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Pate, Ronald C. --- "The New Generation of Biofuels" [2011] ELECD 1026; in Kenney, S. Douglas; Wilkinson, Robert (eds), "The Water–Energy Nexus in the American West" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: The Water–Energy Nexus in the American West

Editor(s): Kenney, S. Douglas; Wilkinson, Robert

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849809368

Section: Chapter 7

Section Title: The New Generation of Biofuels

Author(s): Pate, Ronald C.

Number of pages: 23

Extract:

7. The new generation of biofuels
Ronald C. Pate1

7.1. INTRODUCTION

Biofuels and biopower are forms of energy derived from biomass that
represent an expanding segment of the United States energy sector. If
properly developed and used, biomass represents an economic develop-
ment opportunity, particularly in more rural areas, that can also provide
a diversification of domestic energy supplies capable of displacing fossil
fuel use in a way that can help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
and reduce national dependence on imported petroleum. Biomass is also
seen as the basis for the establishment of a broader domestic bio-industry
to supply chemicals and other materials with a lower GHG footprint (US
Department of Energy [DOE], 2011; National Research Council [NRC],
2000; Perlack et al., 2005). The impacts of increased biomass production
and bioenergy use within the water­energy nexus will depend on the spe-
cific form that it takes and the local and regional conditions and practices
under which it is implemented. For example, the growing of dedicated
biomass energy crops using irrigation in the more water-sparse regions of
the West can be expected to have greater impacts on local water resources
than biomass grown in other regions of the country with more ample
precipitation.
Water is needed in the production of biomass feedstock, as well as in the
processing and conversion of that feedstock into transportation fuels, elec-
trical power, process heat and other products and materials (DOE, 2006;
Pate et al., 2007). Just as water is ...