Inspiring music plays over images of fields and cities across the United States.
Harry Baumes, Office of Energy Policy & New Uses, U.S. Department of Agriculture
It's easy to talk about an aggregation and say, "We've got a billion tons of biomass." We look at the Pacific Northwest, we have a lot of woody biomass up there, a lot of forest. In the Midwest we have crop residues out there that we can use to produce cellulosic materials. And the development of the bioeconomy, be it bio-based products, or integrated biorefineries which produce fuels and products, where they're located will certainly take advantage of the resources that are in that area. We have ample resources, we think, to fuel the bioeconomy development.
Steve Csonka, Executive Director, Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative
Aviation is extremely interested in alternative fuels, because, unlike many other sectors, we don't have the opportunities that we need to be able to control or reduce our carbon footprint going forward. We believe that we know enough now that sustainable fuels can be produced from a very broad range of resources and from a very broad range of processes. So, we're working in every sector of the agricultural and energy-related bioeconomy, trying to stand up commercialization opportunities.
Richard Sayre, Senior Research Scientist, New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos National Laboratory
A bioeconomy is based in the soil, it's based in the ground. It's not an economy that's readily exportable to another country. But a bioeconomy is deeply rooted in the regions in which those products are produced. And so, there will be employment opportunities, there will be innovation opportunities, and new kinds of products, some of which we haven't even imagined yet.
Eric Steen, Founder and CEO, Lygos
I think the higher value products and selling them out of biorefinery that's co-located at a similar facility, is one way of making the economics work. You know, there's these intermediate scales, and so Lygos has certainly benefited from collaborating and working with both the Joint BioEnergy Institute, but also the Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit, so the ABPDU, and NREL, as well. And so all of these facilities provide access across that R&D value chain that enable us to really focus our research and deliver commercial products and commercial processes at the end of the day. All of those are valuable in supporting and delivering on the bioeconomy.
Kevin Kenney, Laboratory Relationship Manager, Idaho National Laboratory
It's the chicken and egg scenario that we face relative to having the resources, mobilizing those resources so that they're ready for industry to pick up, and utilize those resources of the production of fuels, chemicals, and power. And one way to do that is to provide companion markets, so that there's other markets that are providing a market demand for feedstocks that can help build the infrastructure, build the marketplace, to be able to provide both to companion markets as well as the fuels market. And that alone would go a long ways in advancing the biofuels marketplace.
Nicole Labbé, Professor, Center for Renewable Carbon, University of Tennessee
Developing a bioeconomy, it's a long term effort. It's not going to happen overnight and it will involve a lot of people, from the producers of the feedstock, the people who are working the land, to the scientists, to the engineers. It's going to take years, but I think we will get there. We have to get there because that's the only solution, I think, for the future, for the next generation, to develop a sustainable, clean bioenergy industry.
A product of the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office. The credits cite those involved in the production:
Jonathan Male, Director. Sheila Dillard, Communications Lead. Directed, produced, and edited by Joseph Pomerening (AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow). Featuring: Harry Baumes, Steve Csonka, Kevin Kenney, Nicole Labbé, Richard Sayre, Eric Steen.
Music by Startisan. Special thanks to: Nourredine Abdoulmoumine, Antares Group, Inc., Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation, Arizona State University, ARTichar, BCS Incorporated, John Blake, California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo, Stephen Chmely, Jim Collett, Colorado State Forest Service, Bernie del Campo, Delhi County Water District.
Special thanks to: Thomas Dempster, Mike Eckhoff, Cindy Gerk, Genera Energy, Green Flame Energy, GreenWood Resources, Russell Gross, Todd Hart, Idaho National Laboratory Biomass Feedstock National User Facility, INEOS Bio, Sam Jackson, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ABPDU, LJR Forest Products, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Tryg Lundquist, Lygos.
Special thanks to: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, New Mexico Consortium, Irina Silva, CJ Pittington, Todd Pray, Tim Rials, Don Rice, Eric Rund, Savannah River Site Biomass Cogeneration Facility, Tom Steffen, John Twitchell, United States Department of Agriculture Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, United States Department of Agriculture Renewable Cargon, Washington State University Tri-Cities.
Find additional videos and animations illustrating important bioenergy and sustainability concepts at http://bioenergy.energy.gov/.