June 26, 2015
BY Tim Portz
The renewable fuel standard (RFS) is the greatest piece of renewable energy policy the world has ever seen, according to Brooke Coleman, executive director of the Advanced Ethanol Council. Coleman would likely agree that, consequently, the RFS has also generated the largest policy backlash and opposition the world will ever see. The RFS, originally passed as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, was expanded and extended in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. It gave rise to a corn ethanol industry with annual production values of over 14 billion gallons, or right around 10 percent of the annual U.S. gasoline consumption. As successful as the RFS has been, those who have dedicated their livelihoods to fulfilling the mandate are now fighting to defend it. This is illustrated in Managing Editor Anna Simet's page-36 department, "Crunching the Numbers," a summary of Coleman's and other biofuel stakeholders' comments at the 2015 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo. While this may seem counterintuitive to the general public, renewable energy advocates are likely to react with a knowing and affirmative shrug of the shoulders.
Ours is an industry looking to take market share, often in declining markets, from well-entrenched incumbents who can only be expected to rabidly defend their enviable market position. In nearly every category, industry groups are drafting, working to generate support for, expanding or defending existing renewable energy policies that are so vital to the greater biomass industry. This issue of Biomass Magazine examines the ridiculously complex, overwhelming, challenging and mind-numbingly bureaucratic battleground that we are all combatants upon, whether we like it or not.
Coleman’s assertion is supported throughout the issue. In Simet’s page-26 department, “Thermal Reinforcement,” her sources succinctly establish that the kind of federal mandate enjoyed by the biofuels sector is hardly even worth talking about, and likely makes more sense to tackle at the state level, owing to the different ways thermal energy needs are met across the country. In fact, Charlie Niebling, one of the preeminent thermal biomass advocates in the country, suggests a comprehensive, federal renewable energy standard is a “utopian notion.” Recognizing that, Niebling and others have set their sights on state-level policy victories and are making real progress in the Northeast.
I’ll warn you now that the stories in this issue of Biomass Magazine will likely cause frustration. Policy is vital to our industry’s growth, but it is not a guarantee, and just as soon as our industry enjoys a policy victory that starts to bear real fruit, the hard work of defending our position begins.
Author: Tim Portz
Vice President of Content & Executive Editor
tportz@bbiinternational.com
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The U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced up to $23 million in funding to support research and development (R&D) of domestic chemicals and fuels from biomass and waste resources.
The U.S. DOE has announced its intent to issue funding to support high-impact research and development (R&D) projects in two priority areas: sustainable propane and renewable chemicals and algal system cultivation and preprocessing.
Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., in August introduced the Renewable Chemicals Act, a bill that aims to create a tax credit to support the production of biobased chemicals.
The Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy Consortium, a consortium of the U.S. DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office, has launched an effort that aims to gather community input on the development of new biomass processing facilities.
USDA on March 8 celebrated the second annual National Biobased Products Day, a celebration to raise public awareness of biobased products, their benefits and their contributions to the U.S. economy and rural communities.