right term. The California Goldrush of 1848 was an environmental disaster, from which the state not yet recovered. -BA
Food price rises force a cut in biofuels
Jane Macartney and Tim Reid, London Times
China’s communist rulers announced a moratorium on the production of ethanol from corn and other food crops yesterday at the very time that Western leaders are rushing to embrace alternative food-based fuel technology.
Beijing’s move underlines concerns that ethanol production is driving up rapidly the costs of corn and grain. It appears to reflect a growing reality about food-based alternative fuel: it is far more expensive both economically and environmentally, than Western politicians are likely to admit.
Calls for biofuels are politically attractive for European and US politicians, amid rising petrol prices and concerns about global warming and an overreliance on Middle Eastern oil.
Communist officials in Beijing, however, who do not have the political concerns of democratically elected leaders in the West, have reacted to a rapid rise in food prices and an intense demand on farm land that threatens to make ethanol production unsustainable.
…In China grain security has for decades been at the top of the party’s political priority list, and a 43 per cent increase in the price of China’s staple meat – pork – over last year to recent record highs as a result of rapidly rising feed prices is certain to have triggered concern at the highest level of the party.
Xu Dingming, an official of the National Energy Leading Group, told a recent seminar: “Food-based ethanol fuel will not be the direction for China.”
(12 June 2007)
The push for corn ethanol in the West seems more a result of lobbying by special interests rather than of democracy. See Congress Turns to Energy, and Lobbyists Arrive (NY Times).
Corn Growers’ Jon Doggett attributes high food prices to increasing gas costs, not corn demand (video and transcript)
OnPoint, E&E TV
As discussions over the 2007 farm bill heat up, what will legislators decide is most important in order to meet our growing energy demands through biofuels?
During today’s episode of OnPoint, Jon Doggett, vice president of public policy at the National Corn Growers Association, explains what his organization is lobbying for in this year’s farm bill.
Doggett explains why he believes other industries are not being affected by the increasing demand for corn and biofuels. He also describes advancements in seed technology that are improving ethanol production and explains how the push for cellulosic ethanol will affect corn growers.
(12 June 2007)
