Alternative energy moves into the mainstream

Jay Gore

On Feb. 20 following a meeting to discuss energy issues with the president, Sen. Richard Lugar said, "The energy situation facing our country is daunting. Regardless of whether it is Mother Nature or developing countries that are straining the oil supply, something must be done in the very near future to decrease our dependence on oil."

Last November, Sen. Evan Bayh said, "Achieving energy independence is one of the greatest challenges of our generation, one that will impact everything from our national security to our economy."

Also in November, Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman and representatives from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture identified the production of biofuels as key to the state's future economy.

The Indiana legislature may implement a renewable fuels standard for the state. The bill under discussion requires that all gasoline sold in the state contain corn-based ethanol, and all diesel fuel sold in the state contain biodiesel, which is made from soybeans.

The country needs to better develop alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. The nation also needs to invest more in research on improved fuel sources such as clean coal technologies.

It is not a matter of choice, but of necessity, because there is a finite supply of petroleum. Most experts agree that the world has reached or will soon reach "Hubbard's Peak," the point at which the world's petroleum production has peaked.

Add that to the reality that there is a greatly increased worldwide demand for petroleum fuel, and you will understand the cataclysmic global nature of the problem. For example, China and India are depending more on imported oil as their economies become more industrialized and consumer driven. In Beijing, Chinese automobile sales add 1,000 vehicles to the roadways each day, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce.

China, which once was a net oil exporter, now imports 7 million barrels of oil each day. By 2014, it is predicted that China will import twice that amount.

In America, energy consumption is expected to grow 1.1 percent each year from now until 2030, according to a 2006 report from the Department of Energy. We currently burn 18 million barrels of oil each day.

Alternative energy and other forms of energy must play an increasingly larger role in coming to terms with the global energy problem. Purdue University's Energy Center at Discovery Park this week held the 2006 Bioenergy Symposium at its West Lafayette campus. The meeting brought together experts from around the region to discuss the full range of issues related to alternative fuels.

The government is making a concerted effort to increase the research and use of alternative fuels. The $14.5 billion Energy Bill, passed last summer by the U.S. Congress, will expedite current alternative fuel research in the private and public sectors to help America become energy independent. Business is also getting involved and is investing in alternative fuels.

Clean Edge, a San Francisco market-research company reports large increases in investments in alternative fuels and developing other forms of energy. Venture capitalists invested about $4.4 billion in renewable and traditional energy research from 1999 to 2004. During the first six months of 2005, they invested $500 million in venture capital.

Those investments are four times the amount venture capitalists invested in energy from 1993-98.

Vinod Khosla, a well-known venture capitalist who co-founded Sun Microsystems Inc. in Silicon Valley in the early 1980s, is focusing much of his attention on alternative energy. Through his Khosla Ventures, he has invested in six "clean fuel" technologies, including a biofuel company in Jennings, La.

There are 30 biodiesel production facilities in the United States, with an additional 25 in planning stages. In Indiana, a biodiesel and ethanol plant will open in Cloverdale with plans for more to follow in Rensselear and elsewhere in the state.

These actions make it clear that America's political and business leaders are serious about reducing the country's dependence on foreign oil, but we need to do more.

Gore is the interim director of the Energy Center in Discovery Park and is the Vincent P. Reilly Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University.

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