RETECH 2011: Conference Overview

by Josh Rathod (Advanced Biofuels USA) As I walked off the Metro’s yellow line and into the Washington Conference Center for this year’s renewable energy technology convention, RETECH, I didn’t know exactly what to expect. The tech geek inside of me expected there to be displays of cutting edge waste digesters that use methane gas to produce electricity or maybe a revolutionary turbine now utilized in the hydro power industry.

However, what ended up being the big topic of the convention was not technology but Federal and State financial policy concerning alternative energy. Although biofuels is the baby of the renewable energy drive, the industry’s call for parity of policy and finance was similarly echoed across the board (solar, wind, hydro, etc).

In order to get past the barriers between an unproven commercial potential and being a fully established industrial presence, many advocates for biofuels and production of energy from biomass have established small working models of production, including growth of feedstock on marginal lands, (land otherwise unutilized for economic gain) to the processing of biomass into refined biofuels. These production models are created so that investors can be assured that processes being used are successful and easily scalable to an industrial level.

Susan Ellerbusch, President, BP Biofuels in North America, and panelist on RETECH’s innovative fuels track, soberly explained that BP has multiple such case models that have proven their efficacy over the past 5 years. She went on to showcase an experimental plant in Florida that has efficiently converted grown feedstock to processed fuel, developed healthy partnerships with local farms and has created over 550 new jobs needed for its operation. Despite programs described by Ellerbusch, there is still a lack in Federal incentives and policy for big corporations such as BP to accelerate production to industrial scale plants.

Despite the exciting possibilities that we’ve discovered in biofuels, like the chance to decrease dependence on foreign fuel imports; to use cleaner, more renewable and higher octane fuels; to develop a highly lucrative and globally important product that will provide new jobs in a stagnant economy; etc. (the list goes on and on) – for some reason our Federal and State governments are not feeling the love. I heard some of the more colorful convention members mumble about blind biases towards fossil fuels, but most panelists described the disconnect as Capitol Hill’s ignorance of what the industry is capable of and of what it will take to get it off the ground. It is for this reason that conventions like RETECH and informative groups like Advanced Biofuels USA are important (and no, I am not paid to say this) and necessary to create opinions and demands palpable enough to reach the higher seats of our government.

Now, of course, the government has some financial investment in biofuels: $510 million allotted by the Navy, along with the departments of energy and defense, for a 3-year biofuels development program is the most current and prominent show of initiative there. There are also policies that create some pull towards creating a biofuels industry, such as the RFS2 section of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that calls for the production of 36 billion gallons per year by 2022. Ellerbusch and other biofuels panelists of the convention agreed: government financial contribution should be minimal compared to that of the private sector. However, there was also agreement on the opinion that the financial backing (significantly smaller than that for solar) and the short-term nature of policies that are redefined biannually are not enough to jumpstart the biofuels sector.

My first thoughts when hearing these claims were, “well, the country’s economy is suffering at the moment, so where is this money coming from,” and, “maybe these are the words of frustrated and biased scientists sticking it to the man.” As I heard more, however, all Ellerbusch insinuated was that there should be parity of financial support and policy stability between biofuels and other renewable energy industries. It sounded reasonable to me.

Another issue that was discussed at RETECH was the comparison of the USA’s renewable energy program to those of its global neighbors. Outside of Germany’s dominance in the solar power race and Canada’s primacy in hydro power, the biggest international challenge that I heard talked about is our underdeveloped use of woody feedstocks. Specifically, Dan Henry, VP of Advanced Technology, Hearth and Home Technologies, was frustrated about the massive amounts of woody pellets being shipped to China that could be used here. Mr. Henry explained that dead wood is a great renewable resource that burns cleanly and is already in an established production phase (870 plants in the USA). Keeping wood pellets in country would reduce emissions from private heating as well as reduce the price paid by consumers (traditionally, heating and cooling are the largest residential energy sinks). I’ve known that it is good for a national economy to have exporting, but the fact that wood pellets have industrial and residential potential for increasing energy efficiency (especially for the USA’s huge agricultural industry) made me pause and wonder if someone should push to have more local use of this resource.

To sum up my experience at RETECH ’11, I would say that it was as heartening as it was informative. It was informative for the obvious reasons: I got an inside view on what’s happening in our country’s pursuit of clean renewable energy and what it will take to get us there. Outside of the exciting technological and political advances we’ve had, I also had the chance to meet some of the people leading the charge.

I think that this is just as important as understanding the hard science of renewable energy because it gives the industry legitimacy and conscience: there were words of caution juxtaposed to the exhibitions on why we should be jumping at the chance to develop these alternative energy sources (for example, the genetic manipulation of algae should not be taken because of its ubiquitous nature). It just makes you realize that the people who advocate for these industries are not just corporate fiscal machines: actually, the truth is quite the opposite. These people truly care about the future and health of our country, our planets environment and they are willing to pioneer methods of attaining these things despite facing adversity and hardship. It is truly inspiring, in a tangible, realistic sort of way and I hope that others get to experience something of what I did at RETECH ’11 in DC.

editor's note: Josh Rathod, a biology student and vocalist at Hood College in Frederick, MD, volunteers for Advanced Biofuels USA, as a research and writing associate. He represented Advanced Biofuels USA at the recent RETECH conference in Washington, DC.