Biofuels importance for national security of the USA

During his speech at Biomass South 2010 conference, Dallas Tonsager, the under secretary for rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, named the growth and approval of new biofuels as national security imperative. He described it as the understanding of the fact when one is independent enough in its creations from those who could harm them using such tool. President administration set the objective to increase the manufacturing of US biofuel from 12 to 36 billion of gallons by 2022. The U.S. Navy has also set the goal to apply 50% alternative fuels in its planes, cars and ships in make significant role in nation transition from fossil fuels to biofuels. According to the Memphis Bioworks Foundation study results the region could produce about 8 billion in the conditions of developing bioeconomy during the period of transition from petroleum-based to plant-based products.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, was talking about the importance of developing bioeconomy industry as this region is Mid-South center where many country and farm interests coincide. Bioworks is making attempt to unite everything together in a manner to allow rural economy to be extended via the work of this city Bioworks tank center.

Nowadays, most alternative fuels are obtained from corn ethanol. The president administration had recently adopted the ethanol percentage increase from ten to fifteen percents. Though higher percentage is recommended to be applied in new generation cars and pump owners would have to decide what percentage to present.

In the US only few thousand pumps among 162,000 existing ones provide different percentage choice, by thus facing the necessity to increase the amount of such type pumps and car technologies. That is why Tonsager mentioned the necessity to increase the choice of fuel mixtures.

The country has to build more biorefinery facilities as well as most of the existing ones are located in the Midwest and Northern Plains. That is why USDA estimated the necessity of 527 biorefineries more, which would cost about 168 billion USD.

Such biorefineries would treat oil seed crops and woody biomass. The USDA and the Department of Energy financed the construction of demonstration plant in Georgia which would turn woody biomass to fuel and planned to be opened soon.

Tonsager ended his speech by telling that he aimed biofuel amount of 36 billion gallons per year would not cover country needs but reduce country dependence on foreign oil supplies and would make other countries want to import oil to us instead of making it as threatening tool.

The two-day conference examines other products which can be obtained from plants. The same conference held two years ago in North Carolina, had been funded by Memphis Bioworks AgBio, the Southern Growth Policies Board and Southeast Agriculture and Forestry Energy Resources Alliance.