Toward a vision of sustainable biomass:

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Toward a vision of sustainable biomass
Adventures at the intersection of technology,
economics, ethics and politics

• John SheehanNational Bioenergy Center
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• University of Illinois, Chicago
• June 7, 2004

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Overview

• The conundrum of sustainability
• Biomass sustainabilityan analytical perspective
• Biomassa political perspective
• Biomassa search for a vision
• A plea for transparency, education and dialogue

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The conundrum of sustainabilityMalthus

• ...the great question is now at issue, whether
  man shall henceforth start forwards with
  accelerated velocity towards illimitable, and
  hitherto unconceived improvement or be condemned
  to a perpetual oscillation between happiness and
  misery, and after every effort remain still at an
  immeasurable distance from the wished-for goal
• Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of
  Population (1798)

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The conundrum of sustainabilityMalthus as Scrooge

• ...the great question is now at issue, whether
  man shall henceforth start forwards with
  accelerated velocity towards illimitable, and
  hitherto unconceived improvement or be condemned
  to a perpetual oscillation between happiness and
  misery, and after every effort remain still at an
  immeasurable distance from the wished-for goal
• Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of
  Population (1798)

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The conundrum of sustainabilityTragedy of the
Commons

• Ruin is the destination toward which all men
  rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a
  society that believes in the freedom of the
  commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to
  all.
• - Science (Dec 1968)

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The conundrum of sustainabilityTragedy of the
Commons

• The class of No technical solution problems
  has members. My thesis is that the population
  problem, as conventionally conceived, is a
  member of this class.
• Science (Dec 1968)

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The conundrum of sustainabilityTragedy of the
Commons

• Mutual Coercion Mutually Agreed upon
• -How do we get to that state of mutually agreed
  upon coercion?

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The conundrum of sustainabilityTragedy of the
Commons

• That morality is system-sensitive escaped the
  attention of most codifiers of ethics in the
  past The laws of our society follow the pattern
  of ancient ethics, and therefore are poorly
  suited to governing a complex, crowded,
  changeable world.
• Science (Dec 1968)

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The conundrum of sustainabilityPolitical epithet

• Senator Malthus

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The conundrum of sustainabilityThe Kumbaya
definition

• Sustainable development meets the needs of the
  present without compromising the needs of the
  future generations.
• Our Common Future. United Nations World
  Commission on Environment and Development (1987)

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The conundrum of sustainabilityE. O. Wilson

• The common aim must be to expand resources and
  improve quality of life for as many people as
  heedless population growth forces upon Earth, and
  do it with minimal prosthetic dependence. That,
  in essence is the ethic of sustainable
  development.
• Edward WilsonConsilience (1998)

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SustainabilityThe intersection of science and
ethics
Sustainabilitythe ultimate example of
consilience
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Sustainability and BiomassThe example of ethanol

• Fuel ethanol made from non food biomass sources
• Requires new technology
• To break down (hydrolyze) cellulose and
  hemicellulose to sugar
• To ferment unusual sugars

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Sustainability and BiomassCost competitiveness
over time
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Sustainability and BiomassLife cycle assessment
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Sustainability and BiomassLife cycle assessment
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Sustainability and Biomass Energy impacts
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Sustainability and Biomass Global Warming impacts
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Sustainability and Biomass Reactive nitrogen
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Biomass Political perspective
1970
1980
1990
2000
CARTER
REAGAN
BUSH I
CLINTON
Formation of DOE
Deep Cuts in Renewable Energy
Energy Policy Act of 1992
Bouncing Budgets Earmarks Tech Transfer
Creation of SERI
Ramping up Tech Transfer and funds
Emphasize Basic RD
Moral Equivalent of War - RD - Demonstration
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Biomass Political perspective
BUSH I Renewables
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Biomass Political perspective
a case of attention deficit syndrome
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Biomass The politics of net energy
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BiomassPolitics, progress and projections
Uncertainty And confusion
Political-driven Projections
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The Role of Biomass in Americas Energy
FutureSeeking a new vision

• Natural Resources Defense Council
• Dartmouth
• Michigan State University
• Princeton
• Union of Concerned Scientists
• DOE national labs
• U. Tenn

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The Role of Biomass in Americas Energy
FutureA holistic approach

• Considers levers that effect both energy supply
  and energy demand

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The Role of Biomass in Americas Energy
FutureA holistic approach

• Combines technical and social elements to paint
  possible futures

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The Role of Biomass in Americas Energy
FutureA path forward
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The Role of Biomass in Americas Energy
FutureA path forward
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The Role of Biomass in Americas Energy
FutureA path forward
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Holistic dialogue

• Defines a choice in a holistic, systematic
  context
• The cradle to grave perspective
• Normalized comparisons rather than whole system
  visioning
• Addresses technical aspects only

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Holistic dialogue

• Ethical dimension
• Defining Jeffersons pursuit of happiness
• Technical dimension
• Life cycle assessment helps to sort out the
  uncertainties of the moral and ethical choices we
  need to make from the uncertainties of the
  science.

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Holistic dialogue

• Let us engage in the serious business of
  conducting our discussion rationally and
  logically, to discover the truth about points on
  which we differ.

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Holistic dialogue

• western civilization is the civilization of the
  Logos. Liberal education, up to the end of the
  twentieth century, carried forward the Great
  Conversation.
• Robert M. Hutchins

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Biomass and the energy debate

• As long as technical experts continue to offer
  expert opinions, the public will continue to
  scratch their heads in wonder
• We need to educate and engage our public in both
  the ethical and the technical questions involved