April 28th was proclaimed Biofuels Day in Indiana by Governor Mitch Daniels. The announcement came that same day at the informative South Shore Clean Cities, Inc. conference, "Biofuels: Moving Indiana Forward."
The conference featured a diverse group of speakers including Congressman Pete Viscloskey and representatives for Congressman Joe Donnelly and Senator Richard Lugar, along with representatives from state government, industry, agricultural associations and the research community.
The challenges to further development of the biofuels industry in Indiana (and elsewhere) were highlighted by nearly all the speakers. They included: economics costs, technical reliability of the energy products, social acceptance and appropriate government policies.
Some of the discussion highlights included:
- Next generation research in other energy sources such as hydrogen, solar, batteries and fuel cells.
- Product quality and much needed technical standards. These are extremely important to companies such as Cummins, Caterpillar, and US Steel (all of whom spoke at the conference) who currently use biodiesel blends but also must ensure compatibility between these fuels and their engines.
- Infrastructure and distribution are improving. Indiana State Department of Agriculture representatives reported on the significant progress made in Indiana making E85 and biodiesel publicly available. In May 2005, there were no E85 fueling stations in the State. Today, there are 101, and Indiana ranks 3rd in the nation in pumps - behind only Minnesota and Illinois.
Collaboration was a consistent theme as well. The Indiana energy office, as an example, is working with counterparts in three other states (KY, TN, and AL) to create an I65 corridor that spans all four states. This would ensure that motorists are never more than 1/4 of a tank to the nearest E85 station. Since the inception of the program in 2006, Kentucky has added four stations, Tennessee 20 and Alabama 4. All states had no stations open prior to the start of the project.
There clearly is a growing recognition that our support for alternative energy sources must be about more than building ethanol and biodiesel plants around the state. While there admittedly has been significant production increases in the last few years, emphasis must be placed on next generation technologies, continued distribution efforts, technical standards, adequate government policies and most importantly on key partnerships to ensure a successful transition to alternative energy.
