Des Moines Register
12-31-06
Make Iowa the renewable-fuel research center
Here's a recap of major editorials in the "Fueling Iowa's Future" series:
Competitors threaten Iowa's early lead
Sometime this century, world oil production likely will reach its peak. At the same
time, developing economies are gulping fuel faster than ever.
Those two factors have intensified the search for fossil-fuel replacements, and a
race is shaping up among states and countries around the world. Iowa, which
leads the nation in ethanol and biodiesel production and ranks third in windgenerated electricity, is an early leader in the emerging renewable-fuels industry.
But it doesn't appear ready to go the distance.
In spring 2006, the Legislature's signature action on energy was to sweeten the
subsidies for ethanol in hopes of boosting consumption. However worthy that
may be, it is an investment in the present, not the future. Ethanol from corn is
today's technology, not necessarily tomorrow's. It is the beginning, not the end of
the search for alternatives.
Iowa has vast potential in at least two renewable-energy sources - wind and
biomass - but the exact technologies to best exploit them haven't been
developed. Much research and experimentation is required. That is where Iowa
should focus if it wants to stay a leader in renewable energy.
When the Register asked several experts what Iowa should do to capitalize on its
energy potential, the almost unanimous answer was: Invest more in research.
Raise salaries and build more labs to recruit and retain the best university
researchers. Provide more seed money to obtain federal research grants.
It is from research that successful technologies will emerge, and the states that
do the most will reap the most benefits.
- April 23
Consider ethanol just the beginning
The rap on corn-grain ethanol used to be that it was a net-energy loser - taking
more fossil energy to grow the corn, harvest and transport it and transform it into
ethanol than there was energy released when the ethanol was burned. That
objection has been overcome. Most recent studies show ethanol with a positive
energy balance, due to improved processes.
The new worry is that there isn't enough corn to make enough ethanol to
significantly reduce the nation's reliance on petroleum.
An upper limit on ethanol production from corn will be reached somewhere short
of using the entire crop but not even remotely close to ending reliance on
petroleum.
That doesn't mean that new ethanol plants being built in Iowa aren't good
investments. Plenty of growth still lies ahead for the industry. But longer term, the
expectation is that the feedstock for ethanol will expand far beyond corn.
Cellulosic ethanol made from perennial crops such as switchgrass, from trees
and wood chips, and from crop residue including corn stover, will have a better
net-energy balance than today's ethanol and will be more plentiful.
Plus, there is the potential for constructing biorefineries that, like petroleum
refineries, could produce a wide range of plastics, adhesives, solvents,
packaging materials and lubricants in addition to motor fuels.
No single technology will replace petroleum. Ethanol or a possible successor like
butanol, another type of alcohol, will be part of the answer. It's likely that wind,
nuclear, solar, geothermal and synfuels all will play roles, too. What's happening
with ethanol is great, but Iowa must prepare to be a leader in what comes next.
- Aug. 27
Write a farm/energy/conservation bill
U.S. farm programs basically lock farmers in to growing corn, soybeans, wheat,
rice or cotton.
That needs to change if American farms are going to be a major source of
energy as well as food.
Farmers should be free to produce any crops, including energy crops, based on
their judgment of the potential profit, rather than on the government's list of
subsidized commodities.
Farmers could still have an income safety net, but the farm bill should subsidize
farmers according to their stewardship of the environment.
Indeed, the next farm bill shouldn't be a farm bill at all. It should be a
farm/energy/conservation bill that will be remembered as landmark legislation.
- Aug. 28
Nurture biodiesel for cleaner blends
When Willie Nelson sings the praises of biodiesel, you might get the impression
that the clean, renewable fuel is on the road to replacing traditional diesel fuel.
It isn't going to happen, because there's limited availability of soybeans and other
oilseeds from which the fuel is made. Biodiesel is also made from used
restaurant grease and animal fats, but those supplies are limited, too.
Biodiesel nevertheless is a potentially successful industry employing thousands
of people. Its market likely will largely be as a fuel supplement or additive. In a 2
percent blend, biodiesel can help petrodiesel meet new federal emissions
standards, and it can replace the lubricity that is lost when sulfur is removed from
petrodiesel. Its energy balance is better than ethanol's and far better than
gasoline's.
There is no guarantee that the industry will stay in Iowa, however. As the industry
matures, it might find it advantageous to relocate the plants closer to the major
markets for transportation fuel.
As with ethanol, the key to keeping the biodiesel industry growing in Iowa is to
make sure the best knowledge, technology and expertise will always be in Iowa.
- Oct. 15
Harvest wealth from Iowa's winds
Wind is an energy resource of breathtaking possibilities. It is clean, endlessly
renewable and delivered free to our doorstep.
Iowa ranks third nationally and No. 1 per capita in installed capacity to generate
electricity from wind. But we have only begun to tap it.
Northwest of a line roughly from Dubuque to Council Bluffs, the winds blow
strongly and consistently enough to make generating electricity from wind cost
effective. As the technology of wind turbines improves, electricity from wind might
become a viable choice for most of the rest of Iowa as well.
Iowa is on the edge of the vast, wind-swept Great Plains. There is enough wind
in the region to supply all of the energy needs of the entire United States - not
just the electricity, but total energy.
But wind has a well-known disadvantage that, for now, prevents it from becoming
a dominant source of electricity: It doesn't blow all the time. And there's no good
way to store excess electricity when the wind is blowing for use when it is not.
Iowa and the federal government should make research on possible storage and
transmission technologies an urgent priority. Congress also needs to enact a tax
credit for wind-generated electricity that producers can rely on. On the state level,
Iowa should make the process easier for small projects to interconnect with
major utilities.
- Dec. 3
Position Iowa for Hydrogen Economy
What if ethanol and biodiesel are just an early phase in the energy revolution and
they are superseded by hydrogen? Futurists expect it to happen.
There are some interesting possibilities involving Iowa and hydrogen. The state
needs to invest in them to ensure a position as a significant player in what
futurists call the Hydrogen Economy.
Despite dazzling possibilities, several barriers stand in the way of a switch to
hydrogen. It can be produced in a number of ways, but the best way of doing it
renewably and cost-effectively hasn't been figured out. And unless it is stored
under extreme pressure, enough hydrogen to give a car adequate driving range
can't be carried on board. Moreover, fuel cells, at this stage of their development,
are too costly and short-lived for everyday use.
At least two possible major breakthroughs involve Iowans. Bill Leighty, a
Waterloo native and Stanford-educated engineer who now lives in Alaska, has
conceived a pilot project in Iowa that would demonstrate the feasibility of
transporting hydrogen long distances by pipeline. And Norm Olson of the Iowa
Energy Center at Iowa State University is promoting research on a surprising
solution to hydrogen storage problems: ammonia. Like pure hydrogen, ammonia
can be burned in a modified engine or it can produce electricity in a fuel cell. It's
denser than pure hydrogen, so a tank of it could give a car a reasonable driving
range.
U.S. Sens. Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley should be enlisted to secure federal
research funding for the pipeline demonstration, and the Legislature should make
sure the Iowa Energy Center has the resources to follow through with ammonia.
The promise of hydrogen is too great for Iowa to sit out the revolution.
- Dec. 10