WASHINGTON, March 2, 2016 - The USDA Chief Scientist Catherine
Woteki announced
the release of the Federal
Activities Report on the Bioeconomy. The report was developed to inform
Americans of current federal agency activities working to develop and support
the “bioeconomy,” an emerging segment of the U.S. economy that relies on
renewable biological resources to produce fuels, power and bio-based
products.
These fuels, power and products are produced using biomass, such
as agricultural residues, grasses, energy crops, forestry trimmings, algae and
other sources, instead of fossil fuels.
Benefits of the bioeconomy include:
- Reduced
greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.
- Diversified U.S.
energy options, less dependency on energy imports (reliance on foreign oil,
energy security).
- The use of animal
waste for biogas, fuel, heat and biopower production as a management technique can
generate additional revenues for farmers.
- The use of
municipal solid waste for renewable energy production can alleviate pressures building
on wastewater treatment plants and landfills due to high volume.
- Bio-based
products support the growth of plants, trees and vegetation, which recycle
carbon (CO2) from the atmosphere, resulting in air quality improvements when
compared to fossil fuel-based products.
- Job creation,
particularly in rural areas.
At the Energy Department (DOE), research, development,
and demonstration for biofuels is concentrated within the Bioenergy
Technologies Office (BETO) and other offices in the Sustainable
Transportation sector at the
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Similar work is done
within the Office of Science, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, and other DOE offices.
At USDA, much of the research and development focuses
on the production, quality, and integration of feedstocks into commercial
agriculture production of food, fiber and forestry. USDA also has programs and
activities that promote end markets for biofuels, heat and biopower and
bio-based products. Many bio-based products are already available for purchase,
including products certified by USDA’s
BioPreferred program. However, others
still need technological and/or market development to reduce costs, improve
quality and/or performance, such as cellulosic biofuels that can directly
replace gasoline.
DOE’s biomass
assessment studies have concluded that the potential exists to
sustainably produce 1 billion tons of biomass in the U.S. – tripling the size
of current U.S. biomass usage – which
could displace 25 percent of U.S. transportation fuels, 50 billion pounds of
bio-based products, and generate 85 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of
electricity.
#30
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