Alternative Fuel Sources - Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Advances in Transportation and Power - page 89

centives over a five year period. Biomass R&D grants would total $420
million over five years with $800 million in loans for the building and
start up of biorefineries. At least half of these funds will be for loans of
less than $100 million each for small to midsize operations. There will
also be $500 million over five years for loans, loan guarantees and grants
to farmers, ranchers and small businesses for renewable energy systems,
such as wind turbines and biodigesters to harvest methane from animal
waste. Individual loan guarantees would be capped at $25 million. There
will also be 1.2 billion in incentives for next generation biofuel produc-
tion which does not include corn ethanol and $74 million by 2012 for the
Biomass Energy Reserve. This would provide incentives to farmers who
grow dedicated energy feedstock crops.
The Forest Biomass for Energy program will acquire $75 million for
research for the harvesting, transporting and processing of woody bio-
mass for bioenergy production. There are also programs for the feasibility
studies for ethanol pipelines, funds for USDA to buy up excess sugar stock
for ethanol and grants for improving energy efficiency on farms.
Green payments may also be included. These are USDA payments
to farmers and ranchers who implement whole-farm comprehensive con-
servation plans. This funding goes along with encouraging production to
meet the demand for biofuels by increasing soil and water conservation.
The bulkier biomass crops such as wood waste, switchgrass, miscan-
thus or other cellulosic feedstocks have less sugar than corn or sugar cane,
so it requires more biomass volume to yield the same quantity of ethanol
that corn or sugar can produce.
Research at the DOE, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the
Regional Biomass Processing Center at Michigan State University is in-
volved in treating the plant material by making it denser and easier to
ship. A comprehensive farm bill is expected to fund more research on har-
vesting, storing and transporting cellulosic feedstocks with incentives to
farmers to grow these new crops.
BIOFUEL RESEARCH
USDA researchers in biodiesel are investigating peanuts in Georgia.
Some varieties such as Georganic have been found to be high in oil content
with low production costs, requiring only one herbicide application and no
fungicides. The Georganic plants are not suitable for the growing of edible