Obama moves to boost biofuels, clean coal
4 Feb 2010
Washington – President Barack Obama has announced a series of measure towards a “clean energy” economy and reducing US dependence on foreign oil. The initiative include a boost for biofuels production and support the introduction of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.
Among the initiatives, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to implement a long-term renewable fuels standard to increase production from last year’s 11.1 billion gallons to 36 billion gallons in 2022. Some 21 billion gallons is to come from advanced biofuels. A US Department of Agriculture funding initiative will also support the conversion of biomass to bioenergy.
In addition, president Obama called for five to ten commercial CCS demonstration projects to be up and running by 2016. This effort would be backed by a new task force to develop a strategy to speed the development and deployment of clean coal technologies.
The task force has been given 180 days to draw up a plan to overcome the barriers to the deployment of widespread affordable CCS within 10 years, with a goal of bringing five to ten commercial demonstration projects on line by 2016. The plan is to address incentives for CCS adoption and any financial, economic, technological, legal, institutional, or other barriers to deployment.
“Our nation’s economy will continue to rely on the availability and affordability of domestic coal for decades to meet its energy needs, and these advances are necessary to reduce pollution in the meantime, the US leader stated. “We should pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill. It will make clean energy the profitable kind of energy, and the decision by other nations to do this is already giving their businesses a leg up on developing clean energy jobs and technologies.
“But even if you disagree on the threat posed by climate change, investing in clean energy jobs and businesses is still the right thing to do for our economy. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is still the right thing to do for our security. We can’t afford to spin our wheels while the rest of the world speeds ahead.”
