Shift focus to biofuels beyond corn ethanol Next governor needs long-term vision on energy.
June 12, 2006
Candidates for governor Jim Nussle and Chet Culver both emphasize Iowa's potential to become a major energy-producing state. Nussle even includes the notion in his campaign slogan, saying he wants to "energize" Iowa.
The candidates are seizing an issue whose time has come.
If the nation shifts from fossil fuels (the residue of long-ago plant materials) to fuels derived from present-day plant materials, such as corn, soybeans and switchgrass, the entire economy could be transformed.
What oil did for Texas, biofuels could do for the Midwest, with Iowa at its heart.
The next governor will be in the right place and the right time to help make it happen — provided he doesn't get bogged down in merely subsidizing ethanol, as the Legislature has. The vision needs to stretch beyond corn-based ethanol, which is just the first, primitive phase in biofuels, not the ultimate destination.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan made that point in congressional testimony last week. While he said it is vital for the nation to find alternatives to petroleum, he noted that the potential of corn-based ethanol to displace gasoline is "modest at best."
Ethanol currently displaces less than 2 percent of U.S. gasoline consumption, using about 12 percent of the corn crop, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report. If the entire corn crop were used to make ethanol, it would displace less than 15 percent of gasoline.
Devoting the entire corn crop to ethanol production would wreak havoc on the livestock industry and is unlikely to happen. According to some estimates, corn ethanol production is already approaching a threshold where it will disrupt livestock production.
That's why attention is switching to "cellulosic" ethanol, produced not from grain but from the fibrous material in plants, including stems, leaves and wood. It's estimated about 30 percent of gasoline consumption could be displaced if the nation fully developed the potential of cellulosic ethanol, made from everything from corn stover to switchgrass to wood chips.
That, however, can't happen until economic ways are found to break cellulose down into its component sugars, which in turn can be distilled into ethanol.
All of which suggests that Iowa's major initiative in biofuels needs to be in supporting research at the state universities. No matter what biofuel emerges as the successor to corn-based ethanol, be it cellulosic ethanol or some other technology, Iowa must position itself to be a leader, and it can do that only by being a leader in basic research.
An obvious place to start is for Iowa to become the location of one of the world's first "biorefineries." The U.S. Department of Energy is seeking proposals to build up to three such refineries. The next governor should insist that Iowa put up its share of the cost and go after one of them.
A biorefinery would work like an oil refinery. It would produce not only motor fuel but also a wide range of chemicals used to make everything from plastics to fabrics. The difference is that a biorefinery would use plant material (possibly the entire corn plant, not just the grain) as a feedstock, instead of petroleum.
Using Iowa's unmatched agricultural resources to produce not only food but an array of fuels and other useful products could reshape the state's economy. Add the energy potential of the abundant wind sweeping across Iowa's prairies, and the future looks unlimited.
The next governor will have a lot to do with whether the potential is realized.
