Biofuels worth more research

Congress is battling over expensive use of biofuels to feed the engines of Pentagon vehicles, such as those in the Navy’s "Great Green Fleet" tested in the just-ended Rim of the Pacific. While the exact use of the alternative fuel in Hawaii is in dispute, and Hawaiian Electric Co.’s increased use of biofuel in its power plants is encouraging, the ultimate use should be feeding vehicles.

Hawaii has become a playing field for developing feedstocks for a biofuel supply chain, while HECO is moving forward on using it in place of oil in its power plants. Environmentalists prefer that biofuel replace gasoline in both aviation and ground vehicle engines, but the growth of the energy alternative still could have the long-term dividends they desire.

Hawaii’s role was indicated two weeks ago when the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded a four-year $6 million grant to the University of Hawaii for a project seeking to develop high-yielding feedstock grasses for renewable energy. The university noted that the Navy has a vital interest in the project.

HECO prefers to use biofuel as a replacement of oil in its power plants. It has a 20-year contract to use biofuel crops from Kauai in its Farrington Highway plant. Nearby at Campbell Industrial Park, it operates what may be the only power plant fueled entirely by biodiesel. And it is seeking approval of a 20-year contract with a company that would convert plants and crops into a liquid fuel to replace fossil fuel at its Hawaiian Electric Light Co. power plant near Kailua-Kona on Hawaii island.

As new energy options develop, the focus must be on projects and strategic plans that are justifiable to consumers and cost-attritioned, not ones that depend on ratepayers for exorbitant or indefinite subsidies.

The Abercrombie administration agrees with environmentalists that biofuel should be used directly to power transportation rather than replace oil in power plants. Mark Glick, the state Energy Office director, says the HECO contracts may someday extend to use of biofuel in the way the state desires. However, the use of biofuel in power plants should not dampen advances in other sources of energy — solar, wind and geothermal.

That use of biofuel is being argued in Congress. The Republican-controlled House voted last month to block domestic development of biofuel production for use in submarines and Navy destroyers. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved such a halt to the program, which would involve spending $24 a gallon for biofuel, four times what is spent for traditional marine and jet fuel.

However, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye’s Appropriations Committee late last week approved legislation that would provide funding for the Navy’s proposed military biofuels program. The military consumes 300,000 barrels of oil daily, much of it foreign, and such an alternative is necessary toward better self-sufficiency in the future.

While biofuel is now more expensive, continuing to be shackled to fossil fuels comes with larger costs, both militarily and on streets and airways. In the end, solar, wind and geothermal should replace over-reliance on monopolistic power plants while biofuel is fed into engines.