Transportation fuels are the largest end use of energy by sector in the U.S. A full two-thirds of the world's petroleum resources are used for transportation, and 60% of that is used for ground transportation. Despite increasing demand, petroleum production is expected to peak within 10-30 years, after which time worldwide production will decline until resources are exhausted, resulting in dramatically higher fuel costs and potentially disastrous geopolitical conflicts for resources. What’s more, each gallon of gasoline and diesel produces an astonishing 20 pounds of CO2 (7 tons per vehicle per year), heavily contributing to global warming and the far-reaching climate changes that our grandchildren could face
A Call to Action
In August 2006, recognizing the critical need for new biofuels research to secure U.S. energy independence, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it would invest $250M to establish and operate two separate Bioenergy Research Centers in existing laboratory facilities. The Department of Energy asked U.S. institutions to propose centers that would accelerate research into biofuels generated from plants and microbes as a cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels. The Bioenergy Research Centers would need to create the right mix of technologies, processes, and expertise to address the need for environmentally friendly biofuels production-- a mission that was far beyond the scope of any single organization. A failure to meet this challenge would hamper solutions to global warming, exacerbate our nation’s energy security problems, and impede the U.S.'s competitive advantage in the global bioenergy industry.
Our Response
In the San Francisco Bay Area, three national laboratories, major public and private universities, industry, and federal agencies have joined together to create the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). This institute will develop the basic science and technology to create an array of environmentally friendly biofuels using plant biomass and microbes. JBEI will focus its scientific effort in three key areas: feedstock production, deconstruction, and fuels synthesis. JBEI will employ an opportunistic “start-up company” approach, partnering with industry, to develop new science and technologies that address the most challenging steps in industrial bioenergy processing. Crosscutting technologies in computational tools, systems and synthetic biology tools, and advanced imaging will be applied in a multi-pronged approach for biomass-to-biofuel solutions in addition to discovery-driven benefits for biohydrogen research, solar-to-fuel initiatives, and broader DOE programs.
