What Can States and the Federal Government Do to Help Develop Advanced Biofuels? | Article

Shifting to sustainable, low carbon, advanced biofuels is key to addressing several critical national challenges, including:

Creating jobs, boosting rural incomes, and growing the economy
Reducing petroleum dependence and strengthening energy security ; and
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change , and other environmental impacts of the U.S. transportation sector.

The 2007 Renewable Fuel Standard, the energy provisions in the 2008 Farm Bill, and other complementary legislation enacted by Congress in recent years are helping to do just that. Corn ethanol– the first generation of biofuels – is coming back strong after the industry tumbled with the rest of the economy in 2008-2009. Corn ethanol refiners and corn producers are continuously improving their production processes to produce more renewable fuel using less water, land, and fossil fuel inputs per gallon of ethanol.

However, the nation still has a ways to go to begin commercial scale production of the next generations of biofuels, which will use even fewer resources to produce. Full commercial scale production of cellulosic biofuels and other advanced, low carbon biofuels has been delayed by the lack of financing for new biorefineries. Still frozen credit markets are not helping. And technological, economic, regulatory, and political uncertainties concerning advanced biofuels have kept investors away. The federal government will need to do much more to help create the conditions for this new industry’s success in the years ahead.

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) will host a briefing on Capitol Hill on Thursday, March 18, to examine the state of the advanced biofuels industry, and what the federal government is doing to spur development. EESI also recently published a policy paper, Developing an Advanced Biofuel Industry: State Policy Options for Lean and Uncertain Times , which outlines ten policy options state governments can pursue to develop their own local bioenergy resources and advanced biofuels industries.