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Methane and agriculture are the hot new renewable energy frontier.

Rural Recycling... put everything to good use!

It takes legal work, timing, and a marketplace to turn manure into "renewable energy". But are we there yet? Dairy farmers are adopting methane energy production techniques, but permaculture techniques might provide another layer of ecological permaculture.

YOU be the innovative judge. I mean, the "innovation" judge. Are we there yet? Or do we need to look deeper into the whole "system" of agriculture and see where those cows come from, what their stomachs have evolved over the eons to digest...and how we can optimize cattle feed, cattle manure, and our hunger for convenient, heat producing fuel and energy.

YOU be the judge. And the INNOVATOR!

Environmental Protection Agency finalized its revision to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program in February, 2010. 

Under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), Congress created requirements for how much renewable fuel (corn ethanol, biomass-based diesel, cellulosic ethanol, and other "advanced "fuels) must be blended in the nation's petroleum supply.

Although the revision does not change the fact that 36 billion gallons of biofuels are required to be consumed in 2022, it does make two significant changes.

RFS is that lifecycle GHG emissions

First, one of the unique aspects of the RFS is that lifecycle GHG emissions of qualifying renewable fuel must be less than lifecycle GHG emissions of the 2005 baseline average gasoline or diesel fuel that it replaces. 

According to Green Tech Media, "when the EPA originally calculated indirect land use, corn ethanol was found to have a higher carbon footprint than an equal gallon of gasoline - and thus would not qualify under the RFS. The corn ethanol lobby (i.e. Big Agriculture) cried foul and claimed that since there was no universally agreed upon methodology for evaluating indirect-land use effects, the EPA should shelve it. The corn ethanol lobby also mobilized their Republican and Democratic friends in Congress who subsequently threatened to pass laws taking away the EPA's power to regulate "indirect land use" effects in life-cycle greenhouse gas analysis."

Under the final determinations established Wednesday, the EPA ruled that corn ethanol produced from a "new or expanded capacity from an existing natural gas-fired facility using advanced efficient technologies" complies with the 20% GHG emission threshold. 

Advanced Biofuels

While the EPA kept in place the target of 36 billion gallons of biofuel in 2022 (of which corn ethanol is not to exceed 15 billion gallons), it greatly reduced the amount of cellulosic ethanol required to be blended in 2010 (from 100 million gallons to 6.5 million gallons).

Cellulosic ethanol is a wonderful improvement over corn ethanol. There are a plethora of non-food based feedstocks that can be used (e.g. agricultural residues, woody biomass, municipal solid waste, etc) and lifecycle greenhouse gases are lower due to the ability to burn the lignin and co-generate electricity. Yet, the costs of producing a gallon of cellulosic ethanol still remains higher than corn ethanol, due to the expensive enzymes required for breaking down complex polysaccharides into simple sugars for fermentation. BUT...The  industry is coming to market much slower than anticipated.

While GreenTechMedia expects the first commercial facility to go online in 2010 (Range Fuel's 20 MGY facility in Colorado), 2012 should be the year where a massive ramp up occurs (see GTM report Biofuels 2010: Spotting the Next Wave).

The Environmental Protection Agency of the US federal government is in the center of many controversial actions because, well, they are at the center of many controversial, unknown, unclear problems.  No group of people gets "it" right all the time, and the EPA certainly has had its share of political and economic woes.  I've met a number of employees of the EPA and have found them to be concerned, competent, and committed to their purpose of protecting people and the environment.  And they face a lot of pressure.  Like we all face.

The following blog entry from Dr. Barbara Karn about how important and "big" the environment plays in our survival is worth noting.

Sustainability is often described as a three-legged stool, with one leg each for the environment, the economy, and society.

The Biosphere experiment taught us that the legs are not even, and our major support comes from the environment. Without the natural capital provided by our environment, we'd have no society or economy.

Convincing evidence for the importance of the natural environment came from the Biosphere 2 project.

In the early 1990's, a huge structure called Biosphere 2 was built in the Arizona desert. Over 3 enclosed acres housed a variety of ecosystems with manmade recycling systems designed to imitate earth's natural systems.

The project, however, could not independently sustain humans or the other organisms inside. There were problems with oxygen and food, and outside electricity had to be used.  Biosphere 2 taught us that people don't have the ability to design a self-sustaining ecosystem for human life.

The Reality is... Reality

If we lose our natural ecosystem by failing in environmental protection, in the words of Dr. Gro Brundlant, chair of the first World Commission on Environment and Development, there will be no sanctuary.

EPA's mission, protecting the environment and human health, is key to our sustainability and survivability.

Read more at EPA Blog