Biobased Products and Bioenergy Newsletter
March 2001
Contents:
Special Feature: Upcoming Event - The Fifth Biomass Conference of the
Americas, September 17-21, 2001
Solicitations & Awards In the News
>From the States Legislative Update
Upcoming Events
Federal Offices Summaries: Office of Management and Budget and the
Department of Treasury
This newsletter presents summaries of the more significant events that
have taken place over the past month that involve the Departments of Energy
and
Agriculture's activities in the development of biobased products and
bioenergy. Where available, more in-depth information on these activities
and news items are featured on our website at http://www.bioproducts-bioenergy.gov;
exact links for these articles are given below.
This update is produced by the National Biobased Products and Bioenergy
Coordination Office. If you have any questions or comments about this
monthly update, please contact Douglas Kaempf, DOE's Director of the
National Biobased Products and Bioenergy Coordination Office
(bioenergy@ee.doe.gov), or Ron Buckhalt, USDA's Director of the National
Biobased Products and Bioenergy Coordination Office (rbb@ars.usda.gov).
If
you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, please
contact Robyn McGuckin at Energetics, Incorporated
(rmcguckin@energetics.com). We encourage you to pass this along to
those whom you believe will be interested.
SPECIAL FEATURE: Upcoming Event - The Fifth Biomass Conference of Americas
The Fifth Biomass Conference of the Americas, focused on "Bioenergy and
Biobased Products: Technologies, Markets, and Policies," will take place
on September 17-21, 2001, in the Rosen Center Hotel in Orlando, Florida.
The
conference is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S.Department
of Agriculture, Natural Resources Canada, and the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory. The comprehensive program will include oral presentations,
interactive poster clusters, exhibits, technical tours, and other events.
The Biomass Conference of Americas takes places once every two years
with the objective of highlighting the emerging biomass industry. The Fourth
Biomass Conference of Americas, "Making a Business from Biomass in
Energy Environment, Chemicals, Fibers, and Materials," in 1999, attracted
more than
650 attendees from 35 countries.
Conference organizers have set a deadline of March 16, 2001, for paper
and poster abstract submissions. Abstracts should address one of the following
seven topics: biomass resources, bioenergy products, integrating emerging
technologies with conventional energy systems, biobased products, biomass
refineries, environmental and ecological impacts of bioenergy and biobased
products, public and private partnerships, social acceptability of bioenergy
and biobased products, and policies for market development. For more
information on papers, posters, and preliminary topics link to the
conference web site at: http://www.nrel.gov/bioam
SOLICITATIONS AND AWARDS
DOE Issues Supplemental Solicitation Supporting Biomass-Derived Fuels
and Chemicals. On February 7, 2001, the Department of Energy's Office of
Fuels
Development issued a supplemental solicitation, "Biomass Research and
Development: Innovative/Crosscutting Technologies for Conversion of Biomass
Fuels and Chemicals Supplemental Announcement No. 04." The solicitation
seeks proposals to support increased efficiencies and reduced costs of
technologies to convert biomass into fuels and chemicals. The solicitation
includes three cross-cutting areas: pretreatment fundamentals, biomass
sugars technologies, and microbial strain development. DOE is planning
to provide a total of $2,000,000 to 5-8 applicants with a minimum of 20%
cost-share by the applicants. Applications are due March 27, 2001.
Link to the solicitation at: http://www.ott.doe.gov/recentnews.shtml
USDA - CSREES RFP: Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems.
Total funding for IFAFS grants will be 113.4 million in FY2001. Three types
of
grants will be supported: project, critical or emerging issues, and
graduate traineeships. Deadlines are COB of April 23, and June 1, 2001
depending on
the type of grant application. Several program areas are targeted,
PROGRAM AREA 13.0, NEW USES FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, is directly related
to the Biobased Products and Bioenergy Initiative. For this program area,
interactive, systems-based approaches are encouraged to explore biobased
product and bioenergy development in the following topics: (a) crops
or agricultural residues; (b) processing; (c) product development; (d)
test,
evaluation and certification for commercial use; (e) demonstration;
(f) consideration of environmental impacts;(g) life cycle cost evaluation;
and
(h) marketing networks. Applicants are encouraged to develop proposals
that include post-harvest processing and manufacturing, consideration of
EPA s
Guidance on Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (www.epa.gov/oppt/epp/guidancepage.htm),
and facilitation of technology
transfer and marketing of biobased products. For additional guidance,
please refer to the full RFP, on-line at:
http://www.reeusda.gov/1700/programs/IFAFS/IFAFS-2001.htm
DOE Agriculture Biobased Products Team R&D Solicitation. On January
29, 2001, the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho Operations Office issued
a
solicitation for 3 to 5 cooperative awards for innovative cost-shared
research, development and demonstration of technologies in the bioproducts
industry. Funding of up to $1.5 million each year will be provided
for each award, with a duration of approximately 3-5 years. The proposal
will address
a minimum of three out of the four areas identified in the Technology
Roadmap for Plant/Crop-Based Renewable Resources 2020, which include plant
sciences, production, processing, and utilization. Proposals are due
by March 28, 2001. Read the solicitation on-line at http://e-center.doe.gov
Georgia-Pacific and the US Department of Energy Partners in Innovative
Technology. Announced on February 16th, Georgia-Pacific Corp. and the US
Department of Energy (DOE) have entered into a cooperative agreement
to install the first full-scale, commercial application of a new technology
known as black liquor gasification. Through this agreement, DOE has agreed
to fund 49.8% or about $4.5 million of the first budget period for this
project. The gasification technology will replace the Big Island, VA mill's
existing smelters and also significantly reduce its air emissions. Gasification
will reduce most air
emissions 90 percent from the current source, which is significantly
better than with recovery boiler technology. To learn more about DOE's
research in
black liquor gasification, read an on-line fact sheet at: http://www.oit.doe.gov/forest/pulscomb.shtml
IN THE NEWS
Secretary of Agriculture Supports Alternative Fuels. On February 22,
2001, USDA Secretary Ann M. Veneman spoke in support of new sources of
energy at
the Agricultural Outlook Forum. Secretary Veneman stressed the importance
of advanced biomass technologies to develop fuels and other chemicals to
help meet our nation's growing needs. Biodiesel and ethanol were mentioned
as promising sources of clean, dependable energy to increase agricultural
markets and promote environmental benefits. Read the Secretary's entire
speech at: http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2001/02/0031.htm
USDA Announces Bioenergy Program Sign up Results. On February 1, 2001,
USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Acting Executive Vice President,
James R. Little, announced the results for fiscal year 2001 Bioenergy Program
sign-up. The Bioenergy Program sign-up provides funding to
companies using commodities such as barley, corn, sorghum, and wheat
for ethanol or soybeans for biodiesel production. Nineteen states were
accepted
by CCC for participation in the program, for a total of 54 agreements
representing 79 plants. A total of 246.2 million gallons of ethanol and
36.5 million gallons of biodiesel are projected to result from the
agreements. Read more at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/FullStory.asp?StoryID=51
Doug Faulkner Recognized by the National Corn Growers Association and
OIT.On January 30, 2001, Doug Faulkner was recognized for his efforts in
agriculture and energy industries. Doug Faulkner has served as OIT's
Agriculture Team Leader, and was one of the key organizers for the Bioenergy
Vision and Roadmap process. The President of the National Corn Growers
Association, Lee Klein praised Doug Faulkner's efforts in enhancing the
American agriculture industry, and highlighted the success of Cargill
Dow's groundbreaking ceremony in Blair, Nebraska. Read more at:
http://www.oit.doe.gov/news.shtml
Office of Fuels Development's Outreach Receives Awards. Three OFD Ethanol
Program outreach pieces received awards at the Society of Technical
Communications (STC) annual professional competitions. Two of OFD's
outreach pieces received awards of merit: the "2000 Ethanol Vehicle
Challenge Poster" and the "Fueling the Future with Ethanol Poster."
The third piece, "2000 Ethanol Vehicle Challenge Poster," received an award
of
excellence. The STC has more than 20,000 members worldwide, including
writers, editors, illustrators, printers, publishers, educators, students,
engineers, and scientists from a variety of technical fields. Each
year associations, government, private sector, and any other interested
parties
submit their products to STC for award recognition. STC will be posting
the awards in the next couple of weeks at their web site: http://www.stc-va.org/
New Statistics on Alternative Fuels Provided by EIA. According to a
newcompilation by the DOE's Energy Information Administration, the total
number
of alternative fuel vehicles is projected to exceed 456,000 this year.
EIA predicts that this will result in displacing 366,000 gallons of gasoline
and
the use of one million gallons of ethanol as an additive. Learn more
about alternative fuel statistics at EIA's web site:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelalternate.html
FROM THE STATES
Minnesota Introduces Legislation Supporting Biodiesel. On January 25,
2001, House Bill # HF0362 sponsored by Representative Torrey Westrom was
introduced to the Minnesota Legislature. The bill supports the inclusion
of two percent biodiesel blends in 800 million gallons of the state's diesel
fuel for on-road and off-road motor vehicles. Link to the bill at the
Minnesota House of Representatives web site:
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/
Arizona Supports Renewable Sources. The Arizona Corporate Commission
(ACC) recently adapted an Environmental Portfolio Standard. The standard
requires the state's regulated utilities to generate a minimum of 0.2 percent
of their total retail energy sales from renewable energy for 2001 and 1.1
percent for 2007. Link to ACC's Environmental Portfolio Standard at:http://www.cc.state.az.us/utility/electric/environmental.htm
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Biomass Power Generation Gets Support from the Senate. On February 6,
2001, Senator Harry Reid from Nevada introduced bill S. 249, "Renewable
Energy Development Incentives Act," to the Senate Finance Committee. The
bill amends the section 45 of the Internal Revenue Code to expand the credit
for
electricity produced from certain renewable resources including open-loop
biomass. The bill provides an increased credit for certain co-production
facilities, and for qualified facilities on Indian and Alaskan Native
lands. Link to the bill from the Thomas website at:http://thomas.loc.gov/
UPCOMING EVENTS
All upcoming events are posted on our website at: http://www.bioproducts-bioenergy.gov/page8.html
2001 DOI Conference on the Environment, Albuquerque, New Mexico, March 13-15, 2001 http://www.doi.gov/conference/environment/
Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee, Washington, D.C., March 21, 2001
Strategic Partnerships Workshop at the DOE National Bioenergy Center, Golden, CO, April 11-12, 2001
23rd Symposium on Biotechnology Fuels and Chemicals, Breckenridge, Colorado,
May 6-9, 2001
http://www.nrel.gov/biotech_symposium/
Enviroexpo 2001, Boston, Massachusetts, May 8-10, 2001
http://www.enviroexpo.com/
The 7th National Clean Cities Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 13-16, 2001 http://www.ccities.doe.gov/conference.shtml
Forest, Wood and Paper Industry's Technology Summit, Peachtree, Georgia, May 21-22, 2001
4th Annual Energy 2001, Kansas City, Missouri, June 4-6, 2001 http://www.afdc.doe.gov/cgi-bin/comingevents/events.cgi?biofuel
6th Annual Pollution Prevention and Hazardous Waste Management Conference
and Exhibition, San Antonio, Texas, August 20-23, 2001
http://www.p2-hwmconference.com/
Fifth Biomass Conference of the Americas, Orlando, Florida, September
17-21, 2001 http://www.nrel.gov/bioam
FEDERAL OFFICES SUMMARIES
In each issue we feature government programs that work on biobased products
and bioenergy. For a summary of all offices covered to date check out our
web site at: http://www.bioproducts-bioenergy.gov/officeprofiles.html
The White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) assists the
President in the development of budget, policy, legislative, regulatory,
procurement, and management issues. OMB is composed of two offices
and two programs: the Resource Management Office, the Statutory Offices,
the Budget Review program, and the Legislative program. The Resource Management
Office supports annual negotiations with Congress over Federal fiscal policies
by providing policy and management guidance. The Statutory Offices aid
in implementing financial management policies and systems. The Budget Review
program provides support in budget decision-making and monitors Congressional
action on spending legislation. And finally, the Legislative
program coordinates the review and clearance of the Administration's
legislative proposals and bills progressing through Congress. Read more
about the Office at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb
The Department of Treasury's mission is to promote a prosperous economy,
manage government finances, safeguard financial systems, protect the
nation's leaders, implement a drug-free environment, and build a strong
institution. The Treasury Department consists of the Office of the
Secretary, the Departmental Offices, and the bureaus. The Office of
the Secretary is responsible for managing public debt and formulating domestic
and international policies affecting the economy. The Treasury Offices
are responsible for policy formulations and overall management of the Treasury
Department. The Treasury Bureaus are responsible for carrying out specific
operations assigned by the Department. Learn more about the Department
of
Treasury at: http://www.treas.gov
-----------------------------------------
Robyn McGuckin
Energetics, Inc.
501 School St SW
Washington DC 20024
(p) 202-479-2748 ext.115
(f) 202-479-0229
rmcguckin@energetics.com