Overview: Developing New Energy Sources from Agriculture

In the early 1900s, energy sources around the world were mostly agriculturally derived and industrial products were primarily made from plant matter. Early motor fuels also came from agriculture — Henry Ford used ethanol in his original engine and Rudolf Diesel's engine could run on peanut oil. By 1920, petroleum emerged as the dominant energy source for transportation fuels and industrial products. For over 80 years, the United States and other industrialized countries have relied on petroleum as an economical and dependable source of energy. However, this reliance on petroleum is becoming a major issue as our domestic oil supplies shrink and our dependence on oil imports grow. Since the energy crisis in the 1970s, policymakers have been looking to agriculture as a source of energy supply and legislation has been passed to encourage renewable energy production and fund research on developing ethanol, biodiesel, solar and wind power, and bioproducts. More recently, the security risks of imported oil and environmental concerns have intensified the interest in developing renewable energy sources and replacing petroleum products with more environmentally friendly bioproducts. The U.S. Congress responded to the recent energy situation by passing two major bills providing incentives for renewable energy production; the 2002 farm bill contained the first energy title in farm bill history and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was the first Federal energy law passed since 1992. Projections indicate that worldwide energy use could grow by more than half in the next two decades, and U.S. energy use is expected to increase by one-third during this time. Heavy reliance on fossil fuels could continue, with related concerns about air pollution, greenhouse gases, and increasing dependence on oil from unstable countries. In his State of the Union Address, President Bush outlined The Advanced Energy Initiative that promises to break America’s dependence on foreign energy by replacing more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. In 2005, about 25 percent of our crude oil came from the Middle East, mostly from Saudi Arabia. Canada and Mexico are currently the leading oil importing countries, followed by Saudi Arabia. The President’s goal is ambitious, but realistically achievable through the development of biofuels, biopower, bioproducts, and other alternative energy sources. Renewable energy is abundant, diverse, and widely distributed throughout the United States. Commercial technologies are currently available that are harnessing energy from agricultural crops, animal fats, and waste materials. Moreover, research may currently be on the verge of providing a number of technological breakthroughs leading to a significant expansion in our renewable energy resource base. The majority of U.S. oil imports are used for transportation, so achieving energy independence will require domestic energy resources to produce biofuels for motor vehicles. The most common biofuel used today is ethanol, which is made mostly from corn. Although ethanol is a gasoline substitute, it has been primarily used in the United States as a gasoline additive to reduce harmful air emissions or to boost octane. Although ethanol growth has Articles in this Theme: