BIOMASS HUB

USDA releases its much-anticipated report, “Regional Roadmap to Meeting the Biofuels Goals of the Renewable Fuels Standard by 2022.” Report outlines both the current state of renewable transportation fuels in America and a plan to develop regional strategies to increase their production, marketing, and distribution.

Earlier this week, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack released a report which provided a roadmap on how America can meet the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS 2.0).

The report states:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is developing a comprehensive regional strategy to help recharge the rural American economy. The strategy targets barriers to the development of a successful biofuels market that will achieve, or surpass, the current U.S. Renewable Fuels Standards (RFS2), as set out in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA).

USDA’s report identifies numerous biomass feedstocks to be utilized in developing biofuels and calls for the funding of further investments in research and development of:

• Feedstock;
• Sustainable production and management systems;
• Efficient conversion technologies and high-value bioproducts, and
• Decision support and policy analysis tools.

All regions can contribute to meeting America’s long term energy needs, and USDA’s Forest Service released its strategic direction for bioenergy and biobased products that ties directly to the Obama Administration push to develop alternatives to fossil fuel use in the U.S.

In Biofuels Digest’s comprehensive review of the roadmap, it calls it:

A monumental step forward in the planning of bioenergy, though biofuels industry insiders may wonder how 20 billion gallons of capacity will be built in 12 years, given that it took 30 months for the US government to publish rules and a plan for the RFS since its passage in 2007.

The decision to not include algae may well reflect the early stage of the technologies, but we also note the absence of woody biocrops such as poplar as well as MSW and animal residues in the plan. These feedstocks – plus imports – make up a 5 billion gallons variance (out of 20 billion gallons in new capacity) between the EPA and USDA view – too wide a divergence.

The $160 billion capital cost of the buildout of 500 biorefineries — not to mention the infrastructure costs — remind us that a financing strategies are a necessary component part of developing biofuels in a market where there is not enforced mandate or a price on carbon. More discussion and more craetive thinking about the money is needed. If you build them, they might come – but if you don’t build them, nothing happens.

Image: Flickr/OneEighteen