BIOMASS HUB

Steve Bennish writing for Dayton Daily News explains that Ohio’s heavy-dependence on coal is about to change.  The state is investing heavily in alternative energy projects, and in doing so, attempting to put its ubiquitous manufacturing infrastructure back to work.

The focus on renewable energy is indicative of both the need for new sources of income in the U.S. economy and growing energy shortages.  Ohio, a rust belt state, was the hub of oil activity in the early U.S. oil days.  Its robust industrial economy has been in decline for decades.  Like the U.S. as a hole, renewable energy offers a way forward to create job, put factories to work, and revive local economies throughout Ohio.

Ohio needs clean sources of energy to chart a new course forward.  Bennish explains:

If Ohio were a country, its electricity demand would rank 19th among the world’s nations — right above Iran and below Saudi Arabia.  Coal burning quenches about 90 percent of that industry-fueld thirst…

But changing the energy landscape within the state won’t be easy.  Bennish explains:

Changing Ohio’s coal-based power system has been likened to turning around an ocean liner — one with plenty of icebergs in its path.

In Ohio, a flurry of investments aim to shift from a heavy reliance on coal, including $50 million from the U.S. Air Force to University of Dayton to study turning U.S. coal and biomass into renewable jet fuel (see Great Plains, Accellergy Partner to Produce Renewable Jet Fuel from Coal, Biomass).  Ohio’s renewable energy portfolio includes a 25 percent alternative energy mandate by 2025.  Biomass, along with others, must account for half that.

In Ohio, China is the competition.  The state recognizes that to rehabilitate its manufacturing base, the state must continue to invest heavily in renewable sources, but it will also need help from the federal government.

More on the story here.