Looking to the Future: New Developments in · 4 Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy II . GENOME ENGINEERING & BIOFUELS: BLACK GOLD IN AGAR PLATES

Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy 1

Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy

Table of ConTenTs

I. Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

II. Genome Engineering & Biofuels: Black Gold in Agar Plates . . . . . . . . . . . 4

III. Solar Power: Beyond Solyndra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

IV. A Change in the Offshore Wind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

V. Hydrogen & Geothermal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

VI. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

VII. Works Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

abouT This RepoRTThis special report is for exclusive use by members of the American Chemical Society . It is not

intended for sale or distribution by any persons or entities . Nor is it intended to endorse any

product, process, or course of action . This report is for information purposes only .

© 2013 American Chemical Society

2 Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy

I . EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

With gas prices seemingly fixed north of three dollars a gallon in much of the country and

instability continuing to plague the Middle East, the need to wean the United States from

foreign oil has perhaps never been more apparent . Much media attention, and countless

dollars, has been paid to “clean coal,” natural gas, and “fracking” – the controversial process of

hydraulic fracturing used to extract natural gas from underground shale . But the U .S . stands to

get more mileage from sustainable fuel sources .

Sustainable energy – abundant, ecologically friendly, and renewable energy sources such as

hydroelectric, wind, solar, and geothermal, as well as hydrogen and biofuels – is especially

attractive for a variety of reasons . One of the most obvious is that by using sustainable energy,

a country can insulate itself from dependence on foreign countries with competing geopolitical

aims . There are also ecological benefits, especially regarding the idea of anthropomorphic

climate change and greenhouse gases .

Sustainable energy can be entirely internal . Countries generally don’t need to import

sustainable fuels, with the exception of biofuels . Sustainable energy is also relatively

non-polluting and abundant; the burning of hydrogen, for example, produces water . By their

very nature, and for lack of a better term, sustainable fuels are sustainable, and also scalable .

Oil will eventually run out, but it is always possible to add another solar panel or wind turbine .

Thus, sustainable energy sources can help blunt the impact of an expanding, power-driven

global population, which could reach 10 billion by the end of the century .

Yet it won’t be easy to transform an economy based for more than a century on petroleum,

natural gas, coal, and more recently nuclear energy, to entirely new forms of energy . Facilities

must be built, often at great expense, to harvest that energy . Chemistries must be developed

to make processing new energy sources efficient and inexpensive . In turn, the facilities have to

be wired into the nation’s energy grid, which must be updated to handle these new sources

of power . Pipelines and cables must be built, vehicles have to be overhauled, regulations put

in place, and so on . All of this requires government backing, not to mention consumer buy-in –

green energy sounds great, but people generally don’t want to pay more for it .

Although the situation is quite daunting, sustainable fuels are already making their mark .

Of the 78 quadrillion Btu of energy the U .S . produced in 2011, 9 .2 quadrillion Btu (11 .7%)

came from renewable sources – up from 7 .2% a decade earlier, according to the Annual Energy

Review 2011, a report compiled by the U .S . Energy Information Administration (EIA) . [1] At

the same time, 9 .3% of the 97 .3 quadrillion Btu of energy consumed in the U .S . in 2011 came

from renewable sources, up from 5 .3% in 2001 . According to the Annual Energy Outlook 2013,

another EIA report, the fraction of energy generation from renewable sources will increase from

13% in 2011 to 16% by 2040 . [2]


The U .S . has some 51 .6 gigawatts (GW) of wind capacity installed through the second quarter

of 2012, with nearly 5 GW installed during the first three quarters of this year and another 8 .4

GW under construction, compared to the 6 .8 GW that were installed in 2011 . [3] A Solar Energy

Industries Association report predicts some 3 .2 GW worth of photovoltaic capacity will be

installed in 2012, a 71% increase over the previous year . [4]

Alternative fuel usage is also growing in the U .S . military, an organization that’s just as

vulnerable to market fluctuations as any other . “DOD estimates that for every 25-cent rise in the

cost of a gallon of fuel, the department spends an extra $1 billion for fuel .” [5] In July 2012 the

U .S . Navy launched its “Great Green Fleet” demonstration with a carrier strike group powered by

350,000 gallons of “hydroprocessed renewable diesel” and 100,000 gallons of “hydroprocessed

renewable jet-fuel”– fuel prepared by mixing petroleum and biofuels prepared from algae and

cooking oil . The ships in the fleet also used nuclear fuel, another “alternative” option . [6]

Wind farms, solar initiatives, biofuels, and more are making inroads internationally, in such

markets as Saudi Arabia and South Africa, Tanzania and Australia, India and Brazil . China is

moving on alternative energy initiatives in a big way . According to a November 2012 Bloomberg

report, China generated some 92 .7 billion kilowatt hours’ (kWh) worth of electricity from

clean energy sources in October 2012, up 48% from the previous October . Year-to-date clean

electricity generation in China amounted to 810 .2 billion kWh, up 26% from the same period in

2011 . [7]

“Just seven years after a renewable-energy law threw government support behind the

industry, China went from having almost no stake in the international market to leading the

manufacture of solar photovoltaics and wind turbines, in very competitive industries,” notes a

Nature editorial commenting on a recent downturn in the country’s renewables market . [69]

These are all positive trends, yet more remains to be done . Although prices have fallen, clean

energy is still relatively expensive compared to fossil fuels . That promotes somewhat of a

vicious cycle in which the energy is expensive, so fewer people adopt it; then, because the user

base is small, the energy is expensive; and so on . But change is coming . From solar to wind,

biofuels to geothermal, the world of sustainable energy has never been more open and ripe

for development .


II . GENOME ENGINEERING & BIOFUELS: BLACK GOLD IN AGAR PLATES

One promising source of renewable energy is biofuel, which harnesses the energy of organic

carbon compounds from plants and other sources . This fuel is already widely used in one form

or another in the U .S . and worldwide, either as bioethanol or biodiesel . According to a report in

Mother Earth News, “the world produced 23 billion gallons of fuel ethanol and nearly 6 billion

gallons of biodiesel” in 2011 . [8]

In the U .S ., corn-based bioethanol, which is often mixed with gasoline, represents the larger

slice of the biofuels pie . Yet the process presents a number of environmental and ethical issues,

not the least of which are that corn for fuel cannot be eaten, meaning there’s less corn available

to feed a growing population, and more acres must be devoted to corn just to keep production

levels up . Ethanol production is also energy intensive, and corn is a relatively expensive and

environmentally problematic crop,

requiring considerable fertilizer and

pesticide usage [9] .

Biodiesel, a direct fuel replacement,

can be created from such “feedstock”

as used cooking oil, agricultural waste,

or even, as reported by South Korean

researchers in 2012, sewage sludge .

[10]

Or, biofuels can be created

microbiologically, either by organisms,

such as algae, that make hydrocarbon

precursors naturally, or by using synthetic biology . Synthetic biology applies the technologies

of molecular biology, cloning, and pathway engineering to produce microbes capable of

efficiently converting feedstock into oil . A number of academic researchers and biotechnology

firms are pursuing synthetic biology approaches, including LS9, founded by Harvard geneticist

George Church and Joint BioEnergy Institute CEO Jay Keasling; Amyris, cofounded by former

Keasling postdoc, Jack Newman; and Synthetic Genomics, founded by J . Craig Venter and Nobel

laureate Hamilton Smith .

These companies and their partners have poured considerable resources into biofuels over

the past few years . In 2009 Amyris announced an $82 million stake in the São Martinho Group,

a Brazilian “ethanol mill,” to commercialize the company’s process of making diesel from

sugarcane . [12] In 2010, ExxonMobil announced it was investing as much as $600 million


in Synthetic Genomics’ algae-based biofuel process .

As reported in Chemical & Engineering News, Synthetic

Genomics’ biofuel approach differs from its competitors in

that the organisms secrete hydrocarbons, whereas in the

competing processes the fuels must be actually harvested

from the cells themselves . [11]

Biofuels support is also coming from the federal

government . In July 2012, the U .S . Navy and departments

of Energy and Agriculture announced a combined $62

million investment in biofuels R&D . [13] That was the same

month the Navy demonstrated its Great Green Fleet,

a Carrier Strike Group fueled by nuclear power plus a

50/50 mix of petroleum-based fuels and biofuels made

from used cooking oil and algae . [6]

Even commercial aviation is taking a serious look at the

feasibility of using biofuels . On November 7, 2011, United

Airlines flight 1403 from Houston to Chicago flew on a

60/40 mix of jet fuel and Solajet, an algae-based fuel from

Solazyme . According to Chemical & Engineering News,

“Solazyme has signed a letter of intent to supply United

with up to 70,000 metric tons per year of renewable jet

fuel starting in 2014 . The company expects its overall

capacity to make algal oils to reach 500,000 metric tons

per year by 2015 .” [14] Other flights have also been flown

on jet fuel/biofuel mixes, but in October 2012, a round-trip

from Ottawa to Toronto used biofuel made entirely from

Ethiopian mustard, representing the world’s first flight to

be flown entirely on a form of biofuel . [15]

Still, there’s much left to do . For one thing, biofuel is still

too expensive, both financially and ecologically . A recent

National Research Council report says that more energy is

required to make algal biofuel than is actually produced,

and that each gallon produced uses more than three

gallons of water . [16] Researchers have been working to

address these issues, however .

Working towards the objective of using less energy and

resources to make biofuels, researchers at the University

of Wisconsin, Madison, reported in November 2012 that

gamma-valerolactone (GVL) can be used to jointly process

biofuels aRe GRouped aCCoRdinG To CommeRCial maTuRiTy

First generation: Ethanol and biodiesel are commercially available first-generation biofuels . Ethanol comes from the starches and sugars in food crops such as corn and sugarcane . Sugarcane is a more efficient source than corn and the one on which Brazil, which is second to the U .S . in producing ethanol biofuel, has built its biofuels industry . The U .S . ethanol industry largely rests on corn . First-generation biodiesel mostly comes from rapeseed (canola), but soy and palm also contribute . According to biofuels expert Anselm Eisentraut at the International Energy Agency, ethanol from corn and sugarcane can “be produced at prices competitive with fossil fuels today .”

Second generation: Experts believe cellulosic ethanol made from inedible plant matter, such as switchgrass and wood trimmings, will be the next type of biofuel to enter the market . Its advantage is the feedstocks can be more environmentally friendly and economically sustainable than food-based biofuels . The biggest technical challenge, however, is economically converting molecules in plant cell walls into biofuels . It’s a challenge where “there’s a huge potential for chemical engineers to contribute” to bring down costs of processing, points out Alena Buyx, assistant director of the secretariat at the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, a U .K .-based think tank . Biodiesel also is a second-generation biofuel when it’s produced from plant matter by a variety of methods . The most famous one—Fischer-Tropsch synthesis—converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons; it was used by the Germans during World War II to produce petroleum substitutes .

Third generation: This generation of biofuels is sometimes referred to as the “advanced” generation . Fuels in this category are generally oils, such as jet fuel, derived from algae and other aquatic species . The hydrocarbon molecules in these fuels often pack more energy per gallon than do first- or second-generation biofuels . Like second-generation biofuels, the third generation of biofuels aims to not compete with food for land; to not harm the environment; to have high energy yields with low inputs of water, land and fertilizer; and to have cost-effective production .


hemicellulose and cellulose, two lignocellulosic materials that normally must be pretreated

and separated . [17] Those steps “can account for up to 30% of the total capital cost of a biofuels

production plant,” according to a University of Wisconsin news release . The GVL converts

cellulose to levulinic acid and hemicellulose to furfural; since both reactions can occur in a

single reaction vessel, separation and pretreatment steps are no longer necessary . “Essentially,

the team is exploiting the power of GVL to produce GVL, which has potential as an inexpensive,

yet energy-dense, ‘drop-in’ biofuel,” as stated in the release . [18]

Another recent report, from researchers at Agrivida Inc ., in Medford, MA, described a technique

for expressing plant biomass-degrading enzymes within the plant itself . The team produced

corn containing a thermostable xylanase enzyme for degrading cell wall material, which was

held in check by a bacterial intein, or self-excising protein sequence . In seeds in which the

enzyme was constitutively expressed without intein control, the corn seeds were “shriveled”

and relatively infertile, whereas seeds containing the intein-regulated enzyme were normal .

Subsequent extraction yielded “>90% theoretical glucose and >63% theoretical xylose yields,”

the authors reported . [19]

A study from a team at the University of California, Berkeley, describes a way to pack biofuels

with a greater punch . [20] As explained in Chemical & Engineering News, “The process uses

Clostridium acetobutylicum bacteria to convert plant lignocellulosic materials, cane sugar,

or other natural carbohydrates to acetone, n-butyl alcohol, and ethanol, or ABE .” [21] These

ABEs are then passed to a palladium catalyst to convert two-carbon organic molecules into

the longer carbon chains found in gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel “at yields near their theoretical

maxima,” the study authors write .

Still others are investigating alternative sources of biofuel feedstock, including the “giant reed”

(Arundo donax) – which has been variously described as “a miracle plant” and a kudzu-like

“nightmare waiting to happen,” as well as “energy beets,” seaweed, and switchgrass . [22–25]

There also have been advances on the synthetic biology (or metabolic engineering) front .

In 2010 Jay Keasling and colleagues at the Joint BioEnergy Institute, LS9, and UC Berkeley

reported reprogramming E. coli to secrete enzymes that break down plant-derived

TRANSFORMATION: Acetone n-butyl alcohol, and ethanol (ABE) formed by fermentation are extracted during the process to improve fermentation efficiency and make the ABE product compatible with the catalyst .


hemicellulose, convert the resulting sugars directly into fatty esters, alcohols, and waxes (the

precursors of jet fuel, kerosene, and diesel, though not of gasoline), and excrete those products

back into the growth media, where they float to the top of fermentation vessels . [26]

More recently, in August 2012 a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology reported tweaking the branched-chain amino acid pathway of the soil bacterium,

Ralstonia eutropha, to pump out isobutanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol, which can be used directly

as fuels . The team made that switch by deactivating several competing biochemical pathways

and supplying a key enzyme from another bacterium, Lactococcus lactis . Future developments

may enable the bacteria to spin fuel from the hay of agricultural or city waste, or even carbon

dioxide . [27]

Still, in both these cases, efficiency is too low to be commercially practical, at least at present .

As Scientific American noted in its coverage of the 2010 Keasling study, the process produces

only about 10% of the theoretical maximum yield . [28] In a field like biofuels, where per-gallon

prices – and thus profit margins – are so low, 10% isn’t even close to good enough .

III . SOLAR POWER: BEYOND SOLYNDRA

The renewables field was rocked in 2011 with the news that Solyndra, a solar panel

manufacturing firm backed by a half-billion dollars in federally guaranteed loans, was going

belly up, a victim of falling silicon prices, high manufacturing costs, a “softening” market, and a

glut of cheap competition from China . [68]

Yet solar power remains an active area of research and development in the renewable-energy

arena . One area of interest, for instance, seeks to use solar power as plants do – that is, convert

energy from the sun not into electricity (as with solar panels) but into chemical fuel . The

process is called “artificial photosynthesis,” which uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen

and oxygen and use the resulting electrons either to create hydrogen gas or, with carbon

dioxide, hydrocarbons .

In 2010 the U .S . Department of Energy earmarked $122 million over five years to establish an

“Energy Innovation Hub” called the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) at both the

California Institute of Technology and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory . [29] That’s

over and above the $30–40 million the department kicks in each year for three solar-focused

“Energy Frontier Research Centers .”

JCAP’s goal is to design an integrated device that improves on the efficiency of natural

photosynthesis, which converts perhaps 1% of solar power into chemical energy, by at

least tenfold . According to a press release announcing the award, “JCAP research will be


directed at the discovery of the functional components necessary to assemble a complete

artificial photosynthetic system: light absorbers, catalysts, molecular linkers, and separation

membranes . The Hub will then integrate those components into an operational solar fuel

system and develop scale-up strategies to move from the laboratory toward commercial

viability .” [29]

Other countries have likewise signaled interest in this segment of the solar industry . The Korea

Center for Artificial Photosynthesis broke ground on its 6,700-square-meter facility in August

2011 . [30] And public and private concerns in the Netherlands have put forward a combined

€42 million to fund a project called BioSolar Cells . [31]

MIT chemist Daniel Nocera made a big splash in the artificial photosynthesis community,

along with non-scientific media outlets, recently with his development of a so-called “artificial

leaf” that has an energy-conversion efficiency of 6 .2% . [32] In plant leaves, photosynthesis is

a two-stage process . The first stage uses solar energy to split water and release oxygen . The

second stage takes the resulting protons and electrons to “fix” carbon in the form of sugars – a

kind of chemical fuel for the plant to grow on . Artificial leaves use solar energy and a catalyst to

split water and create hydrogen gas .

As described in a news article on the research in Ecomagination, while other artificial leaf

designs have used impractically expensive materials like platinum, Nocera’s design “utilizes

cheap, earth-abundant materials like cobalt and a nickel-molybdenum-zinc compound to

work its photosynthetic magic . A sunlight collector is sandwiched between the two film layers,

which, when dropped into a jar of water exposed to sunlight, begins to bubble like a tablet of

alka-seltzer . One side of the leaf produces hydrogen, the other, oxygen . The hydrogen bubbles,

if captured, can be used in fuel cells to make electricity .” [33]

Others are pursuing alternative designs . For instance, researchers at the University of Rochester

developed essentially half of an artificial leaf out of earth-abundant nanocrystalline materials .

The team used CdSe nanocrystals coated with dihydrolipoic acid and a soluble nickel-

dihydrolipoic acid catalyst to produce a system that couples the light-driven oxidation of

ascorbic acid with the generation of hydrogen gas . [34] The system is incomplete, in that it

derives its electrons from ascorbate rather than water . But, the authors note, it is also highly

durable, working for at least 15 days straight with no loss of activity .

According to a Chemical & Engineering News report on the study, “In addition to using simple

components such as Earth-abundant elements and visible light to make fuel, the researchers

say their approach has the added benefit of being, to their knowledge, the longest-lasting

nanoparticle-based photocatalytic system yet .” [58]

Some investigators are pursuing strategies that integrate nature’s own photoactive

components into synthetic solar fuel cells – that is, to create “photobiofuel cells .”


These cells replace traditional solar panel circuitry

with components that mimic the biological,

protein-driven process of photosynthesis itself .

In effect, these strategies say, what is the point

of reinventing the wheel, when nature and

evolution already have the necessary parts?

For example, researchers at Pennsylvania State

University physically coupled an electron

donor protein (cytochrome c6) to a

cyanobacterial photosystem I (which,

ironically, drives the second stage of natural

photosynthesis) . They then linked that to a

cyanobacterial hydrogenase via a “molecular

wire .” Upon treatment with light, this “nanodevice” funneled electrons from ascorbic acid

oxidation to the hydrogenase to reduce hydrogen at a rate more than double that of normal

cyanobacterial photosynthesis . [35]

Similarly, a research team at Argonne National Laboratory reported in 2011 the efficient light-

induced generation of hydrogen by a self-assembling system combining photosystem I and

a cobaloxime catalyst . [36] And an Israeli team reported in 2012 a photoelectrochemical cell

comprised of a poly(mercapto-p-benzoquinone)-photosystem II anode and a bilirubin oxidase-

carbon nanotube cathode . [37]

Of course, traditional solar power is not to be

overlooked, especially outside the United States .

European nations like Italy and Germany lead

the world in total installed solar power and in

total new solar power installed, according to an

analysis by Clean Technica . [38]

Other countries are racing to catch up . Abu

Dhabi is nearing completion of the world’s

“largest single-unit solar power plant,” with 100

MW power capacity, [39] and Ghana is planning

to complete the largest solar power plant in Africa

(150 MW) by 2015 . [40] Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia

has announced plans to make a significant investment in its solar infrastructure . In November

2012, Bloomberg reported the country will begin construction on its first solar farm in 2013 –

but that’s just the beginning . The country intends to pour some $109 billion into solar energy in

the coming years “to create a solar industry that generates a third of the nation’s electricity by

2032 .” [41]

Photoinitiated electron transfer from PSI (large protein) to cobaloxime (structure at bottom) rapidly drives H2 production .


By comparison, the U .S . lags far behind, but it is catching up on solar leaders around the world .

In 2011, the U .S . generated 0 .158 quadrillion Btu of solar power, representing 0 .2% of total

energy production, according to the Annual Energy Review 2011, up from 0 .126 quadrillion

Btu (0 .17%) the year before . [1] “The U .S . market [for solar energy] grew 109 percent from

2010 to 2011 and will grow another 75 percent from 2011 to 2012,” says Clean Technica, citing

an industry report . The picture looks less rosy for 2013, they note, but according to a market

analyst, “the U .S . market [is expected] to regain momentum thereafter and continue along its

path to become a global PV [photovoltaic] market leader by 2015 .” [42]

Like other renewables, research continues in this arena, too . In September 2012, researchers

at the University of Michigan developed a low-cost method for manufacturing flexible solar

cells . [56] The method relies on using a lower grade of silicon than is typically used in solar cell

development, costing “at most one-fifth the cost of solar-grade silicon .” Nevertheless, the final

product absorbs about 95% of the incident solar energy and converts it to electricity with 10%

efficiency .

Others are building flexible solar cells from “organic photovoltaics,” solar cells that use an

organic polymer to capture light energy and convert it to electricity, rather than silicon .

These, too, can be fabricated into flexible forms for use in backpacks or clothing, and already

companies like Konarka Technologies are using the technology to do just that . [57]

IV: A CHANGE IN THE OFFSHORE WIND

A favorable wind is certainly blowing in the energy sector . There were some 237 GW of wind

energy capacity installed by the end of 2011, according to a report by the Global Wind Energy

Council, up from 10 GW in 1998 . [43] That number is predicted to rise to as much as 1 .2

terawatts (TW) by 2020 and to 2 .5 TW by 2030 – as much as 25% of the world’s total energy

needs –in the most optimistic of three scenarios that the Council modeled in the report . By

contrast, the most conservative model predicts an installed capacity of 587 GW by 2020 and

918 GW by 2030, representing about 6% and 9% of global requirements, respectively . Another

report predicts 1 .75 TW of installed global wind capacity by 2030 . [44] Wind energy represented

1 .5% (1 .168 quadrillion Btu) of U .S . energy production in 2011, according to the Annual Energy

Review 2011 . That’s up from 0 .097% (0 .07 quadrillion Btu) a decade earlier, representing a more

than tenfold increase . [1]

The American Wind Energy Association calculates the U .S . now has an installed 51 .6 GW of

wind power, with 4 .7 GW installed through the first three quarters of 2012 and 8 .4 GW under

construction . [3] Ironically, the state with the largest wind capacity – more than double its

nearest competitor – is the oil hub of Texas, with just under 11 GW installed . In second place


is California – more irony, given that state’s green reputation – with 4 .57 GW . Another sign

favorable to the growing popularity of windpower is GE’s announcement in November of the

installation of its 20,000th wind turbine . [45]

Wind has grown even more dramatically in the European Union . The EU installed 9 .6 GW of

wind power capacity in 2011 for a total of 94 GW, according to the European Wind Energy

Association, amounting to about 10% of total EU installed capacity . By comparison, new solar

photovoltaic installations accounted for 47% of all new energy capacity in the EU in 2011, for

a total of 46 .3 GW, yet PV accounts for just 5% of overall EU energy capacity . Most of that new

wind capacity was installed in Germany (22%), followed by the UK (13%), Spain (11%), and Italy

(10%) . Germany also is home to the lion’s share of installed wind capacity, with 29 .1 GW (31%

of EU total), followed by Spain at 23% . On the other hand, Denmark, with 3 .9 GW total wind

capacity, generates the greatest share of its energy from wind at 26% . [46]

The vast majority of installed wind capacity in the EU, and worldwide, is “onshore” wind – that is,

turbines installed on land . Just 866 MW or 9% of total wind power installed in the EU, of “offshore”

capacity was added in 2011 . [46] To date, the U .S . has no installed offshore capacity at all . But

interest in developing offshore wind capacity is growing . According to Bloomberg Businessweek,

“Global offshore wind capacity is expected to reach about 78 gigawatts by 2020 from about 3 .5

gigawatts currently, according to New Energy Finance . China will be the largest country with

offshore wind installations at 30 gigawatts, or 38 percent of the total by that time .” [47]

Those numbers include some big-league projects . In 2011, South Korea announced plans to

invest some $9 billion to construct a 2 .5 GW offshore wind farm by 2019, the world’s largest .

[47] That same year, the U .S . announced $50 .5 million over five years for research into offshore

wind in American waters . [48] As part of the National Offshore Wind Strategy, the U .S . identified

the potential to deploy 10 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2020 (at 10 cents per kilowatt-hour)

and 54 GW by 2030 (7 cents/kWh) . [49]

The Cape Wind Offshore Wind Farm, billed as “America’s first offshore wind farm to secure

Federal and State approval and to be issued a lease to operate by the Federal Government,” is

anticipated to supply 420 MW of energy from its 130 turbines in the waters off Nantucket, MA

when complete . [50] In the UK, the London Array is nearing completion of phase 1, with some

630 MW of capacity and 175 turbines in the Thames estuary . Phase 2 of the project is expected

to boost capacity to 870 MW . [51]

Onshore wind is also growing . In November 2012, Hydro Tasmania proposed a $2 billion

onshore wind project on King Island (northwest of Tasmania) . If constructed, the “TasWind”

project would, at 600 MW capacity generated by 200 turbines, represent the largest wind farm

in the southern hemisphere . [52, 53]

One reason for the popularity of wind, reports Clean Technica, is its small footprint and high

return on investment, especially compared with, say, ethanol . “A farmer in northern Iowa could


plant an acre in corn that yields enough grain to produce roughly $1,000 worth of fuel-grade

ethanol per year, or he could use that same acre to site a turbine producing $300,000 worth of

electricity each year,” the report explains . [54] In addition, because individual turbines require

so little room, farmers can essentially “double-crop” their land – growing crops while also

hosting wind farms .

Of course, the flip side on wind, and all other renewable fuels, is the cost to the consumer

of delivering that energy . Consumers as a rule don’t want to pay more for their energy just

because it’s clean . But those numbers, too, are dropping, as demand increases, efficiency

improves, and economies of scale begin to take effect . According to a Bloomberg New Energy

Finance press release in November 2011, the cost of onshore wind energy “will drop 12% in

the next five years thanks to a mix of lower-cost equipment and gains in output efficiency .” As

a result, the release concludes, “the average wind farm will be fully competitive [with coal, gas,

and nuclear power] by 2016,” and some farms already are . [55]

V: HYDROGEN & GEOTHERMAL

The United States leads the world in geothermal energy production . According to the Geo-

thermal Energy Association, the U .S . has nearly 3 .2 GW installed geothermal capacity, “more

than any other country in the world .” [59] That’s just about a third of the world’s cumulative

11 GW of geothermal capacity, [54] and more projects are in development . Still, unlike other

forms of renewable energy, geothermal energy is not ubiquitous . Thus, geothermal power is

not available everywhere either . Most U .S . capacity is located in California (2 .6 GW), followed

by Nevada (470 MW) and, in a distant third, Hawaii (43 MW) .

The second largest producer of geothermal energy worldwide is the Philippines, with 1 .9 GW

installed capacity supplying about 12% of the nation’s needs, according to the International

Geothermal Association . [70] Indonesia, with 1 .2 GW of geothermal capacity at the moment,

has announced plans to add 4–5 GW of new capacity by 2015 and 10 GW by 2025, according

to Clean Technica . [60]

On the hydrogen front, a decade has passed since President George W . Bush pledged $1 .2

billion for research into hydrogen fuel cells and transportation infrastructure . Since then

“a veil of dust has settled over the hype about hydrogen .” [61] For one thing, “as with any

disruptive technology, there is a long product development cycle .” [61] It will take decades

to convert an economy and infrastructure the size of the United States’ to a new form of

fuel . Plus, hydrogen advocates have to compete for R&D dollars with solar, wind, and other


sustainables . As reported in Chemical & Engineering News, the Obama Administration has cut

hydrogen funding in favor of hybrid and electric cars . Still, “The original Bush-era goal of roll-

ing out commercial hydrogen fuel-cell cars in 2015 is still on track .” [61]

Other countries remain committed to hydrogen . Iceland has set a goal of being fossil fuel free

by about 2040, deriving hydrogen from the island’s plentiful hydroelectric and geothermal

sources . [66] And Germany has announced plans to build 1,000 hydrogen fueling stations by

2020, “allowing travel between major cities .” [61]

In spite of these advances, there are only a handful of hydrogen-powered vehicles in Europe

or anywhere else . If that is to change, a number of technologies need to be developed or

optimized . One is the ability to efficiently convert protons – the products of water-splitting

reactions, for example – into hydrogen gas . Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National

Laboratory (PNNL) reported in June 2012 on a method to improve the efficiency of nickel

catalysts that do just that . [62] According to a PNNL press release announcing the findings,

the catalyst, whose design was inspired by the reaction center of hydrogenase enzymes, can

produce about 53,000 hydrogen molecules per second without any loss in energy conversion

efficiency when placed in an ionic solution . [63] Traditional catalysts could either be energy

efficient or fast, but not both; this new catalytic system seems to upend that restriction .

Other researchers are addressing the need for a hydrogen storage material that is compatible

with most of the world’s existing energy infrastructure: in a liquid form that is stable, easily

transported and moved through pipes . To this end, a team at the University of Oregon

reported in 2011 “a liquid-phase hydrogen storage material,” BN-methylcyclopentane, that,

when heated in the presence of an expensive and earth-abundant iron chloride catalyst,

trimerizes and releases six molecules of hydrogen gas . [64] The trimeric form is also a liquid .

A company called HyperSolar announced in May 2012 the development of a proof-of-

concept solar-powered hydrogen generator . [65] The company uses a polymer-coated,

“small-scale solar device,” which, when placed in a plastic bag full of wastewater from a paper

mill and illuminated with light, produced hydrogen gas . The company plans to expand on

this technology by moving to a nanoparticulate device, which is expected to have greater

solar collection potential and a larger surface area for hydrogen production .


VI . CONCLUSIONS

Exciting as these findings are, the fact remains that the vast majority of energy generated

and consumed in the United States and most of the world comes from non-renewable

sources like coal and petroleum . Renewable energy accounted for just 11% of total U .S .

energy production in 2011, according to the Annual Energy Review 2011 . [1]

Yet the world turns, and so too is its energy economy, driven, albeit slowly, by a

strengthening scientific consensus on the need to counter greenhouse gas-fueled climate

change and rising energy costs . Indeed, according to the October 2012 Energy Infrastructure

Update, a report issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 46 .2% of new energy

installations in the U .S . that have been added through October 2012, tapped into renewable

power sources . [67]

“During the first ten months of 2012, 92 wind projects (5,403 MW), 167 solar projects (1,032

MW), 79 biomass projects (409 MW), seven geothermal projects (123 MW), and 9 water

power projects (12 MW) have come on-line . Collectively, these total 6,979 MW or 46 .22% of

all new generating capacity added since the beginning of the year,” the report says . [67]

That’s surely good news for the chemical and associated industries, as all those new facilities,

and the energy infrastructure that supports them, will require new and better feedstocks,

solar panels, polymers, coatings, and other supporting material . And of course, fossil fuels

aren’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future, either . As U .S . Energy Secretary Steven Chu

noted in a recent Nature perspective, “Our ability to find and extract fossil fuels continues

to improve, and economically recoverable reservoirs around the world are likely to keep

pace with the rising demand for decades . The Stone Age did not end because we ran out

of stones; we transitioned to better solutions . The same opportunity lies before us with

energy efficiency and clean energy .” [71] It’s an exciting and opportunistic time to be in the

renewable energies field, and should remain so for some time to come .


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NOTES

Looking to the Future: New Developments in · 4 Looking to the Future: New Developments in Biofuels and Sustainable Energy II . GENOME ENGINEERING & BIOFUELS: BLACK GOLD IN AGAR PLATES

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