18 February 2016, Energy Post, Biofuels are back on the EU agenda. Biofuels are returning to the political agenda in Europe as EU policymakers start to shape a strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport after 2020. Biofuels producers continue to argue that they are an essential part of the solution, even as the low oil price puts an end to several cutting-edge projects, the European Commission prepares to publish a new report about indirect land-use change (ILUC) and some stakeholders urge a full focus on electrification. Sonja van Renssen investigates. “Are we competitive? Certainly not in the short term, but the long term is what matters,” said Artur Auernhammer, a Member of the German Parliament and Chairman of the German Bioenergy Association (BBE) in his opening speech at a “Fuels of the Future” conference in Berlin, Germany, on 18 January. “Certified sustainable biofuels from Europe must be a key element in the European decarbonisation strategy both at present and beyond 2020.” Dr Veit Steinle from the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure concurred: “If the Energiewende is to be implemented properly in Germany, we need an energy transition in transport. Of course we’re putting money on biofuels in this regard.” “If we look at the current development of oil prices, it is very certain that at least in the short to medium term, the regulatory framework will be very, very important for the perspectives of biofuels.” – Bernd Kuepker, European Commission It is equally obvious for EU biofuels producers that they are part of the solution. But others have moved on. Jos Dings, Executive Director of Brussels-based NGO Transport and Environment, said in an interview: “The big change since the [EU’s] first climate and energy package [in 2008] is the rise of electric vehicles. In contrast, we’ve seen very little progress in liquid fuels.” Still, Gernot Klepper, Chairman of the Board for ISCC System, which certifies bio-based feedstocks and renewables, reminded delegates in Berlin that biofuels make up about a fifth of final energy consumption in transport in 2050, in the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s two degrees scenario. Read More here
Tag Archives: Bioenergy
2 February 2016, Climate News Network, Useful waste offers win-win benefits. An unsung success story in the switch to renewable energy is the use of waste to produce gas – and a valuable by-product. The future is increasingly bright for renewable energy, with the US aiming to cut the price of solar photovoltaics by 75%between 2010 and 2020. Denmark plans to obtain 50% of its energy from windjust five years from now. But one form of renewable energy – and one which attracts few headlines – manages to create two useful products at the same time, and is making a growing contribution to combatting climate change. The medieval alchemists who sought to turn base metal into gold would have thrilled at chemistry that let them turn waste into both fuel and fertiliser. Their twenty-first century successors have discovered the secret of doing exactly that. Unwanted food, animal waste, municipal rubbish, crop and forestry residues, sewage and dozens of other left-overs of civilisation can and are now being turned into methane to generate electricity, provide district heating and to fuel road vehicles. Big contribution This largely unheralded revolution takes different forms across the world, mostly because governments set their own rules to encourage the technology, and also because local circumstances provide contrasting piles of waste. But in every case the waste can be converted into gas for use as fuel. Although the technology is only part of the solution to climate change, theEuropean Biogas Association estimates that over time it should be able to replace 30% of current natural gas consumption in Europe. The technology is roughly the same whatever the size of the plant or its location. Biogas plants use microbes to eat waste in an oxygen-free environment to produce methane, and leave fertiliser or soil conditioner as a useful by-product. The plants vary from small household types, very popular in China and India, to farm plants and larger-scale municipal installations in Europe. Read More here
19 January 2016, Science Daily, One-stop shop for biofuels. First high-gravity one-pot process for producing cellulosic ethanol developed. The falling price of gasoline at the pumps may warm the hearts of consumers but it chills the souls of scientists who recognize that humankind must curtail the burning of fossil fuels to reduce the threat of climate change. Biofuels can help mitigate climate change and provide us with a sustainable source of transportation energy if yields and production costs are economically competitive. A major step towards achieving this goal has been achieved by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). Led by Seema Singh and Blake Simmons, JBEI researchers have developed a “high-gravity” one-pot process for producing ethanol from cellulosic biomass that gives unprecedented yields while minimizing water use and waste disposal. The process utilizes a combination of ionic liquid pretreatment, enzymatic saccharification, and yeast fermentation for the production of concentrated fermentable sugars that result in high-titer cellulosic ethanol. “High gravity” means high biomass loading — the higher the biomass loading, the lower the costs for converting it to fuels. Read More here
9 June 2015, Science Daily, Land management practices to become important as biofuels use grows: The handling of agricultural crop residues appears to have a large impact on soil’s ability to retain carbon, making land management practices increasingly important, especially under a scenario where cellulosic materials become more heavily used as a feedstock for ethanol production, according to a recently published study led by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory. “Plants and soil are carbon sinks,” said Argonne climate scientist Beth Drewniak, who led the study. “Soils lock carbon away for long periods of time. But when plant residues are harvested, not only are inputs of carbon and other nutrients to soil lost, but decomposition is accelerated, causing soils to lose additional carbon.” Read More here