Berkeley Engineering Blogs

The world’s petroleum resources are not infinite, and it is understood, depending on which source you believe, that we are either past peak oil or about to roll on past it in the next few years.  This reality is the foundation a search for a solution for a widely varying problem.  One end of the spectrum defines the problem nationally, as an energy security problem:  a search for an energy solution that will keep us independent from foreign oil.  Another definition of the problem is that of an energy challenge:  globally, we are going to run out of fuel–so what can we develop to replace our current dependency on oil?  Yet another explanation of our search for a solution is based not only on the fact that we are running out of oil, but that human use of oil, coal, and cows in the past has extremely detrimentally impacted our environment–so how can we change how we consume and produce in order to reverse our environmental impact?

Two organizations associated with the Berkeley campus are currently investigating the possible usefulness of cellulosic biofuels, the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), receiving $500 million from BP, and the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), receiving $125 million from the Department of Energy.

Here’s a quick video discussing JBEI’s mantra:

A few questions I have for viewers of this video:

-What role does “carbon neutrality” play in the importance of finding reliable and efficient biofuels?  What problem is this trying to solve?

-Is it reasonable to expect that we will find solutions to all of our problems?  Will any of those solutions fit the space cleaved open by the personal transportation industry–that trillion dollar infrastructure?

-What about corn?  Are the problems currently associated with corn ethanol production (the food crisis, suitability for the current infrastructure, land conservation) fully addressed with cellulosic biofuels production?