Benefits to Biofuels and U.S. Energy Security

Agricultural Biotechnology: Benefits for Biofuels and U.S. Energy Security

America's "addiction" to petroleum has national security, economic and environmental consequences for our nation. Oil imports are a major contributor to the U.S. trade deficit. They are purchased from countries which often do not share America's international goals and agenda. They contribute to harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which impact the planet's climate. Finding the solutions to reducing America's reliance on imported oil will require a variety of new technologies and innovations. Many industries are searching for solutions, including leading agricultural biotechnology researchers.

U.S. Energy Security

The United States imports 60 percent of the oil it consumes today,1 and 15 percent of that imported oil comes from the Persian Gulf.2 U.S. dependence on foreign oil has grown dramatically since 1980, when imports made up only 37 percent of our oil needs – and that disturbing trend is continuing.

The key to U.S. energy security is multi-faceted and complex.  It includes making businesses, factories, homes and appliances more energy-efficient, and increasing vehicles' fuel efficiency, and developing clean, renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. But it also includes the search for new fuels to power our transportation systems.

Biofuels

Biofuels have been identified as one component in reducing both America's dependence on foreign oil and its contribution to climate change. Although biofuels today offset only 3 percent of total U.S. transportation energy consumption, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 includes a renewable fuels standard (RFS) that will require a seven-fold increase in domestic biofuel production by 2022.3 

Already, 40 percent of the gasoline used in America is a blended fuel containing as much as 10 percent ethanol derived from corn, sugarcane and other crops.4 The production and use of nearly five billion gallons of ethanol in 2006 reduced America's dependence on imported oil by 170 million barrels, nearly equal to the amount we buy from OPEC in a month.5  At current prices, this means that $17 billion stayed in the United States instead of going overseas.

Biodiesel, made from soybeans and other oilseed crops, is being increasingly used in farm equipment, trucks and buses.  U.S. sales of biodiesel have increased 100-fold since 2000, and are expected to exceed 200 million gallons in 2008.6 Diesel cars – already prevalent in Europe and now on Detroit's drawing boards – can also run on biodiesel.

Cleaner-burning than gasoline, currently available biofuels reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 18 to 29 percent, compared to gasoline.  In 2007, biofuels reduced GHG emissions by more than eight million tons – equivalent to removing 1.2 million vehicles from America's road.7 Research is continuing to develop even cleaner-burning biofuels.

The Role of Agricultural Biotechnology

Achieving the Clean Energy Act's mandated seven-fold increase in domestic biofuel production by 2022 is an ambitious goal – made even more challenging by the imperative that doing so must not adversely affect either the availability or the cost of food. This means significantly boosting crop yields, as well as identifying and harnessing the energy potential of non-food crops.

Agricultural biotechnology is already doing both.

Boosting today's crop yields through agriculture biotechnology.

• Higher yields per acre means that farmers can grow more grain for both food and fuel. Since the introduction of biotech corn in 1996, yields have increased by an average of 20 percent, or 27 bushels per acre.8 Of the 92.9 million acres of corn planted by American farmers in 2007 – with an expected average yield of 153 bushels per acre – about a quarter of the harvest was expected to be converted to more than nine billion gallons of ethanol.  The remaining three-quarters – nearly 11 billion bushels – would be used for food, feed and export markets, easily meeting or exceeding the 2006 demand.9
• Corn yields are expected to continue increasing over the next two decades, nearly doubling by 2030.10 It has been estimated that, if current yield improvements continue, little or no additional corn acreage will be required to meet projected needs for food and feed, while achieving the RFS target mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.11

Producing tomorrow's biofuels from alternative crops. 

• Researchers are developing biocatalysts – enzymes, yeast and bacteria produced using biotechnology – that can break down almost any organic matter, including grasses and agricultural waste such as cornstalks. This will greatly expand the raw material from which tomorrow's biofuels can be produced – without any decrease in the nation's food supply. 
• A cornfield in Nebraska or Iowa, for example, could generate corn for human consumption and livestock feed, and the stalks of that same crop – which today are left in the field as waste – could be transformed into biofuel.  Another example of organic matter for biofuel is switchgrass, which can be grown on marginal farmland, leaving more productive acres for food crops.  Biofuels produced in this way could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 88 percent.12

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