BINGO! Words to Live By from ABLC 2024

by Joanne Ivancic* (Advanced Biofuels USA) Key players in the renewable fuels community gather twice/year at the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conferences—ABLC 2024 took place in Washington, DC last week; and the ABLC Next gathering will be in San Francisco in October. Among the regulars (all 550 or more) are welcome first-timers from government, finance firms, law firms, consulting and engineering firms, national laboratories, biorefineries, the oil/gas sector, media, academia and more.

As we waited for the first day to begin, I met an I-Corps (U.S. National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) researcher who was new to the conference, interested in sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). I assured him this was the place to be. I expected that each person at the conference would say SAF at least 10 times; along with CI or carbon intensity. As the sessions and hallway conversations marched on, I’d bet anything that I was right.

But, there were many other buzz words, too; loads of other topics that merged, overlapped, collapsed upon each other and swarmed through the air like fleets of ghosts.

Thus, I created BINGO cards that can be used while listening to the presentations from ABLC that The Daily Digest has posted on Robin.Stream. They can be used when listening to Digest Connect, REenergize and other postings there, too.

A year later at ABLC’s Presidential Forum on Advancing Biotechnology & Biomanufacturing Innovation, a panel representing six government agencies took stock of progress including the announcement of the US Department of Agriculture’s implementation plan and release of Building a Resilient Biomass Supply: A Plan to Enable the Bioeconomy in America, “a plan that will boost biomass supply chain resiliency for domestic biobased product manufacturing, while also advancing environmental sustainability and market opportunities for small and mid-sized producers.”

The Department of Energy released the 2023 Billion-Ton Report: An Assessment of U.S. Renewable Carbon Resources, the 4th in a series of assessments of potential biomass resources available in the United States. Speakers emphasized that the report explores these resources in terms of quantity, price, geographical density and distribution, and market maturity with resource quantities limited by specified economic and environmental sustainability constraints. Not just a paper document, the report is most useful as an interactive source of data and information on a county basis via the BT23 data portal. The full Billion-Ton Report is now available.

The next panel reviewed the work of the privately-organized Bold Goals Action Group which was formed shortly after the announcement of President Biden’s “Bold Goals for the Bioeconomy” at ABLC 2023. The founders recognized that the advanced bioeconomy has transitioned from development to deployment stage but could not be expected to realize the ambitious timelines and scales of the Bold Goals — including but not limited to 3 billion gallons of US SAF capacity by 2030 — without significant acceleration, not just in the US, but around the world, and not without Bold Actions to ensure that acceleration occurs.

Thus, meetings around the world, starting in Sydney, Australia, where 25 Bold Actions were enumerated, then revised and expanded during similar meet-ups in San Francisco, Ottawa, New Delhi and two online meet-ups for the Asian, South American and European regions.

Flagged as “the first deliverable from the 40 Bold Actions to Accelerate the Bioeconomy” Digest partners Boundless Impact and Ecostrat created the Risk Ratings Project with risk ratings based on independently-sourced, verified data, etc., brought together into a single assessment of risk based on financial resilience, product diversification, carbon intensity, technology maturity, market volatility and policy uncertainty.

Because it is clear that heavy-duty long-distance mobility by air, sea and long-haul land will require liquid fuels for a long time, there seems to be greater understanding of the need for creating non-electric renewable options for these sectors. Maritime/marine fuel should be getting attention; but for now, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) is in the spotlight and getting the love in the guise of national and international policies and government investments for defossilizing that industry, as well as corporate ESG (Environment/Social/Governance) credit.

Thus two panels met on this topic, one with government agencies and industry organizations; the other with producers, buyers and facilitators.

Gerard (Gerry) Ostheimer can be counted on for animated, envigorating and inspiring comments. At ABLC, he provided insightful comments gleaned from his work on international projects. He pointed out how India and Brazil, particularly with their creating and launching the Global Biofuels Alliance, are leading the Global South to see its strengths and resources with regard to transitioning to a renewable fuels world, with or without the European Union.

Overall, I heard disappointment with policies that expose a tendency to forget about tech neutrality which results in efforts to pick winners rather than setting technology neutral policy goals open to innovative solutions.

The presenters bemoaned many sources of uncertainty for investors, particularly a plethora of standards and variations of carbon intensity calculations.

Carbon intensity (CI), or Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) calculations of the carbon footprint of processes or products, including fuel, is gaining traction around the world as a way to compare their “sustainability.” These are being written into state, local, national and international policies. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET model (Greenhouse Gases Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Transportation Model) is often held up as a “gold standard” example, based on the latest science and updated regularly.

Attending an ABLC is like drinking from a fire hose. You don't want to miss a presentation, yet sometimes you must miss a track. You want to catch up with friends, engage in fascinating hallway and lunch conversations, meet with potential customers, investors, technology gurus, policy leaders and more.

But don't despair. Review presentations or watch new one on Robin.Stream. And play BINGO while you are at it. Here are your cards. Download Bingo Cards.pdf Take a look at the words to get an idea of the presentation highlights. Enjoy!