SNRAS professor is part of publishing team for controversial fuel report

SNRAS Assistant Professor Andy Soria co-authored a National Academy of Sciences report that was released yesterday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

The report, Renewable Fuel Standard: Potential Economic and Environmental Effects of U.S. Biofuel Policy,” is garnering much media and academic attention because it predicts a gloomy future for cellulosic ethanol (made from corn stalks, wood chips or other non-food items). The study advocates the right renewable fuels and specifies that the RFS2mandate of 36 billion gallons will not be met in the 2022 timeframe without major technology breakthroughs.

Authoring organizations are the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, Earth and Life Studies and Engineering and Physical Sciences.

Soria said, "Our group concurred that the ethanol mandate was not the right tool to get biofuels to the market place and that ethanol is not the best choice of biofuels from an environmental and economical standpoint. That being said, the opportunity continues to be there as it takes years of research and development to develop a competitive performing fuel. New technology averages 30 years to make it into market and over 50 to stand on its own. For the record, oil and gas new products take between 15 to 20 years, so the report does highlight the need for continued support of the next generation fuels."

The report came following the U.S. Congress’s enactment of the Renewable Fuels Standard as part of the 2005 Energy Policy Act which was amended in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. The RFS mandated that volumes of renewable fuels be used in U.S. transportation fuel from 2008 to 2022. At the request of the U.S. Congress, the National Research Council convened a committee of 16 experts to provide an independent assessment of the economic and environmental benefits and concerns associated with achieving the desired goal.

The committee solicited input from experts in federal agencies, academia, trade associations, stakeholders’ groups and nongovernmental organizations.

The committee was asked to:

• Describe biofuels produced in 2010 and projected to be produced and consumed by 2022 using RFS-compliant feedstocks primarily from U.S. forests and farmland. The 2022 projections were to include per unit cost of production.
• Review model projections and other estimates of the relative effects of increasing biofuels production as a result of RFS2 on the prices of land, food and feed and forest products; on the imports and exports of relevant commodities; and on federal revenue and spending.
• Discuss the potential environmental harm and benefits of biofuels production and the barriers to achieving the mandate.

The buzz:

The Hill

Vilsack’s comment to Feedstuff

Renewable Fuels Association

Renewable Fuels Association

Minnesota Public Radio

Des Moines Register

Reuters

Growth Energy

USA Today

R&D Magazine

Ethanol Producers

Domesticfuel.com