Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy 1
Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy
Table of ConTenTs
I. Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
II. Genome Engineering & Biofuels: Black Gold in Agar Plates . . . . . . . . . . . 4
III. Solar Power: Beyond Solyndra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
IV. A Change in the Offshore Wind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
V. Hydrogen & Geothermal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
VI. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
VII. Works Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
abouT This RepoRTThis special report is for exclusive use by members of the American Chemical Society . It is not
intended for sale or distribution by any persons or entities . Nor is it intended to endorse any
product, process, or course of action . This report is for information purposes only .
© 2013 American Chemical Society
2 Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy
I . EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
With gas prices seemingly fixed north of three dollars a gallon in much of the country and
instability continuing to plague the Middle East, the need to wean the United States from
foreign oil has perhaps never been more apparent . Much media attention, and countless
dollars, has been paid to “clean coal,” natural gas, and “fracking” – the controversial process of
hydraulic fracturing used to extract natural gas from underground shale . But the U .S . stands to
get more mileage from sustainable fuel sources .
Sustainable energy – abundant, ecologically friendly, and renewable energy sources such as
hydroelectric, wind, solar, and geothermal, as well as hydrogen and biofuels – is especially
attractive for a variety of reasons . One of the most obvious is that by using sustainable energy,
a country can insulate itself from dependence on foreign countries with competing geopolitical
aims . There are also ecological benefits, especially regarding the idea of anthropomorphic
climate change and greenhouse gases .
Sustainable energy can be entirely internal . Countries generally don’t need to import
sustainable fuels, with the exception of biofuels . Sustainable energy is also relatively
non-polluting and abundant; the burning of hydrogen, for example, produces water . By their
very nature, and for lack of a better term, sustainable fuels are sustainable, and also scalable .
Oil will eventually run out, but it is always possible to add another solar panel or wind turbine .
Thus, sustainable energy sources can help blunt the impact of an expanding, power-driven
global population, which could reach 10 billion by the end of the century .
Yet it won’t be easy to transform an economy based for more than a century on petroleum,
natural gas, coal, and more recently nuclear energy, to entirely new forms of energy . Facilities
must be built, often at great expense, to harvest that energy . Chemistries must be developed
to make processing new energy sources efficient and inexpensive . In turn, the facilities have to
be wired into the nation’s energy grid, which must be updated to handle these new sources
of power . Pipelines and cables must be built, vehicles have to be overhauled, regulations put
in place, and so on . All of this requires government backing, not to mention consumer buy-in –
green energy sounds great, but people generally don’t want to pay more for it .
Although the situation is quite daunting, sustainable fuels are already making their mark .
Of the 78 quadrillion Btu of energy the U .S . produced in 2011, 9 .2 quadrillion Btu (11 .7%)
came from renewable sources – up from 7 .2% a decade earlier, according to the Annual Energy
Review 2011, a report compiled by the U .S . Energy Information Administration (EIA) . [1] At
the same time, 9 .3% of the 97 .3 quadrillion Btu of energy consumed in the U .S . in 2011 came
from renewable sources, up from 5 .3% in 2001 . According to the Annual Energy Outlook 2013,
another EIA report, the fraction of energy generation from renewable sources will increase from
13% in 2011 to 16% by 2040 . [2]
Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy 3
The U .S . has some 51 .6 gigawatts (GW) of wind capacity installed through the second quarter
of 2012, with nearly 5 GW installed during the first three quarters of this year and another 8 .4
GW under construction, compared to the 6 .8 GW that were installed in 2011 . [3] A Solar Energy
Industries Association report predicts some 3 .2 GW worth of photovoltaic capacity will be
installed in 2012, a 71% increase over the previous year . [4]
Alternative fuel usage is also growing in the U .S . military, an organization that’s just as
vulnerable to market fluctuations as any other . “DOD estimates that for every 25-cent rise in the
cost of a gallon of fuel, the department spends an extra $1 billion for fuel .” [5] In July 2012 the
U .S . Navy launched its “Great Green Fleet” demonstration with a carrier strike group powered by
350,000 gallons of “hydroprocessed renewable diesel” and 100,000 gallons of “hydroprocessed
renewable jet-fuel”– fuel prepared by mixing petroleum and biofuels prepared from algae and
cooking oil . The ships in the fleet also used nuclear fuel, another “alternative” option . [6]
Wind farms, solar initiatives, biofuels, and more are making inroads internationally, in such
markets as Saudi Arabia and South Africa, Tanzania and Australia, India and Brazil . China is
moving on alternative energy initiatives in a big way . According to a November 2012 Bloomberg
report, China generated some 92 .7 billion kilowatt hours’ (kWh) worth of electricity from
clean energy sources in October 2012, up 48% from the previous October . Year-to-date clean
electricity generation in China amounted to 810 .2 billion kWh, up 26% from the same period in
2011 . [7]
“Just seven years after a renewable-energy law threw government support behind the
industry, China went from having almost no stake in the international market to leading the
manufacture of solar photovoltaics and wind turbines, in very competitive industries,” notes a
Nature editorial commenting on a recent downturn in the country’s renewables market . [69]
These are all positive trends, yet more remains to be done . Although prices have fallen, clean
energy is still relatively expensive compared to fossil fuels . That promotes somewhat of a
vicious cycle in which the energy is expensive, so fewer people adopt it; then, because the user
base is small, the energy is expensive; and so on . But change is coming . From solar to wind,
biofuels to geothermal, the world of sustainable energy has never been more open and ripe
for development .
4 Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy
II . GENOME ENGINEERING & BIOFUELS: BLACK GOLD IN AGAR PLATES
One promising source of renewable energy is biofuel, which harnesses the energy of organic
carbon compounds from plants and other sources . This fuel is already widely used in one form
or another in the U .S . and worldwide, either as bioethanol or biodiesel . According to a report in
Mother Earth News, “the world produced 23 billion gallons of fuel ethanol and nearly 6 billion
gallons of biodiesel” in 2011 . [8]
In the U .S ., corn-based bioethanol, which is often mixed with gasoline, represents the larger
slice of the biofuels pie . Yet the process presents a number of environmental and ethical issues,
not the least of which are that corn for fuel cannot be eaten, meaning there’s less corn available
to feed a growing population, and more acres must be devoted to corn just to keep production
levels up . Ethanol production is also energy intensive, and corn is a relatively expensive and
environmentally problematic crop,
requiring considerable fertilizer and
pesticide usage [9] .
Biodiesel, a direct fuel replacement,
can be created from such “feedstock”
as used cooking oil, agricultural waste,
or even, as reported by South Korean
researchers in 2012, sewage sludge .
[10]
Or, biofuels can be created
microbiologically, either by organisms,
such as algae, that make hydrocarbon
precursors naturally, or by using synthetic biology . Synthetic biology applies the technologies
of molecular biology, cloning, and pathway engineering to produce microbes capable of
efficiently converting feedstock into oil . A number of academic researchers and biotechnology
firms are pursuing synthetic biology approaches, including LS9, founded by Harvard geneticist
George Church and Joint BioEnergy Institute CEO Jay Keasling; Amyris, cofounded by former
Keasling postdoc, Jack Newman; and Synthetic Genomics, founded by J . Craig Venter and Nobel
laureate Hamilton Smith .
These companies and their partners have poured considerable resources into biofuels over
the past few years . In 2009 Amyris announced an $82 million stake in the São Martinho Group,
a Brazilian “ethanol mill,” to commercialize the company’s process of making diesel from
sugarcane . [12] In 2010, ExxonMobil announced it was investing as much as $600 million
Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy 5
in Synthetic Genomics’ algae-based biofuel process .
As reported in Chemical & Engineering News, Synthetic
Genomics’ biofuel approach differs from its competitors in
that the organisms secrete hydrocarbons, whereas in the
competing processes the fuels must be actually harvested
from the cells themselves . [11]
Biofuels support is also coming from the federal
government . In July 2012, the U .S . Navy and departments
of Energy and Agriculture announced a combined $62
million investment in biofuels R&D . [13] That was the same
month the Navy demonstrated its Great Green Fleet,
a Carrier Strike Group fueled by nuclear power plus a
50/50 mix of petroleum-based fuels and biofuels made
from used cooking oil and algae . [6]
Even commercial aviation is taking a serious look at the
feasibility of using biofuels . On November 7, 2011, United
Airlines flight 1403 from Houston to Chicago flew on a
60/40 mix of jet fuel and Solajet, an algae-based fuel from
Solazyme . According to Chemical & Engineering News,
“Solazyme has signed a letter of intent to supply United
with up to 70,000 metric tons per year of renewable jet
fuel starting in 2014 . The company expects its overall
capacity to make algal oils to reach 500,000 metric tons
per year by 2015 .” [14] Other flights have also been flown
on jet fuel/biofuel mixes, but in October 2012, a round-trip
from Ottawa to Toronto used biofuel made entirely from
Ethiopian mustard, representing the world’s first flight to
be flown entirely on a form of biofuel . [15]
Still, there’s much left to do . For one thing, biofuel is still
too expensive, both financially and ecologically . A recent
National Research Council report says that more energy is
required to make algal biofuel than is actually produced,
and that each gallon produced uses more than three
gallons of water . [16] Researchers have been working to
address these issues, however .
Working towards the objective of using less energy and
resources to make biofuels, researchers at the University
of Wisconsin, Madison, reported in November 2012 that
gamma-valerolactone (GVL) can be used to jointly process
biofuels aRe GRouped aCCoRdinG To CommeRCial maTuRiTy
First generation: Ethanol and biodiesel are commercially available first-generation biofuels . Ethanol comes from the starches and sugars in food crops such as corn and sugarcane . Sugarcane is a more efficient source than corn and the one on which Brazil, which is second to the U .S . in producing ethanol biofuel, has built its biofuels industry . The U .S . ethanol industry largely rests on corn . First-generation biodiesel mostly comes from rapeseed (canola), but soy and palm also contribute . According to biofuels expert Anselm Eisentraut at the International Energy Agency, ethanol from corn and sugarcane can “be produced at prices competitive with fossil fuels today .”
Second generation: Experts believe cellulosic ethanol made from inedible plant matter, such as switchgrass and wood trimmings, will be the next type of biofuel to enter the market . Its advantage is the feedstocks can be more environmentally friendly and economically sustainable than food-based biofuels . The biggest technical challenge, however, is economically converting molecules in plant cell walls into biofuels . It’s a challenge where “there’s a huge potential for chemical engineers to contribute” to bring down costs of processing, points out Alena Buyx, assistant director of the secretariat at the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, a U .K .-based think tank . Biodiesel also is a second-generation biofuel when it’s produced from plant matter by a variety of methods . The most famous one—Fischer-Tropsch synthesis—converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons; it was used by the Germans during World War II to produce petroleum substitutes .
Third generation: This generation of biofuels is sometimes referred to as the “advanced” generation . Fuels in this category are generally oils, such as jet fuel, derived from algae and other aquatic species . The hydrocarbon molecules in these fuels often pack more energy per gallon than do first- or second-generation biofuels . Like second-generation biofuels, the third generation of biofuels aims to not compete with food for land; to not harm the environment; to have high energy yields with low inputs of water, land and fertilizer; and to have cost-effective production .
6 Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy
hemicellulose and cellulose, two lignocellulosic materials that normally must be pretreated
and separated . [17] Those steps “can account for up to 30% of the total capital cost of a biofuels
production plant,” according to a University of Wisconsin news release . The GVL converts
cellulose to levulinic acid and hemicellulose to furfural; since both reactions can occur in a
single reaction vessel, separation and pretreatment steps are no longer necessary . “Essentially,
the team is exploiting the power of GVL to produce GVL, which has potential as an inexpensive,
yet energy-dense, ‘drop-in’ biofuel,” as stated in the release . [18]
Another recent report, from researchers at Agrivida Inc ., in Medford, MA, described a technique
for expressing plant biomass-degrading enzymes within the plant itself . The team produced
corn containing a thermostable xylanase enzyme for degrading cell wall material, which was
held in check by a bacterial intein, or self-excising protein sequence . In seeds in which the
enzyme was constitutively expressed without intein control, the corn seeds were “shriveled”
and relatively infertile, whereas seeds containing the intein-regulated enzyme were normal .
Subsequent extraction yielded “>90% theoretical glucose and >63% theoretical xylose yields,”
the authors reported . [19]
A study from a team at the University of California, Berkeley, describes a way to pack biofuels
with a greater punch . [20] As explained in Chemical & Engineering News, “The process uses
Clostridium acetobutylicum bacteria to convert plant lignocellulosic materials, cane sugar,
or other natural carbohydrates to acetone, n-butyl alcohol, and ethanol, or ABE .” [21] These
ABEs are then passed to a palladium catalyst to convert two-carbon organic molecules into
the longer carbon chains found in gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel “at yields near their theoretical
maxima,” the study authors write .
Still others are investigating alternative sources of biofuel feedstock, including the “giant reed”
(Arundo donax) – which has been variously described as “a miracle plant” and a kudzu-like
“nightmare waiting to happen,” as well as “energy beets,” seaweed, and switchgrass . [22–25]
There also have been advances on the synthetic biology (or metabolic engineering) front .
In 2010 Jay Keasling and colleagues at the Joint BioEnergy Institute, LS9, and UC Berkeley
reported reprogramming E. coli to secrete enzymes that break down plant-derived
TRANSFORMATION: Acetone n-butyl alcohol, and ethanol (ABE) formed by fermentation are extracted during the process to improve fermentation efficiency and make the ABE product compatible with the catalyst .
Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy 7
hemicellulose, convert the resulting sugars directly into fatty esters, alcohols, and waxes (the
precursors of jet fuel, kerosene, and diesel, though not of gasoline), and excrete those products
back into the growth media, where they float to the top of fermentation vessels . [26]
More recently, in August 2012 a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology reported tweaking the branched-chain amino acid pathway of the soil bacterium,
Ralstonia eutropha, to pump out isobutanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol, which can be used directly
as fuels . The team made that switch by deactivating several competing biochemical pathways
and supplying a key enzyme from another bacterium, Lactococcus lactis . Future developments
may enable the bacteria to spin fuel from the hay of agricultural or city waste, or even carbon
dioxide . [27]
Still, in both these cases, efficiency is too low to be commercially practical, at least at present .
As Scientific American noted in its coverage of the 2010 Keasling study, the process produces
only about 10% of the theoretical maximum yield . [28] In a field like biofuels, where per-gallon
prices – and thus profit margins – are so low, 10% isn’t even close to good enough .
III . SOLAR POWER: BEYOND SOLYNDRA
The renewables field was rocked in 2011 with the news that Solyndra, a solar panel
manufacturing firm backed by a half-billion dollars in federally guaranteed loans, was going
belly up, a victim of falling silicon prices, high manufacturing costs, a “softening” market, and a
glut of cheap competition from China . [68]
Yet solar power remains an active area of research and development in the renewable-energy
arena . One area of interest, for instance, seeks to use solar power as plants do – that is, convert
energy from the sun not into electricity (as with solar panels) but into chemical fuel . The
process is called “artificial photosynthesis,” which uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen
and oxygen and use the resulting electrons either to create hydrogen gas or, with carbon
dioxide, hydrocarbons .
In 2010 the U .S . Department of Energy earmarked $122 million over five years to establish an
“Energy Innovation Hub” called the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) at both the
California Institute of Technology and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory . [29] That’s
over and above the $30–40 million the department kicks in each year for three solar-focused
“Energy Frontier Research Centers .”
JCAP’s goal is to design an integrated device that improves on the efficiency of natural
photosynthesis, which converts perhaps 1% of solar power into chemical energy, by at
least tenfold . According to a press release announcing the award, “JCAP research will be
8 Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy
directed at the discovery of the functional components necessary to assemble a complete
artificial photosynthetic system: light absorbers, catalysts, molecular linkers, and separation
membranes . The Hub will then integrate those components into an operational solar fuel
system and develop scale-up strategies to move from the laboratory toward commercial
viability .” [29]
Other countries have likewise signaled interest in this segment of the solar industry . The Korea
Center for Artificial Photosynthesis broke ground on its 6,700-square-meter facility in August
2011 . [30] And public and private concerns in the Netherlands have put forward a combined
€42 million to fund a project called BioSolar Cells . [31]
MIT chemist Daniel Nocera made a big splash in the artificial photosynthesis community,
along with non-scientific media outlets, recently with his development of a so-called “artificial
leaf” that has an energy-conversion efficiency of 6 .2% . [32] In plant leaves, photosynthesis is
a two-stage process . The first stage uses solar energy to split water and release oxygen . The
second stage takes the resulting protons and electrons to “fix” carbon in the form of sugars – a
kind of chemical fuel for the plant to grow on . Artificial leaves use solar energy and a catalyst to
split water and create hydrogen gas .
As described in a news article on the research in Ecomagination, while other artificial leaf
designs have used impractically expensive materials like platinum, Nocera’s design “utilizes
cheap, earth-abundant materials like cobalt and a nickel-molybdenum-zinc compound to
work its photosynthetic magic . A sunlight collector is sandwiched between the two film layers,
which, when dropped into a jar of water exposed to sunlight, begins to bubble like a tablet of
alka-seltzer . One side of the leaf produces hydrogen, the other, oxygen . The hydrogen bubbles,
if captured, can be used in fuel cells to make electricity .” [33]
Others are pursuing alternative designs . For instance, researchers at the University of Rochester
developed essentially half of an artificial leaf out of earth-abundant nanocrystalline materials .
The team used CdSe nanocrystals coated with dihydrolipoic acid and a soluble nickel-
dihydrolipoic acid catalyst to produce a system that couples the light-driven oxidation of
ascorbic acid with the generation of hydrogen gas . [34] The system is incomplete, in that it
derives its electrons from ascorbate rather than water . But, the authors note, it is also highly
durable, working for at least 15 days straight with no loss of activity .
According to a Chemical & Engineering News report on the study, “In addition to using simple
components such as Earth-abundant elements and visible light to make fuel, the researchers
say their approach has the added benefit of being, to their knowledge, the longest-lasting
nanoparticle-based photocatalytic system yet .” [58]
Some investigators are pursuing strategies that integrate nature’s own photoactive
components into synthetic solar fuel cells – that is, to create “photobiofuel cells .”
Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy 9
These cells replace traditional solar panel circuitry
with components that mimic the biological,
protein-driven process of photosynthesis itself .
In effect, these strategies say, what is the point
of reinventing the wheel, when nature and
evolution already have the necessary parts?
For example, researchers at Pennsylvania State
University physically coupled an electron
donor protein (cytochrome c6) to a
cyanobacterial photosystem I (which,
ironically, drives the second stage of natural
photosynthesis) . They then linked that to a
cyanobacterial hydrogenase via a “molecular
wire .” Upon treatment with light, this “nanodevice” funneled electrons from ascorbic acid
oxidation to the hydrogenase to reduce hydrogen at a rate more than double that of normal
cyanobacterial photosynthesis . [35]
Similarly, a research team at Argonne National Laboratory reported in 2011 the efficient light-
induced generation of hydrogen by a self-assembling system combining photosystem I and
a cobaloxime catalyst . [36] And an Israeli team reported in 2012 a photoelectrochemical cell
comprised of a poly(mercapto-p-benzoquinone)-photosystem II anode and a bilirubin oxidase-
carbon nanotube cathode . [37]
Of course, traditional solar power is not to be
overlooked, especially outside the United States .
European nations like Italy and Germany lead
the world in total installed solar power and in
total new solar power installed, according to an
analysis by Clean Technica . [38]
Other countries are racing to catch up . Abu
Dhabi is nearing completion of the world’s
“largest single-unit solar power plant,” with 100
MW power capacity, [39] and Ghana is planning
to complete the largest solar power plant in Africa
(150 MW) by 2015 . [40] Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia
has announced plans to make a significant investment in its solar infrastructure . In November
2012, Bloomberg reported the country will begin construction on its first solar farm in 2013 –
but that’s just the beginning . The country intends to pour some $109 billion into solar energy in
the coming years “to create a solar industry that generates a third of the nation’s electricity by
2032 .” [41]
Photoinitiated electron transfer from PSI (large protein) to cobaloxime (structure at bottom) rapidly drives H2 production .
10 Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy
By comparison, the U .S . lags far behind, but it is catching up on solar leaders around the world .
In 2011, the U .S . generated 0 .158 quadrillion Btu of solar power, representing 0 .2% of total
energy production, according to the Annual Energy Review 2011, up from 0 .126 quadrillion
Btu (0 .17%) the year before . [1] “The U .S . market [for solar energy] grew 109 percent from
2010 to 2011 and will grow another 75 percent from 2011 to 2012,” says Clean Technica, citing
an industry report . The picture looks less rosy for 2013, they note, but according to a market
analyst, “the U .S . market [is expected] to regain momentum thereafter and continue along its
path to become a global PV [photovoltaic] market leader by 2015 .” [42]
Like other renewables, research continues in this arena, too . In September 2012, researchers
at the University of Michigan developed a low-cost method for manufacturing flexible solar
cells . [56] The method relies on using a lower grade of silicon than is typically used in solar cell
development, costing “at most one-fifth the cost of solar-grade silicon .” Nevertheless, the final
product absorbs about 95% of the incident solar energy and converts it to electricity with 10%
efficiency .
Others are building flexible solar cells from “organic photovoltaics,” solar cells that use an
organic polymer to capture light energy and convert it to electricity, rather than silicon .
These, too, can be fabricated into flexible forms for use in backpacks or clothing, and already
companies like Konarka Technologies are using the technology to do just that . [57]
IV: A CHANGE IN THE OFFSHORE WIND
A favorable wind is certainly blowing in the energy sector . There were some 237 GW of wind
energy capacity installed by the end of 2011, according to a report by the Global Wind Energy
Council, up from 10 GW in 1998 . [43] That number is predicted to rise to as much as 1 .2
terawatts (TW) by 2020 and to 2 .5 TW by 2030 – as much as 25% of the world’s total energy
needs –in the most optimistic of three scenarios that the Council modeled in the report . By
contrast, the most conservative model predicts an installed capacity of 587 GW by 2020 and
918 GW by 2030, representing about 6% and 9% of global requirements, respectively . Another
report predicts 1 .75 TW of installed global wind capacity by 2030 . [44] Wind energy represented
1 .5% (1 .168 quadrillion Btu) of U .S . energy production in 2011, according to the Annual Energy
Review 2011 . That’s up from 0 .097% (0 .07 quadrillion Btu) a decade earlier, representing a more
than tenfold increase . [1]
The American Wind Energy Association calculates the U .S . now has an installed 51 .6 GW of
wind power, with 4 .7 GW installed through the first three quarters of 2012 and 8 .4 GW under
construction . [3] Ironically, the state with the largest wind capacity – more than double its
nearest competitor – is the oil hub of Texas, with just under 11 GW installed . In second place
Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy 11
is California – more irony, given that state’s green reputation – with 4 .57 GW . Another sign
favorable to the growing popularity of windpower is GE’s announcement in November of the
installation of its 20,000th wind turbine . [45]
Wind has grown even more dramatically in the European Union . The EU installed 9 .6 GW of
wind power capacity in 2011 for a total of 94 GW, according to the European Wind Energy
Association, amounting to about 10% of total EU installed capacity . By comparison, new solar
photovoltaic installations accounted for 47% of all new energy capacity in the EU in 2011, for
a total of 46 .3 GW, yet PV accounts for just 5% of overall EU energy capacity . Most of that new
wind capacity was installed in Germany (22%), followed by the UK (13%), Spain (11%), and Italy
(10%) . Germany also is home to the lion’s share of installed wind capacity, with 29 .1 GW (31%
of EU total), followed by Spain at 23% . On the other hand, Denmark, with 3 .9 GW total wind
capacity, generates the greatest share of its energy from wind at 26% . [46]
The vast majority of installed wind capacity in the EU, and worldwide, is “onshore” wind – that is,
turbines installed on land . Just 866 MW or 9% of total wind power installed in the EU, of “offshore”
capacity was added in 2011 . [46] To date, the U .S . has no installed offshore capacity at all . But
interest in developing offshore wind capacity is growing . According to Bloomberg Businessweek,
“Global offshore wind capacity is expected to reach about 78 gigawatts by 2020 from about 3 .5
gigawatts currently, according to New Energy Finance . China will be the largest country with
offshore wind installations at 30 gigawatts, or 38 percent of the total by that time .” [47]
Those numbers include some big-league projects . In 2011, South Korea announced plans to
invest some $9 billion to construct a 2 .5 GW offshore wind farm by 2019, the world’s largest .
[47] That same year, the U .S . announced $50 .5 million over five years for research into offshore
wind in American waters . [48] As part of the National Offshore Wind Strategy, the U .S . identified
the potential to deploy 10 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2020 (at 10 cents per kilowatt-hour)
and 54 GW by 2030 (7 cents/kWh) . [49]
The Cape Wind Offshore Wind Farm, billed as “America’s first offshore wind farm to secure
Federal and State approval and to be issued a lease to operate by the Federal Government,” is
anticipated to supply 420 MW of energy from its 130 turbines in the waters off Nantucket, MA
when complete . [50] In the UK, the London Array is nearing completion of phase 1, with some
630 MW of capacity and 175 turbines in the Thames estuary . Phase 2 of the project is expected
to boost capacity to 870 MW . [51]
Onshore wind is also growing . In November 2012, Hydro Tasmania proposed a $2 billion
onshore wind project on King Island (northwest of Tasmania) . If constructed, the “TasWind”
project would, at 600 MW capacity generated by 200 turbines, represent the largest wind farm
in the southern hemisphere . [52, 53]
One reason for the popularity of wind, reports Clean Technica, is its small footprint and high
return on investment, especially compared with, say, ethanol . “A farmer in northern Iowa could
12 Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy
plant an acre in corn that yields enough grain to produce roughly $1,000 worth of fuel-grade
ethanol per year, or he could use that same acre to site a turbine producing $300,000 worth of
electricity each year,” the report explains . [54] In addition, because individual turbines require
so little room, farmers can essentially “double-crop” their land – growing crops while also
hosting wind farms .
Of course, the flip side on wind, and all other renewable fuels, is the cost to the consumer
of delivering that energy . Consumers as a rule don’t want to pay more for their energy just
because it’s clean . But those numbers, too, are dropping, as demand increases, efficiency
improves, and economies of scale begin to take effect . According to a Bloomberg New Energy
Finance press release in November 2011, the cost of onshore wind energy “will drop 12% in
the next five years thanks to a mix of lower-cost equipment and gains in output efficiency .” As
a result, the release concludes, “the average wind farm will be fully competitive [with coal, gas,
and nuclear power] by 2016,” and some farms already are . [55]
V: HYDROGEN & GEOTHERMAL
The United States leads the world in geothermal energy production . According to the Geo-
thermal Energy Association, the U .S . has nearly 3 .2 GW installed geothermal capacity, “more
than any other country in the world .” [59] That’s just about a third of the world’s cumulative
11 GW of geothermal capacity, [54] and more projects are in development . Still, unlike other
forms of renewable energy, geothermal energy is not ubiquitous . Thus, geothermal power is
not available everywhere either . Most U .S . capacity is located in California (2 .6 GW), followed
by Nevada (470 MW) and, in a distant third, Hawaii (43 MW) .
The second largest producer of geothermal energy worldwide is the Philippines, with 1 .9 GW
installed capacity supplying about 12% of the nation’s needs, according to the International
Geothermal Association . [70] Indonesia, with 1 .2 GW of geothermal capacity at the moment,
has announced plans to add 4–5 GW of new capacity by 2015 and 10 GW by 2025, according
to Clean Technica . [60]
On the hydrogen front, a decade has passed since President George W . Bush pledged $1 .2
billion for research into hydrogen fuel cells and transportation infrastructure . Since then
“a veil of dust has settled over the hype about hydrogen .” [61] For one thing, “as with any
disruptive technology, there is a long product development cycle .” [61] It will take decades
to convert an economy and infrastructure the size of the United States’ to a new form of
fuel . Plus, hydrogen advocates have to compete for R&D dollars with solar, wind, and other
Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy 13
sustainables . As reported in Chemical & Engineering News, the Obama Administration has cut
hydrogen funding in favor of hybrid and electric cars . Still, “The original Bush-era goal of roll-
ing out commercial hydrogen fuel-cell cars in 2015 is still on track .” [61]
Other countries remain committed to hydrogen . Iceland has set a goal of being fossil fuel free
by about 2040, deriving hydrogen from the island’s plentiful hydroelectric and geothermal
sources . [66] And Germany has announced plans to build 1,000 hydrogen fueling stations by
2020, “allowing travel between major cities .” [61]
In spite of these advances, there are only a handful of hydrogen-powered vehicles in Europe
or anywhere else . If that is to change, a number of technologies need to be developed or
optimized . One is the ability to efficiently convert protons – the products of water-splitting
reactions, for example – into hydrogen gas . Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory (PNNL) reported in June 2012 on a method to improve the efficiency of nickel
catalysts that do just that . [62] According to a PNNL press release announcing the findings,
the catalyst, whose design was inspired by the reaction center of hydrogenase enzymes, can
produce about 53,000 hydrogen molecules per second without any loss in energy conversion
efficiency when placed in an ionic solution . [63] Traditional catalysts could either be energy
efficient or fast, but not both; this new catalytic system seems to upend that restriction .
Other researchers are addressing the need for a hydrogen storage material that is compatible
with most of the world’s existing energy infrastructure: in a liquid form that is stable, easily
transported and moved through pipes . To this end, a team at the University of Oregon
reported in 2011 “a liquid-phase hydrogen storage material,” BN-methylcyclopentane, that,
when heated in the presence of an expensive and earth-abundant iron chloride catalyst,
trimerizes and releases six molecules of hydrogen gas . [64] The trimeric form is also a liquid .
A company called HyperSolar announced in May 2012 the development of a proof-of-
concept solar-powered hydrogen generator . [65] The company uses a polymer-coated,
“small-scale solar device,” which, when placed in a plastic bag full of wastewater from a paper
mill and illuminated with light, produced hydrogen gas . The company plans to expand on
this technology by moving to a nanoparticulate device, which is expected to have greater
solar collection potential and a larger surface area for hydrogen production .
14 Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy
VI . CONCLUSIONS
Exciting as these findings are, the fact remains that the vast majority of energy generated
and consumed in the United States and most of the world comes from non-renewable
sources like coal and petroleum . Renewable energy accounted for just 11% of total U .S .
energy production in 2011, according to the Annual Energy Review 2011 . [1]
Yet the world turns, and so too is its energy economy, driven, albeit slowly, by a
strengthening scientific consensus on the need to counter greenhouse gas-fueled climate
change and rising energy costs . Indeed, according to the October 2012 Energy Infrastructure
Update, a report issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 46 .2% of new energy
installations in the U .S . that have been added through October 2012, tapped into renewable
power sources . [67]
“During the first ten months of 2012, 92 wind projects (5,403 MW), 167 solar projects (1,032
MW), 79 biomass projects (409 MW), seven geothermal projects (123 MW), and 9 water
power projects (12 MW) have come on-line . Collectively, these total 6,979 MW or 46 .22% of
all new generating capacity added since the beginning of the year,” the report says . [67]
That’s surely good news for the chemical and associated industries, as all those new facilities,
and the energy infrastructure that supports them, will require new and better feedstocks,
solar panels, polymers, coatings, and other supporting material . And of course, fossil fuels
aren’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future, either . As U .S . Energy Secretary Steven Chu
noted in a recent Nature perspective, “Our ability to find and extract fossil fuels continues
to improve, and economically recoverable reservoirs around the world are likely to keep
pace with the rising demand for decades . The Stone Age did not end because we ran out
of stones; we transitioned to better solutions . The same opportunity lies before us with
energy efficiency and clean energy .” [71] It’s an exciting and opportunistic time to be in the
renewable energies field, and should remain so for some time to come .
Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy 15
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18 Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy
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20 Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy
NOTES