Win-Win-Win for the Environment, Farms, and the Nation

The Energy Foundation is conducting research and promoting the use of biofuels and windpower for rural revitalization and national energy security. Funded by The McKnight Foundation of Minneapolis, Minnesota, their biofuels program "is focused on helping the U.S., and especially the Midwest, become the world leader in advanced technologies for producing biofuels - liquid fuels from crops and agricultural waste."

Visit this site for numerous links to relevant papers entitled:
• The New Harvest Wind Power and Biofuels for Rural Revitalization and National Energy Security
• Ethanol From Biomass America's 21st Century Transportation Fuel
• Growing Energy How Biofuels Can Help End America's Oil Dependence
• 25 by 25 Agriculture's Role in Ensuring U.S. Energy Independence - A Blueprint for Action
• Cultivating a New Rural Economy Assessing the Potential of Minnesota's Bio-industrial Sector
• Bringing Biofuels to the Pump An Aggressive Plan for Ending America's Oil Dependence
• WTO Legal Impacts on Commodity Subsidies Green Box Opportunities in the Farm Bill for Farm Income Through the Conservation and Clean Energy Development Programs

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Providing liquid fuels from American farmlands is a win-win-win for rural economies, national energy security, and the environment.

The Energy Foundation's new biofuels program is an expansion of The McKnight Foundation-Energy Foundation Upper Midwest Clean Energy Initiative. Funded by The McKnight Foundation of Minneapolis, Minnesota, our biofuels program is focused on helping the U.S., and especially the Midwest, become the world leader in advanced technologies for producing biofuels - liquid fuels from crops and agricultural waste.

Rural America needs new economic development opportunities. At the same time, America faces the challenge of obtaining the affordable, reliable, and clean energy needed for economic growth. America's rural landscape is the place to substantially address both challenges. Converting crops to liquid fuels produces new income streams for farm communities and, by displacing oil imports, improves U.S energy security.

Managed by the Energy Foundation, this initiative is primarily focused on commercializing cellulosic ethanol, an alcohol fuel that can be made from a variety of crop inputs - from corn stover, to wheat straw, to perennials like native switchgrass. Recent studies project that cellulosic ethanol could meet a significant share of U.S. light vehicle gasoline demand with big oil security benefits and large reductions in vehicle global warming pollution.

Toward this vision, the Biofuels Program will consider support for:

• economic analysis of cellulosic ethanol potential;
• environmental analysis of sustainable paths to scale-up cellulosic ethanol;
• development of model policies to rapidly commercialize cellulosic ethanol;
• state and federal decision-maker education efforts; and
• regional networks of farm-leaders interested in advancing ethanol commercialization policies

Our recent white paper, The New Harvest, Biofuels and Windpower for Rural Revitalization and National Energy Security, outlines the rural economic benefits from these new technologies and the most important policies to advance them.