The Fundamentals of a Sustainable U.S. Biofuels Policy
An Energy study sponsored by Chevron Technology Ventures

Study Description

The Baker Institute Energy Forum and Rice University's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEVE) have embarked on a two-year project examining the efficacy and impact of current U.S. biofuels policy. This study is entitled Fundamentals of a Sustainable U.S. Biofuels Policy.

In his 2007 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush championed energy alternatives and emphasized the potential of biomass-derived fuels to fulfill a greater share of our nation's transportation fuel needs. Biofuels, as an alternative to traditional gasoline fuel, can contribute to reducing dependence on foreign oil.

However, successful implementation of a sustainable biofuels program in the United States will require careful analysis of the potential strengths and weaknesses of the currently proposed U.S. policy. Corporate leaders are also in need of more complete data in assessing expanded industry participation in the biofuels arena. More policy research is necessary to identify necessary steps to avoid the unintended, negative impacts on sustainable development and the environment, including deleterious impacts on domestic agricultural and food systems, surface and ground water, and overall air quality in the United States.

A permanent transition to an effective national biofuels program will also require greater planning to ensure efficient production and transportation logistics, to safeguard fuel standardization and reliability, and to manage input crop competition. Many examples abound in modern U.S. politics of fuel and energy policies that caused unintended harm despite their initially promising goals. These situations forewarn us that a holistic analysis is needed to develop effective and sustainable implementation to changes in our transportation fuel sector.

In the case of biofuels, further study is needed on the long term environmental impacts of large scale use, the likelihood of crop-failures or agricultural market-competition, as well as the logistical and economic issues involved in extending biofuels beyond their current role as a 10% additive in the existing gasoline pool. In discussions of existing policy proposals for broad expansion of biofuels into the U.S. fuel system to 20% and beyond, inadequate attention has been paid to technical difficulties and costs related to standardization and reliability of fuel as biofuels, from widely differing cellulotic biomaterial inputs, are added to the U.S. fuel system. Such shifting fuel formulations will require adjustments in emerging car engine sensor technologies and other tests to ensure fuel safety and standardization.

Related Events & Publications Baker Institute Policy Report on The Fundamentals of a Sustainable U.S. Biofuels Policy White Paper on U.S. Biofuels Policy Workshop: U.S. Biofuels Policy: Progress and Challenges Workshop topics to be discussed: the environmental impacts of ethanol including new work on ethanol's groundwater footprint, other environmental impacts of the current US biofuels policy, Baker Institute analysis of the export potential of South America and the Caribbean , as well as external opinion of experts like yourself on the kinds of logistical, transportation, market, and other problems might emerge in the scale up of production and consumption of ethanol in the US gasoline market. August 20, 2008 Conference Report: Biomass to Chemicals and Fuels: Science, Technology and Public Policy January 2008 Conference: Biomass to Chemicals and Fuels: Science, Technology and Public Policy September 25-26, 2006 The conference investigated the potential for biofuels to contribute to U.S. energy security and to highlight the research and development of new technologies and scientific breakthroughs needed to make biofuels a viable alternative to oil based fuels. This conference is also part of a broader campaign to reinvigorate public interest in the physical sciences. A bipartisan effort to address our energy security dilemma through revolutionary technologies could generate an excitement and idealism similar to the one that swept the nation – and particularly our young people -- during the height of the space program in the 1960s and 1970s.