Even as the first of the second generation biofuels plants come on line, technologies for new fuels from biomass are in the pipeline, said Nobel laureate Steve Chu. Chu is the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.
As part of his keynote presentation at the Renewable Energy Action Summit May 19 in Bismarck, N. D., Chu spoke about the lab’s Helios Project which is pursuing multiple paths to convert sunlight into electricity and transportation fuels. Filling the world’s energy needs in an environmentally responsible way will be one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century, Chu said. The world’s population is expected to be between 9 billion and 10 billion people by 2050 – with the fast growing populations in countries such as India and China, which will want energy dense lifestyles similar to people in the United States and Europe. “Solutions do not exist with the current technology,” Chu said.
Biomass and solar energy will be two key technologies into meeting the future’s energy challenges. BP Inc. has donated $500 million over 10 years to a consortium of labs led by LBNL, which will research energy to create new key technologies that will become increasingly viable. Chu outlined some of the successes that have already occurred in the advanced biofuels field. The costs of enzymes for cellulosic enzymes have dropped 20 to 30 times. Research into new feedstocks, such as miscanthus and switchgrass, will increase per acre yields for ethanol by as much as 15 times over corn starch based ethanol. However, more developments are on the horizon.
