New England can lead the new energy boom

AMERICA NEEDS to shake its dependence on foreign oil. Our entire economic infrastructure is built on cheap energy, and with oil prices touching $100 a barrel, it is clear how vulnerable we have become. The global oil extraction rate is approaching an all-time peak, and global warming is at the top of the international agenda. The world is looking to America for leadership and New England is leading the nation.


Last month, Massachusetts introduced pathbreaking biofuels legislation; this month, the federal government responded in dramatic fashion with the enactment of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2008. This new federal law mandates greater energy efficiency and includes a major expansion to the Renewable Fuels Standard. Under the new law, the use of renewable biofuels will rise from 7.5 billion gallons, or 5 percent of our automotive fuels mix, to 36 billion gallons, or more than 20 percent of projected use, by 2022.

Skeptics say the new federal law pits our need for food against our need for fuel, but the facts are quite the contrary. It does assure a needed outlet for corn ethanol plants operating now or committed to construction, but focuses incentives overwhelmingly on so-called next-generation biofuels made from nonfood “cellulosic” sources – as would the Massachusetts proposal. Cellulosic sources include crop residues, wood wastes, canes, grasses, and other low-value agricultural products and byproducts that are widely available.

A major national study in 2005 concluded that sufficient surplus biomass is grown each year, on a recurring basis, to support more than 60 billion gallons of renewable fuel without impinging on food supply – well beyond the new target set by law. This biomass can be readily converted into versatile liquid fuels, not unlike hydrocarbon-based fossil energy. But unlike long-buried fossil resources, biofuels when burned add far less to atmospheric carbon levels, since the carbon is taken up through plant re-growth. Biofuels are sustainable and green.

Boston Globe