Inaugural Workshop

Breakout Sessions

This section summarizes the activities resulting from the topic-specific breakout sessions, including the goals, current related activities, next steps identified, the lead and the other participants. Additional details on topic activities can be accessed by linking on the session title below.

G. Enhance Biofuel Resource Potential and Infrastructure Analysis

Session attendees:

Kara Colton (National Governors Assoc.)
Ed Coe (EPA-OTAQ)
Rob Fireovid (USDA-Ag Research)
Rich Halvey (Western Governors Assoc.)
Thomas Jenkin (NREL)
Audrey Lee (DOE-Policy)
John Maples (DOE-EIA)
Lynn McLarty (TMS)
Michael Reed (NETL)
Dan Santini (ANL-Transport Center)
Hosein Shapouri (USDA-OCEcon)
John Sheehan (NREL)

Topic clarification:

After much discussion and debate, the decision was made to examine biofuels in transportation in the broadest context possible, to emphasize looking at the entire transportation system.

How to increase energy independence and energy security in the U.S. transportation sector:
- sustainably?
- environmentally?
- reliably?
- economically?

There are three sub-questions of interest to decision makers:

1. What is the universe of potential solutions for transportation, and how are they related (thinking about rewards and trade-offs)
   • Current status
   • Technical and resource potential
   • Environmental economic and sustainability issues
2. What transition scenarios/pathways are available? (understand the who, how and when)
   • What can we do by when at what cost?
   • What is the most effective balance of public- and private-sector actions?
3. How do we instill common and consistent practices across different organizations in preparing and reporting analytic results (life-cycle, techno-economic analyses, etc.) (trust the analysis and its results)

Important Decision Makers Identified:

• Included individuals at the national, regional, state, and local level-up to, and including, the individual consumer.
• Administrators and agency leads in federal departments (e.g., USDA, DOE, EPA, DOT, DOI)
• White House Office of Management and Budget
• National, state, regional, and local elected officials (including members of Congress, governors, state legislators)
• Industry (including automakers, energy companies, forest products industry)
• Farmers
• Consumers
• Shipping/transportation industry (trucking, rail, barge, pipelines)

Activities Discussion/Brainstorming:

Data needs to improve biofuels analysis

• Land/resource availability for biomass
• Reliability of biomass supply
• Type, quantity and quality of biomass raw materials
• Total potential supply and cost of biomass (i.e. supply curves)

Performing biofuels analysis

• Incorporate environmental and economic impacts of biomass through life-cycle sustainability impacts
• Identify infrastructure needs at various steps along the supply chain
  • Biomass collection and distribution
  • Biofuels distribution (pipelines, fueling stations)
  • Vehicle capability
• Optimizing the range of possible fuel products from biomass
• Transition and establishment of new biofuels supply chain
  • Balance between private- and public-sector roles
  • What is the most effective way to bring about the desired change we seek
• The role (and integration) of biofuels in the broader portfolio of transportation solutions on both the supply and the demand side. (Multi-pathway studies for transportation)

Collaboration process

• Use Argonne's existing transportation system life-cycle model (GREET) for evaluating different vehicle and fuel technology options
• Explore use of USDA's FASOM model to identify land use issues associated with food vs. fuel competition; how farmers make decisions between the two; how risk and government subsidies play into their decision
• Expand capability of EIA's biomass modeling; emphasize biomass supply curves in NEMS
• NETL can provide fossil-based options to include in the analysis of different scenarios and transition (e.g. gasification and goals to liquids; sometimes geographical)
• Use of NREL's biomass model to address transition and further consider limitations of real models through the use of finance
• Create a collaborative group that includes decision makers to decide what is most important in near term; understand what exists and allocate resources between investment and resources
• Work with decision makers to understand how thy view policies and the transition away from petroleum so that it translates to real results in real life

Activities decided by the group:

Activity #1 - Immediate Need
Consistent, vetted biomass supply curves

Action
Meeting to coordinate multiple efforts already underway to establish regional biomass supply curves.

Lead
John Sheehan (temporary)

Participants
USDA Office of Energy, USDOE EERE Office of the Biomass Program, Energy Information Administration, USDOE EERE Planning, Budget and Analysis, USDA Forest Service, USDA Agricultural Research Service

Timing
July 2006


Activity #2 - Immediate Need
Explore DOE's prototype transition model for biomass as an avenue for developing strategies and timing of deployment

Action
Meeting describe prototype model for modeling farmer and investment behavior in investing in a new biofuels supply chain. Look for ways to improve our modeling of transition scenarios and new sources of data. In particular, USDA has identified new work needed to model farmer behavior/decision-making (see menu of opportunities for collaboration.

Lead
John Sheehan (temporary)

Participants
USDA Office of Energy, USDOE EERE Office of the Biomass Program, Energy Information Administration, USDOE EERE Planning, Budget and Analysis, USDA Forest Service, USDA Agricultural Research Service. Expand this discussion to include NETL and state organizations.

Timing
July 2006

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