Wall Street Journal

On February 2, 2006 the Wall Street Journal published an article titled "Bush's Latest Energy Solution, Like Its Forebears, Faces Hurdles". The article contained the illustration reprinted below to illustrate sources of oil imports. The data was obtained from the Energy Information Administration's Petroleum Supply Monthly for January 2006.
Chart Link - View the EIA data chart for 1991-2004
Web Link - EIA Petroleum Supply Monthly - January 2006

The Path Forward for Biofuels and Biomaterials

from Science Magazine, 27 January 2006

"Biomass represents an abundant carbon-neutral renewable resource for the production of bioenergy and biomaterials, and its enhanced use would address several societal needs. Advances in genetics, biotechnology, process chemistry, and engineering are leading to a new manufacturing concept for converting renewable biomass to valuable fuels and products, generally referred to as the biorefinery. The integration of agroenergy crops and biorefinery manufacturing technologies offers the potential for the development of sustainable biopower and biomaterials that will lead to a new manufacturing paradigm."

"Shifting society's dependence away from petroleum to renewable biomass resources is generally viewed as an important contributor to the development of a sustainable industrial society and effective management of greenhouse gas emissions. In the United States, bioethanol derived primarily from corn contributes 2% to the total transportation fuels mix; another 0.01% is based on biodiesel. The U.S. Department of Energy has set goals to replace 30% of the liquid petroleum transportation fuel with biofuels and to replace 25% of industrial organic chemicals with biomass-derived chemicals by 2025 (2, 6). The European Union Directive 2003/30/EC ("the Biofuels Directive") adopted in 2003 targeted 2% of all petrol and diesel transport fuels to be biomass-derived by December 2005 and 5.75% by December 2010. This directive was motivated by concerns to ensure the security of the European energy supply, environmental sustainability, and achievement of Kyoto Protocol targets (2). These biomaterials and biofuels production targets are certainly achievable; Parikka (7) has reported the current sustainable global biomass energy potential at 1020 joules per year, of which 40% is currently used.

"Given these accomplishments, a key question is "When will biorefineries be ready to make a major contribution?" One answer, coming from a forum at the 27th Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals, was that some applications are ready now, but their impact will be limited with current technologies and feedstocks (8). We need commercialization and policy support for current and near-term opportunities to grow the industry from its present base. Equally important, we need research and development to increase the impact, efficiency, and sustainability of biorefinery facilities. The current production and use of bioethanol and biodiesel processes are a starting point. It is our belief that the next generational change in the use of bioresources will come from a total integration of innovative plant resources, synthesis of biomaterials, and generation of biofuels and biopower."

The fully integrated agro-biofuel-biomaterial-biopower cycle for sustainable technologies.