America's Slow Drive to An Oil-Less Future

Source: The Standard/China
[Apr 18, 2006]

Despite scientific advances, new investment and unprecedented political backing, plenty of potholes remain.

Cars, trucks, trains, planes and other vehicles account for seven of every 10 barrels of oil consumed in the United States.

With such a deep reliance on oil, the transportation world has been nearly impervious to change. Electric-hybrid vehicles are barely a blip, alternative fuels have made only tiny inroads, and a push for more fuel-efficient cars has stalled under the Bush administration.

Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative, which he promoted in a February tour of research sites, would inject funds into alternative-fuel programs.

Critics say the commitment is paltry. Bush's fiscal 2007 budget seeks about US$150 million (HK$1.17 billion) for biofuels and US$290 million for hydrogen-related research. By comparison, the government spends an estimated US$150 million a day in Iraq.

But proponents believe the decades of inertia could be broken by a rare convergence of technology, money, political will and motivated motorists.

"I see a broader base of interest and support now than ever before," said James Boyd, a member of the California Energy Commission.

Even the president, a onetime oilman, declared in January's State of the Union speech that the US was "addicted to oil" and that it should "move beyond a petroleum-based economy."

Renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel hold the greatest promise of immediately reducing oil consumption because they are available for use in existing vehicles.

Ethanol is made from organic material such as grain crops, wood chips and agricultural waste. A distillation and fermentation process, similar to what goes on in a brewery, converts corn kernels and the like into ethanol.

The fuel is made from renewable sources, boosts octane levels and pollutes the air less than gasoline does. Regular vehicles can run on gasoline blends of as much as 10 percent ethanol without changing anything, and the five million "flex-fuel" vehicles in the US can use gasoline blends with as much as 85 percent ethanol.

Government subsidies help keep the cost of ethanol close to that of gasoline, and last year, oil companies blended ethanol into about one-third of the nation's car fuel.

About four billion gallons of ethanol were used last year, replacing 170 million barrels of oil. Under a federal mandate, ethanol consumption could almost double by 2012.

"It is the only option we have today in terms of a liquid fuel alternative to gasoline that can be used in the existing distribution system," said Neil Koehler, who has spent half of his 48 years pushing ethanol as a way to loosen crude oil's hold on cars.

Fresno-based Pacific Ethanol, where Koehler is chief executive, has won an US$84-million pledge from Microsoft chief Bill Gates' investment firm. The company plans to open the first of five ethanol plants this year.

Still, ethanol is no silver bullet.

Growing corn consumes oil products - fertilizers and tractor diesel - and processing equipment runs on natural gas or coal. Ethanol contains less energy than gasoline, so vehicles will go as far on a gallon of fuel. And ethanol comes with its own air pollution headache - although much smaller than gasoline's - because ethanol makes gasoline evaporate more easily, releasing volatile organic compounds, a component of smog.

Fuel ethanol is made mostly from corn and other grains in the United States and from sugar in Brazil. But because farm land is limited and those crops are more valuable as food, experts say the long-term value of ethanol is that it can also be made from plant fibers.

Researchers are experimenting with making ethanol from agricultural waste, wood chips and common prairie grasses using enzymes and bacteria. They also are probing termite innards to tap the insect's ability to digest wood.

Experts say producing ethanol by those means would use less energy than current methods. But perfecting the process and making it affordable could take six years.

Biodiesel is another alternative fuel gaining momentum. It is commonly produced from animal fats or natural oils such as those in corn and soybeans. Some biodiesel is made from used vegetable oil tossed out by restaurants, giving a vehicle's exhaust the faint smell of fried food.

Production of biodiesel requires simple chemical reactions, which can be carried out in a good-sized refinery or a backyard contraption. The finished product can be sold as is to motorists, but it is more commonly blended into regular petroleum-based diesel.