by Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA) After Day 1 at Biofuels Digests’s ABLC which served up depression, aggravation and despair; the group of intrepid travelers on the journey to a bio-based economy pulled themselves together and renewed what a number of speakers called their fight for the Cause.
Afghanistan fuel convoy–US Army photo
It helped that the day started with a most inspirational speech from decorated former Army Captain, Michael Breen, executive director of the Truman National Security Project and the Center for National Policy. A veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and Operation Free, Breen reminded us of why we are here. Beginning with a quote, that amateurs talk about strategy and pros talk about logistics, Breen focused on what it is like to be dependent on a single source of energy, the source of which you cannot control and about the drivers who transport tankers of fuel, the equivalent of driving bombs, to supply military outposts. A job, he said, for “non combat” personnel, a job that frightened him more than any jobs in his substantial Army combat roles.
Breen described the human and material resources expended on protecting military fuel supplies to an ice cream cone licking itself; so much of the energy trucked into them was spent going out to protect the routes to get the fuel to them.
In a microcosm, this dramatically illustrates protecting US energy interests around the world; with military protection needed to secure the fuel used in the US on a daily basis.
And he debunked the myth that energy security could be achieved by drilling wells or extracting oil from tar sands “at home” when the commodity is in a global market.
Breen explained the path to true energy security involves 1) freedom of action, 2) assured access (getting the fuel you need without worrying about the world’s six choke points and the $90 Billion we invest annually in keeping them open), and 3) risk or threat management; quoting the Department of Defense describing climate change as a threat multiplier.
To describe the magnitude of that problem, he compared the size of the conference meeting room and the enormity of the climate change challenges and noted that they don’t begin to match up. But that should not deter us; should only spur us to continue our work. This advanced biofuels industry, he said, has a strategic duty to the nation to succeed. The first guy through the wall, gets bloody, he recounted. That’s just the way it is. That is no reason to let up on your effort.
After that emotional send off, down to the nitty gritty.
Presentations from companies and government agencies with details of programs and projects, stories of striving and set backs and overcoming challenges and some stories of success.
Sugar platforms and algae. Hot molecules and hot companies. Plant bottles and biochar. Clariant working with Mercedes Benz on E20 optimized engine development.
At lunch, talking about 7 “f’s” of land use: food, fuel, fiber, feed, fun, family and function.
Sam Yenne of Maverick Biofuels and Barry S. Wortzman of GreenField Specialty Alcohols discussed variations on the “follow-the-crop” or distributed/centralized theme; Yenne describing a hub-and-spoke system potentially converting methane from dairy manure into high value products via thermo-chemical conversion and Wortzman talking about a prototype mobile skid-mounted pretreatment process that is on its way to a pulp/paper mill and which could be used at harvest sites or rail heads to convert biomass to sugars for transport to centralized integrated biorefineries.
A lift to the spirits and motivation to continue to fight for the Cause.