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Energy News- President Obama Announces Three Steps to Boost Biofuels February 3, 2010President Obama has announced three actions to boost U.S. biofuel production, including the final rule implementing the Renewable Fuel Standard, which calls for 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022; a proposed rule for biomass crop assistance; and a report that establishes a roadmap for biofuel growth. […]
- President Obama: Federal Government to Cut GHG Emissions 28% by 2020 February 3, 2010A 2009 Executive Order that requires federal agencies to cut their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will result in a 28% overall reduction by 2020. The figure is the aggregate of targets set by 35 federal agencies, which will comply by increasing their use of energy efficiency and renewable energy. […]
- Under the Copenhagen Accord, 55 Countries Agree to Cut GHG Emissions February 3, 2010Countries representing 78% of all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy use have submitted their national pledges to the United Nations. The pledges mark the first follow-up to the Copenhagen Accord, an agreement reached in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. […]
- President Obama Announces Three Steps to Boost Biofuels February 3, 2010
- Renewable Energy
- NREL Battery Testing Capabilities Get a Boost NRELRecovery Act funding will be used to enhance battery testing equipment and facilities, helping NREL continue to support industry. […]
- Smart Windows: Energy Efficiency with a ViewBuildings consume 40 percent of our nation's energy. NREL is testing and researching electrochromic windows that could knock that back significantly. […]
- NREL to Help Scale Up Biofuels OperationsThanks to a partnership with DOE and NREL, companies are getting the cash and expertise needed to jumpstart biofuels production scale-up. […]
- NREL Battery Testing Capabilities Get a Boost NREL
- Energy And The Environment
- CONFERENCE CALL: Top Administration Officials to Discuss Energy Announcements February 3, 2010WASHINGTON — Today at 3:00 p.m. – following a meeting with President Obama, Vice President Biden, and a bipartisan group of governors from across the country – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, EPA Administrator Lisa P […]
- EPA’s Energy Star Leaders Quadruple Energy Savings In One Year February 2, 2010WASHINGTON - In 2009, EPA’s Energy Star Leaders prevented the equivalent of more than 220,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and saved more than $48 million across their commercial building portfolios […]
- EPA and DOE Join States to Speed Energy Efficiency Progress in the United States February 2, 2010WASHINGTON – As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to increasing energy efficiency and reducing costs, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today the creation of the State Energy Efficiency (SEE) Action Network […]
- CONFERENCE CALL: Top Administration Officials to Discuss Energy Announcements February 3, 2010
- Energy Research
- Strange matters February 9, 2010The result from a years-long effort at DOE's Jefferson Lab (known as the G-Zero experiment) to measure strange matter in the proton has revealed that strange matter doesn't magnetize the proton or distort its charge distribution all that much. […]
- Unique glass microspheres show promise for medicine, energy February 9, 2010Networks of interconnected pores in the shells of the Savannah River National Laboratory???s?? Porous Walled Hollow Glass Microspheres give the tiny ???microballoons??? unique capabilities for potential use in targeted drug delivery, hydrogen storage and other uses. […]
- Theory, simulations explain DNA sequencer surprise February 9, 2010Researchers working toward a low-cost DNA sequencing tool for medical diagnostics and other uses have proposed a microfluidic device that uses a single-walled carbon nanotube as a nanopore conduit to thread, or translocate, a single strand of DNA from one reservoir with electrolyte to another, analyzing and sequencing the DNA in the process. […]
- Strange matters February 9, 2010
- Agriculture
- Barley Protein Concentrate Could Replace Fishmeal in Aquaculture FeedsRead the magazine story to find out more. ARS fish physiologist Rick Barrows and Montana Microbial Products have developed a barley protein concentrate that could replace fishmeal to make a less expensive feed for trout and other commercially produced fish. Vitamin mix helps health of farmed fish Ethanol co-products could lower cost of freshwater fish pro […]
- ARS Scientists Turn to a Wild Oat to Combat Crown RustRead the magazine story to find out more. ARS plant pathologist Martin Carson is using genes from a wild oat, considered by some to be a noxious weed, to help combat crown rust, the most damaging fungal disease of oats worldwide. ARS photo. Heading off world wheat threat Sentry lab searches for threats to U.S. grains ARS, cooperators fight new strain o […]
- Secrets to Superb Malting Barleys Explored by ARS ResearchersRead the magazine story to find out more. ARS chemist Mark Schmitt is discovering what happensbiochemicallyinside malting barley grains as they sprout, so that plant breeders will have a better basis for developing superior varieties. New USDA cereal crops laboratory dedicated New enzymes boost alcohol production New barley bred for candymakers, br […]
- Barley Protein Concentrate Could Replace Fishmeal in Aquaculture Feeds
- Food, Drugs And Health
- FDA Issues Guidance to Help Streamline Medical Device Clinical TrialsThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued guidance on Bayesian statistical methods in the design and analysis of medical device clinical trials that could result in less costly and more efficient patient studies. […]
- FDA Updates Statement on the Investigation into the Salmonella Montevideo OutbreakThe Food and Drug Administration, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, continues to work closely with the Rhode Island Department of Health and other states in the investigation of an outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo infections associated with certain Italian […]
- United States Seizes more than 1500 Cases of Food from Wisconsin Distribution WarehouseAt the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Marshals on Tuesday seized a wide range of human and animal food products stored under insanitary conditions at Mid-States Closeouts, a distribution warehouse in Ellsworth, Wis. The products were seized under a warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. […]
- FDA Approves Xiaflex for Debilitating Hand ConditionThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Xiaflex (collagenase clostridium histolyticum) as the first drug to treat a progressive hand disease known as Dupuytren's contracture, which can affect a person’s ability to straighten and properly use their fingers. […]
- FDA Requests $4.03 Billion to Transform Food Safety System, Invest in Medical Product Safety, Regulatory ScienceThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration is requesting $4.03 billion to promote and protect public health as part of the President’s fiscal year 2011 budget – a 23 percent increase over the agency’s current $3.28 billion budget. The FY 2011 request, which covers the period of Oct.1, 2010, through Sept. 30, 2011, includes increases of $146 million in budge […]
- FDA Issues Guidance to Help Streamline Medical Device Clinical Trials
Three Steps to Boost Biofuels
President Barack Obama announced three actions that the federal government is taking to boost U.S. biofuels production. The measures include: the final rule from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) of 36 billion gallons by 2022; a proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), which provides financing to increase the production of biomass for bioenergy; and the release of Growing America’s Fuel,the first report from the president’s Biofuels Interagency Working Group. The report lays out a strategy to advance the development and commercialization of a sustainable biofuels industry.
The primary measure is the change in the RFS program, required by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which mandates that biofuels production will grow from last year’s 11.1 billion gallons to 36 billion gallons in 2022. The 2022 goal includes 21 billion gallons to come from advanced biofuels, defined as those that cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50%. For the first time, some renewable fuels must also achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions, compared to the gasoline and diesel fuels they displace, in order to be counted towards compliance with volume standards. According to the EPA, meeting the 2022 goal could reduce U.S. dependence on oil by more than 328 million barrels per year.
The EPA final rule sets the RFS for 2010 at 12.95 billion gallons of renewable fuel, all of which must be used in transportation fuels over the course of the year. For the first time, the EPA has also set volume requirements for specific categories of renewable fuels. For 2010, the cellulosic biofuel standard is 6.5 million gallons, and the total volume of advanced biofuels must be at least 950 million gallons. Biomass-based diesel is expected to contribute 650 million gallons of that total, but because a regulatory structure was not implemented to achieve the 2009 requirement of 500 million gallons of biomass-based diesel, the new rule combines the two years, requiring a total of 1.15 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel for 2009 and 2010.with the biomass-based diesel standard is being set at 1.15 bg by combining the 2009 and 2010 standards. See the full EPA rule.
As a second measure, the USDA has also proposed a rule for the BCAP program, which has already begun to provide matching payments for the collection, harvest, storage, and transportation of biomass to eligible biomass conversion facilities. The third part of the biofuels effort was the release of Growing America’s Fuel, the first report from the Biofuels Interagency Working Group, which was created by the president last May and led by USDA, DOE, and the EPA. The report focuses on both short-term growth and the long-term roadmap for biofuel growth, using strategies such as public-private partnerships. Among other things, it calls for increased government consumption of biofuels along with an integrated management approach.