The Algal Biomass Organization has called on the US Department of Energy (DoE) to provide a clear vision for its plans for algae-based fuels and energy; promote public-private partnerships to accelerate commercialization; and give algae parity with other feedstocks with regard to tax incentives, regulatory and other federal policies. The call came as part of the ABO's comments made in response to the DoE's National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap consultation program which ended last week.
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“The DOE Roadmap process is an important first step to identifying both barriers and opportunities for commercialization of next generation fuels and energy derived from algal-biomass,” said Mary Rosenthal, executive director of the ABO. “The ABO and our members hope this feedback will help the DOE more clearly understand not only the tremendous potential of algae, but also the practical steps needed to take to accelerate the fulfillment of that potential.”
The ABO’s three key recommendations for the DOE Roadmap were:
1. Provide a clearly defined destination: The Roadmap lacks a clearly defined and government authored vision for the industry in terms of productivity, sustainability, interface with other industries, and job creation. The ABO advocates that the Roadmap make recommendations on the research priorities required to achieve this vision given the current state of algal development. Accordingly, the ABO advises this new vision section of the roadmap should clearly point out how algae’s key attribute (beneficial reuse of CO2) will best meld into and transform the present industrial ecosystem into meeting our nation’s long-term environmental, jobs and energy security goals.
2. Promote public-private partnership: Because the private industry has the most up-to-date understanding of the specific techno-economic requirements for building and scaling an algae industry, the ABO recommends a public-private collaborative forum be convened to identify the most pressing research required to achieve a sustainable, productive and rapidly scalable algal industry. The ABO believes this forum should be ongoing to track the necessarily rapid public and private advancements within this industry.
3. Develop financial parity with other feedstocks: The ABO believes a key element to the success of algae biofuels industry will be the public and private investments that are made. Accordingly, the ABO believes the government should establish a system of financial and non-financial incentives that are in parity with other renewable energy technologies. The ABO supports an approach which would be focused on national economic and environmental outcomes rather than technology specific policies.
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