Sustainability of Biofuels
Future Research Opportunities
Report from the October 2008 Workshop
Workshop Dates: October 28-29, 2008
Report Publication Date: April 2009
Updated April 30, 2009
Publication of the U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture.
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Legislative mandates and incentives, volatility in oil prices, and new research and technological advances are driving the expectation of major increases in the production of biofuels from cellulosic biomass. To assess the current state of the science underlying the sustainability of an emergent cellulosic biofuel sector and to identify further research needs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Research, Education, and Economics mission area and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science cosponsored a workshop on October 28–29, 2008. Although the term “sustainability” has been defined in many ways, common to these definitions is the theme of meeting the needs of present and future generations. Sustainable biofuel production is economically competitive, conserves the natural resource base, and ensures social well-being. This report summarizes critical research areas and knowledge gaps relevant to the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of biofuel sustainability. It also underscores the critical need for a common socioecological framework to develop a systems-level understanding for how these dimensions interact across different spatial scales—from the small plot or farm to regional to very large scales such as political, national, and global scales. In addition to forging a responsible path for implementing cellulosic biofuels, much of what can be discovered about biofuel sustainability will provide important insights into successful future agricultural and forest production—the dependable and abundant supply of food, fiber, and feed.
