As I said in a blog post last week, I was in Minneapolis for a conference on innovations in the Midwestern Biofuels industry. It proved to be two good days of conversation between ethanol producers and environmental groups.
I was joined at the conference by my colleague, Erin Heupel, the Director of Environment & Technology at POET. Here’s her presentation:
The Great Plains Institute hosted the meeting and summarized it in a recent email:
Leaders from the biofuels industry and the environmental community gathered in Minneapolis this week to discuss strategies for "greening" the existing corn ethanol industry. Organized by the Great Plains Institute and co-hosted by the Midwestern Governor's Association, the Innovation in the Midwestern Biofuels Industry meeting was planned in conjunction with several ethanol, agriculture and environmental groups.
"Convening diverse interests and facilitating the open exchange of information and ideas is a key part of what we do at the Great Plains Institute," said GPI Bioenergy and Transportation Program Manager Brendan Jordan. "This meeting was an important first step to engage leaders from the ethanol industry and environmental and agricultural organizations in constructive dialogue on how best to achieve mutually beneficial environmental and efficiency-related goals."
Meeting participants - including ethanol producers, environmental community leaders, trade organizations, agribusiness, public sector, and academics - discussed the improving environmental profile of the ethanol industry. Presentations highlighted that the industry has become far more efficient and lowered its carbon intensity over the past decade.
The existing industry will remain focused on implementing cost-saving technologies. Several additional technologies that may further reduce carbon intensity in ethanol production require extensive up-front capital investment and are unlikely to see widespread adoption until the financial environment improves. Lower carbon intensity policies in California, Europe and other jurisdictions may provide some additional motivation for ethanol producers to adopt lower carbon intensity technologies, but meeting participants generally felt that existing policy is not sufficient. Participants discussed modifications to existing policies, and also discussed what additional policies may be helpful.
Meeting participants agreed that there are areas of common ground, and that they should be working together to figure out how to encourage investment in the existing industry, just as we work to encourage investment in second generation facilities.
Innovation in the Midwestern Biofuels Industry planning committee members included representatives from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minnesota Corn Growers Association, Monsanto, Natural Resources Defense Council, POET, Renewable Fuels Association and the Union of Concerned Scientists.