DOE Asks Industry to Fix U.S. Energy Outlook

A High-ranking Department of Energy official gives automotive engineers a pat on the back and a gentle push from behind at a panel discussion on the state of renewable fuels at the SAE World Congress in Detroit.

John Mizroch, principal deputy assistant secretary-Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, lays out the daunting picture ahead for world energy demand and calls on the auto industry to lead America away from imported oil.

Mizroch points out the U.S. currently accounts for 25% of the world's vehicles and oil use, but just 5% of its population. Only eight countries control 80% of the world's oil supply, he says.

“If I was drawing up a plan for the growth of the transportation industry, I don't believe that would be the ideal scenario,” he says. “America has done too good a job showing what (a vehicle industry) can do for economic growth — and other countries now want that.”

Mizroch cites the expansion of China's new-vehicle market, which swelled 24% last year to 9 million units. Over the next nine or 10 years, the U.S. and China will combine for 300 million vehicle sales, he says, presenting a “difficult competition for fuel supply.”

The solution will be in providing multiple transportation options, from fuel-cell and battery-powered vehicles to biofuels, the DOE official says.

The DOE has earmarked $1 billion to assist in the development of second-generation cellulosic ethanol, with private industry expected to match that level of funding. “We'll spend more than any other country on cellulosic ethanol in the next few years,” Mizroch says.

The DOE program comes in response to President Bush's mandate for 36 billion gallons (136 billion L) of biofuels to be produced annually beginning 2017, equaling about 15% of the U.S.'s fuel supply. Twenty billion gallons (76 billion L) of that is targeted as advanced biofuels, including at least 16 billion gallons (61 billion L) of cellulosic ethanol.

Dale Gardner, associate director-renewable fuels science and technology at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, says “no one will go to jail” if the 36 billion-gallon target signed into law by President Bush is missed.

“But if we begin to fall behind as we get closer to that deadline, we'll get more carrots in the form of incentives or sticks in the form of penalties,” he says.

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