In the first post of this series, I claimed that biofuels are an even more appealing solution for securing our energy future today than they were when they were the darlings of the media and investors in the late 2000s.

Why were we so enamored with cellulosic biofuels’ promises nearly a decade ago? And why has their luster dulled in the wandering eyes of the media, policy makers, and the general public? Today’s blog post addresses a few of the benefits touted by proponents of advanced cellulosic biofuels and their relevance today, particularly focusing on three advantages offered by cellulosic biofuels: renewable, sustainable, and economically competitive.

Renewable Renewable energy is any energy source that can be either replenished continuously or within a moderate timeframe, as a result of natural energy flows.  Biomass can be regenerated constantly; we have only to look at all the green surrounding us to see the vast potential for the planet to grow biomass naturally. If sustainably managed, every acre of a perennial energy crop is like an oil well that never runs dry.  A seminal 2011 study from the US Department of Energy and the US Department of Agriculture estimated that the U.S. could produce more than a billion dry tons of biomass resources annually for energy uses without impacting other vital functions of the farm sector including food, feed, and fiber.
Sustainable Just being renewable is necessary but not sufficient to be an attractive energy source.  Sustainability can be defined as adopting practices and developing products that are environmentally, socially, and economically sound, and that can meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.  Sustainably sourced energy accounts for a variety of agricultural, social, ecological and economic relationships including land use, water use, energy efficiency, and biodiversity, among others.  Recently, broad-based efforts involving diverse perspectives and stakeholders have advanced to define sustainability indicators and criteria and to provide a science-based framework for measuring and ensuring the sustainability of biomass-based energy systems.  It requires focused attention, but biomass-based energy systems can absolutely be sustainably managed.  In fact, establishment and production of some conservation-type perennial energy grasses on lower productivity soils, when properly managed, can even return significantly positive environmental, conservation, and economic benefits.
Economically Competitive Most everyone thinks clean, renewable, domestic fuels are a good idea. But the understandable reality is that most of us aren’t willing (or able) to pay more.  Attractive energy sources must be competitive with crude oil on a market basis.  It’s important to note that the appropriate metric for competitiveness is a market basis, not a government subsidy basis.  Subsidies or other supportive policies may be useful tools to help us move in a desirable direction faster than we might otherwise, but to be a truly sustainable solution, it has to compete economically in the free market.  The quick summary is that many biomass-based fuels and products are competitive today with their fossil based counterparts when evaluated on an apples-to-apples basis, although the details to support that merit their own blog post another day.

While those three advantages of cellulosic biofuels—renewable, sustainable, and economically competitive—are compelling, they’re only scratching the surface.  We’ll continue the list in a future Genera Energy blog post.

By Kelly Tiller, President and CEO