Biofuels, New U.S. Industry… In his January 2007 State of the Union address, President Bush named energy independence and improving the environment as two of his goals for the United States. He said; “It is in our vital interest to diversify America’s energy supply — and the way forward is through technology. We need to press on with battery research for plug-in and hybrid vehicles, and expand the use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel. We must continue investing in new methods of producing ethanol — using everything from wood chips, to grasses, to agricultural wastes.” While U.S. bioenergy research centers are accelerating basic research to produce ethanol from switch grass, wood chips, and other natural materials, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is helping in the development and establishment of uniform measurement standards for ethanol and biodiesel. The
United States and Brazil lead the way in producing ethanol, and although
U.S. ethanol production NIST has been working with its counterpart in Brazil, the Brazilian National Institute of Metrology, Standardization, and Industrial Quality (INMETRO) to develop needed measurement standards for ethanol and biofuel. NIST and INMETRO held a workshop entitled; Measurements and Standards for Biofuels: Enabling a Transition from Petroleum as a Vehicular Energy Source. The workshop explored mutual interests in collaboration on measurement and documentary standards, along with the underpinning metrology to enable the movement of biofuels as international commodities. For the full summary of the workshop, go to http://www.nist.gov/oiaa/biofuels_workshop.htm. A Biofuels Symposium was also held the week of June 26-29, 2007, in conjunction with the Green Chemistry Conference, a subdivision of the American Chemical Society. The website for the GCC is http://www.gcande.org/. Comments/Questions? |
surpasses Brazil’s, Brazil exports more, and has a thirty year history
of its use. During President Bush’s visit to Brazil in March, Secretary
Rice and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim signed a