PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Turning Green into Yellow
Improving Plants for Use as Homegrown Fuels

ASPB Past President Ken Keegstra spoke in the U.S. Capitol May 8, 2006, on research that could lead to increased biofuels production from plants. Keegstra’s congressional seminar presentation was titled “Turning Green into Yellow: Improving Plants for Use as Home-Grown Biofuels.” The seminar was sponsored by the National Coalition for Food & Agricultural Research. ASPB was a contributing sponsor and nominated Keegstra for participation in the seminar series.

Keegstra’s talk demonstrated how goals stated by President Bush in his State of the Union Address for the Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI) are achievable related to biofuels. The president has called for breaking the nation’s “addiction to oil.” Keegstra discussed opportunities in plant research that will help in meeting AEI goals for increased biomass and related biofuels production.

There was a good turnout of more than 40 attendees at the workshop, including congressional staff, federal agency officials, and others. Agency officials in attendance were from the Department of Energy Office (DOE) of Science, the National Science Foundation Plant Genome Research Program, and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Research Initiative. Keegstra and ASPB staff also met with DOE officials after the seminar.

Keegstra showed how every state in the nation could become a producer of more biomass for biofuels. Biofuels production also will increase in the corn belt, but won’t be limited to that area as advances are made leading to use of cellulose-based ethanol. Recognition of this point could further broaden interest in Congress in research on plants for increased biofuels and biochemicals production.

Several other relevant points showing opportunities in plant cell wall research for increased ethanol production were addressed by Keegstra, including findings from a DOE workshop and a jointly produced DOE/USDA report on the potential for biomass production. Keegstra is director of the Michigan State University–Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory.

Keegstra’s talk was presented at a time when high gasoline prices have been prompting more constituent contacts of Congress than any other issue. There was clearly much interest in the subject by people in attendance as reflected by their many questions. One or two questioners had challenging questions with inaccurate facts, such as the question that asserted that ethanol takes cars only half the number of miles per gallon that gasoline does. Keegstra was prepared, however, and politely corrected questioners on inaccuracies. Keegstra’s presentation helped to place more emphasis on the need for plant research, such as plant cell wall research, to meet demands for increased biofuels production. This is especially timely as more congressional offices are taking an interest in alternative fuels such as biofuels.

The PowerPoint slides from Keegstra’s presentation, beginning with Henry Ford’s prediction in 1925 that ethanol is “the fuel of the future,” are on the ASPB website at http://www.aspb.org/publicaffairs/news/greenyellowfuel.cfm.