SNRAS professor appointed to national energy committee

Assistant Professor Andy Soria

SNRAS Assistant Professor Andy Soria has been appointed to a national energy committee, commissioned by the Department of the Treasury to study the economic and environmental impacts of increasing biofuels production. Dr. Soria is an assistant professor of wood chemistry. He earned a PhD from the University of Idaho. His research focuses on utilization of low value biomass for fuels and chemicals, mostly through thermochemical means (gasification, pyrolysis, supercritical fluids). He works with biomass (composition, makeup, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical characteristics) and studies the chemical characterization of Alaska's timber and non-timber species, and is involved in forest products development.

The Department of the Treasury commissioned the National Academies’ Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources and Board on Energy and Environmental Systems to conduct the study of current and projected biofuel production, use, and impacts. The study will:

• Include a quantitative and qualitative description of biofuels currently produced and expected to be produced in the United States, with particular focus on the impacts of the Renewable Fuel Standard and tax and tariff policies.
  
• Evaluate how federally mandated levels of renewable fuels and other incentives affect the price and availability of animal feed, food, renewable fuels, and forest products.
  
• Analyze the impact of current and projected future levels of biofuels production and use, and the incremental impact of additional production, on the environment and discuss the pros and cons of achieving legislated RFS levels and the barriers to achieving the RFS requirements.
  
• Identify policy options, including those available under current legislation, to alleviate the adverse impacts of the RFS on the price and availability of animal feedstocks and food.
  

The study will be conducted by a committee of 20 members appointed by the National Academies. The committee includes scientists and experts familiar with current basic and applied research on biofuels production, including research on feasible feedstocks, agronomic or biotechnological improvement to feedstocks, biomass conversion, and fuels synthesis; experts in energy, environmental, and agricultural economics, and regulatory and tax policies; experts in environmental science and impact analysis, including impacts of land use change; and experts in animal feed production, silviculture, and forest products.

To inform its analysis, the study committee will seek the input of feed grain producers, food animal producers, producers of other food products, energy producers (renewable and petroleum-based fuel producers, fuel blenders), forest owners and forest products manufacturers and users, individuals and entities interested in nutrition or in the relationship of the environment to energy production, producers and users of renewable fuel feedstocks, users of renewable fuels, and experts in agricultural economics from land grant universities.

Related reading:
Researcher seeks energy answer in biofuels, SNRAS Science & News, Oct. 30, 2008