Muscatine Journal, IA
11-28-06
Iowa State researcher: Future for renewable fuels looks good
By Peter Rugg of the Muscatine Journal
MUSCATINE, Iowa — An Iowa State University researcher predicted a strong
future for ethanol and other bio-fuels Monday during his keynote speech at
Muscatine Rotary’s weekly meeting.
John Miranowski gave Rotary members a brief look at the factors driving
renewable-fuel production, and that production might face, during a roughly 30minute presentation.
It was the Rotary’s second such presentation in the last month. Iowa State
University president Gregory Geoffroy also discussed renewable fuels at in
late October.
Iowa State University is in what Miranowski called the “bio-economy era.”
“This is the first time in all my years at Iowa State that I’ve seen the university
really excited about an issue and pulling together for it,” he said.
Although the term bio-fuels can refer to any fuel derived from recently living
organisms or their byproducts, Miranowski focused his talk on ethanol.
Miranowski said ethanol production has steadily increased over the last 20 years,
from between 150 million and 200 million gallons in 1980 to more than 4 billion
gallons in 2002.
The market forces that will drive ethanol’s future, he said, are the price of crude
oil and gasoline. Prices must rise and hold at a rate high enough to give
producers real economic incentive to push ethanol production and use.
Although he believes ethanol’s production and use will be strong in the future,
there are some challenges. There likely will be a significant environmental impact
to deal with, especially affecting water runoff and soil erosion, as well as the
impact of getting biofuels to the market by creating pipelines, terminals and
storage facilities.
As to the effect on waterways, he said studies are under way but they will not be
complete for more than a year. Also, the agricultural industry will face
adjustments, such as altering crop production and which livestock will be raised.
After his presentation, Miranowski was questioned by the audience on E85, the
efficiency of creating ethanol, and tax incentives for ethanol.
Regarding E85, he believes the mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent
gasoline will be an essential component of the bio-fuel industry, and that as
infrastructure expands, there will be no reason for automobile manufacturers not
to develop compatible engines.
As to the tax incentives, he believed that was generally a matter of public policy
but believes they could serve some good by preventing oil companies from
manipulating market prices.
Questioned about some studies claiming that the amount of energy necessary to
create ethanol outweighs the other energy-saving benefits of the fuel, Miranowski
dismissed the studies as either done by researchers with ties to the oil industry or
done by researchers without sufficient backgrounds in the field.
Contact Peter Rugg at: 563-263-2331 Ext. 322 or
peter.rugg@muscatinejournal.com