Biofuel Bonanza

Breaking America's oil addiction will take extraordinary leadership and new sources of energy. That's good news for North Carolina: "The Saudi Arabia of biomass."

By David Hunt

Record oil prices and the environmental threat from greenhouse gases have stirred efforts across the nation to develop a practical, renewable energy source to fuel the 2.7 trillion miles traveled by American drivers every year. The 2005 energy bill mandates that 7.5 billion gallons of biofuel be in use by 2012, and President Bush recently proposed increasing that amount nearly fivefold to 35 billion gallons by 2017.

That sounds good on paper except for one question: how will we produce all that biofuel?

Researchers at North Carolina State University have been working on the answer, and they say it could mean big changes (and big opportunities) for North Carolina.

Dr. Bryon Sosinski and Monica Santa Maria, a horticultural science Ph.D. student, work on a project to genetically modify sweet potatoes

Today, in a world powered by fossil fuels, North Carolina is an energy have-not. In fact, not one of the 5.6 billion gallons of petroleum-based fuel burned in North Carolina each year is produced in the state.

“North Carolina is beholden to everybody else for its energy,” says Dr. Steve Peretti, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State. “Biofuel production is a way to use the agricultural resources we have to make our own energy.”

North Carolina is rich in biomass, organic material from plants and animals that can be converted into energy. The Department of Energy estimates that nearly 16 billion kilowatt hours of electricity could be generated every year in North Carolina from renewable biomass sources, such as forest wood residue, animal waste and energy crops.

Peretti is leading an effort at NC State, fueled by a $1.5 million grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation, to establish a pilot facility that will coax ethanol out of cellulose, the primary structural component of green plants. Three substances found in North Carolina in abundance – sweet potatoes, switchgrass and loblolly pine trees – are being studied as energy sources.

Other NC State researchers are working to develop practical ways to turn cotton stocks, wood chips, vegetable oil, animal fat and algae into fuel.

“The key to all this is diversification,” says Dr. Bryon Sosinski, associate professor of horticultural science. “We need to get every possible energy source into the equation for the future.”

He’s not the only one looking to the future. In April a group of state leaders presented an ambitious plan to the General Assembly, recommending nine energy strategies for the decade ahead. The first commits North Carolina to a measurable and significant goal: By 2017, 10 percent of liquid fuels sold in North Carolina must come from biofuels grown and produced within the state.

If the group’s strategic vision takes hold, it would mean nothing less than the creation of an entirely new industry sector built around biofuel production. The group foresees the construction of biofuel processing plants throughout the state, bringing jobs and economic vitality to many rural areas.

In fact, North Carolina has already attracted the region’s first large-scale corn-based ethanol plant, a 60-million gallon plant in Hoke County that is scheduled to begin construction next month.

But corn-based ethanol may not play a large role in North Carolina’s energy future, experts say.

[Part 2: The Corn Crunch]

Links:

• Brewing Energy From Natural Resources

• North Carolina’s Strategic Plan for Biofuels Leadership

• President Bush Visits North Carolina to Discuss Cellulosic Ethanol