My conclusion and critique was simply that the proposed Farm Bill does not do enough to address agricultural emmissions (which make up a significant % of the US’s total GHG emmissions). I highlighted the energy initiatives because, as we all agree, they are a step in the right direction. I did however want to add a needed caviat about the negative impacts of food-based fuels.

Thanks for reading and for the extra food for thought.

I think you miss the mark a bit when you talk about the problems with biofuels support in the farm bill. The sections you mention are all talking about supporting cellulosic ethanol development, which utilizes non-food crops and agricultural or forestry wastes to produce ethanol. While the problems you blogged about here are all valid when it comes to biofuels - using edible crops or prime farmland to produce biofuels puts pressure on food prices and clearing virign rainforest for palm oil production is just plain stupid - using plentiful amounts of existing agricultural, forestry and urban waste streams that include cellulosic materials (e.g. corn stover, wheat straw, rice hulls, timber slash and mill residue, etc.) to produce ethanol is pretty smart energy policy. While conventional corn, and to a slightly lesser degree, soy-based biofuels are marginally beneficial at best and potentially destructive at worst and lack the potential to scale to a meaningful level of output, cellulosic biofuels offer a largely environmentally benign and potentially quite scalable (partial) solution to both our oil dependence and transportation’s contribution to climate change.

The USDOE and USDA estimated that over 1 billion dry tons of biomass could be collected in the US every year by the 2030s, enough to produce offset approximately 1/3rd of our current oil use (see this study [pdf]). If we adopt plug-in hybrid vehicles that slash our oil demand by 1/3rd, we’ve suddenly found a very low-carbon way to power our vehicle fleet: plug-in hybrids using cellulosic ethanol or other advanced biofuels for their liquid fuel.

I welcome the Farm Bill’s support for cellulosic ethanol and other advanced biofuels development, as they offer a way to utilize biomass for transportation that has the potential to avoid the pitfalls and problems of corn ethanol while making a real impact on greenhouse gas emissions and our oil addiction.

James is a bit too optimistic though when he says “Both these companies have produced cellulosic ethanol and the only barrier now is the investor support, which will be supported by our tax dollars regardless.”

It is true that both companies have produced cellulosic ethanol on a pilot scale, as have several other companies. But there is a large difference between the proof-of-concept pilot scale demonstration plants that have very little production capacity and a fully-scaled commercial plant. I don’t doubt that someone - probably one of these two companies - will make it to commercial scale soon, but that is not an effortless transition.

Additionally, while the production of cellulosic ethanol from various feedstocks will likely be perfected (or at least adequately demonstrated) soon, harvesting/gathering, transportation and handling large amounts of feedstocks is not a trivial manner either, and challenges remain here as well. In fact, I would argue that finding and collecting suitable feedstocks at large enough quantities, low enough costs and predictable enough supplies remains the largest challenge to the full commercialization of cellulosic ethanol.

So yes, several companies are almost there. But securing investment isn’t the only hurdle left for these companies, and I wouldn’t go investing in them thinking they’ll be up and running in no time flat. Significant (but ultimately solvable) challenges remain to the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol and there’s no guarantees which company will solve them first, or best. The provisions in the Farm Bill and in the energy package will certainly help though…

America wants to become energy independant, and the Farm bill is just one more factor that will help that become a reality.