On June 12, 1989, then-President George H.W. Bush addressed his campaign promises to deal with the pollution problems long facing the United States. He unveiled an ambitious plan to remove smog from the nation's most populous cities, as well as efforts to reduce acid rain pollution. He recommended auto makers be required to make methanol-powered cars for use in nine urban areas plagued by air pollution. Methanol is the simplest form of primary alcohol and is commonly called wood alcohol. Bush called methanol "home-grown energy for America."
Bush further proposed a 10 million-ton reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants; that's a 50% reduction over present standards. Sulfur dioxide is a major cause of acid rain, which kills 50,000 Americans and 5,000-10,000 Canadians yearly. At the time, Bush said, "Too many Americans continue to breathe dirty air, and political paralysis has plagued further progress against air pollution. We've seen enough of this stalemate. It's time to clear the air."
Political paralysis seems to be a dominant trait in Washington in any given decade, but what did he mean by "stalemate"? The root of this "stalemate" can be found in the concept of world energy resources. The industrial world currently runs on fossil fuel: natural gas, oil, and coal. Fossil fuel resources are non-renewable, being the end product of eons of natural decomposition of earth's ancient biomass. Fossil fuels contain sulfur, which is the source of many of the aggravating environmental pollution problems threatening America.
Removing sulfur compounds from fossil fuels is a major expense to the energy producers. Also, burning fossil fuels releases "ancient" carbon dioxide, produced by primeval plant life eons ago, into the atmosphere causing the air we breathe to be over-burdened with CO2, increasing the danger of global warming and the greenhouse effect.
In the late 1800s, the fledgling petroleum industry aggressively competed with the established biomass-based energy industry in an effort to gain control of world energy production and distribution. Fossil fuel producers succeeded in their campaign to dominate energy production by making fuels and chemical feedstocks at lower prices than could be produced from biomass conversion.
Now the pendulum is swinging against them. It is likely that peak oil and gas production in the United States has been reached. The situation for recoverable coal, world wide, is more favorable. However, increasing numbers of Americans are unwilling to accept the escalating costs of environmental pollution and destruction associated with coal-fired power plant smokestack emissions and the land destruction resulting from coal mining.
Even if the pollution problems inherent with fossil fuel use are solved, the dollars and cents cost of this form of energy will continue to rise due to the dwindling availability of this non-renewable world resource. On the other hand, the dollar cost of energy production from biomass conversion will remain relatively constant because the world biomass resource is renewable on a yearly basis.
The point where the cost of producing energy from fossil fuels exceeds the cost of biomass fuels has been reached. With a few exceptions, energy from fossil fuels will cost the American taxpayer more money than the same amount of energy supplied through biomass conversion.
Biomass is the term used to describe all biologically produced matter. World production of biomass is estimated at 146 billion metric tons a year, mostly wild plant growth. Some farm crops and trees can produce up to 20 metric tons per acre of biomass a year. Types of algae and grasses may produce 50 metric tons per year. Dried biomass has a heating value of 5000-8000 Btu/lb., with virtually no ash or sulfur produced during combustion. About 6% of contiguous United States land area put into cultivation for biomass could supply all current demands for oil and gas. And this production would not add any net carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Stanford Research Institute chose four types of biomass materials to investigate for energy conversion: woody plants, herbaceous plants (those that do not produce persistent woody material), aquatic plants, and manure. Herbaceous plants were divided into two categories: those with low moisture content and those with high moisture content. Thermochemical decomposition can be utilized for energy conversion of all of these categories of biomass materials, but low moisture herbaceous (small grain field residues) and woody (wood industry wastes, and standing vegetation not suitable for lumber) are the most suitable.
Pyrolysis is the thermochemical process that converts organic materials into usable fuels with high fuel-to-feed ratios, making it the most efficient process for biomass conversion and the method most capable of competing with and eventually replacing non-renewable fossil fuel resources. Pyrolysis is the technique of applying high heat to organic matter in the absence of air or in reduced air. The process can produce charcoal, condensable organic liquids (pyrolytic fuel oil), non-condensable gasses, acetic acid, acetone, and methanol. Chemical decomposition through pyrolysis is the same technology used to refine crude fossil fuel oil and coal. Biomass conversion by pyrolysis has many environmental and economic advantages over fossil fuels, but coal and oil production continue to dominate because costs are kept lower by various means including government protection.
Methanol-powered automobiles and reduced emissions from coal-fired power plants can become reality by using biomass-derived fuels. The foundation upon which this will be achieved is the emerging concept of energy farming, wherein farmers grow and harvest crops that are converted into fuels. Energy farming can save American family farms and turn the American heartland into a prosperous source of clean renewable energy production.
Universities, government agencies, and private firms have conducted studies looking into the feasibility of growing biomass at low cost to make fuels at affordable prices, but the most promising plant speciesÑhempÑwas never considered because it is prohibited. Instead emphasis has centered on utilizing waste products: agricultural residues after harvest, forestry wastes from the timber and pulp wood industry, and municipal wastes. All of these combined cannot produce enough fuel to satisfy the needs of industry or the American consumer's automobile. Yet biomass conversion to fuel has been proven economically feasible in laboratory tests and by continuous operation of pilot plants in field tests since 1973. Officials from Ford Motor Co. and General Motors testified their companies were willing to make cars that would run on methanol fuel. Scientists said it would take several years to tool up factories to make methanol-powered autos. They said industry could solve the problems associated with methanol as fuel, and it would take about the same amount of time for the energy industry to build methanol production facilities.
So why don't we have methanol at the filling station? The scientists said the problem was government certification under the Clean Air Act required automobile manufacturers meet standards set by the EPA based on fuels available on a national level. Since methanol fuel standards had not been set, the carmakers couldn't make the new fleet until the methanol fuel was available at the pump. This catch-22 situation continues today. Government is unwilling to subsidize pilot energy farms and biomass refinery construction because fossil fuel producers control the energy industry.
Farmers should be encouraged to grow energy crops capable of producing 10 tons per acre in 90-120 days. The crop has to be naturally high in cellulose. It must grow in all climactic zones in America. And it should not compete with food production for the most fertile land. It could be grown in rotation with food crops or on marginal land where other crop production isn't profitable. Hemp is the only biomass resource capable of making America energy independent. The government suspended marijuana prohibition during World War II. It's time to do it again.
The way to end this political stalemate is to start literally from the ground up. When farmers can grow hemp for biomass, they will make a profit energy farming. Then it will not take long to get 6% of continental American land mass into cultivation for biomass fuelsÑ enough to replace our economy's dependence on fossil fuels. And as the energy crop grows it takes in CO2 from the air; when it is burned the CO2 is returned to the air, creating a balanced system. We will no longer be increasing the CO2 content in the atmosphere. The threat of global greenhouse warming and adverse climatic change will diminish.
As an energy crop, hemp can be harvested with equipment readily available. It can be "cubed" by modifying hay-cubing equipment. This method condenses the bulk, reducing trucking costs from the field to the pyrolysis facility. Sixty-eight percent of the energy in the raw biomass is contained in the charcoal and fuel oils made at the facility. The charcoal has the same heating value in Btu as coal, with virtually no sulfur to pollute the atmosphere. The pyrolytic fuel oil has similar properties to No. 2 and No. 6 fuel oil. The remaining energy is in noncondensable gases that are used to co-generate steam and electricity.
Charcoal and fuel oil can be "exported" from the rural small town in the agricultural community to the large metropolitan areas to fuel the giant power plants generating electricity. When these utility companies use charcoal instead of coal, the problems of acid rain will begin to disappear. The charcoal can be transported economically by rail to all urban area power plants. The fuel oil can be transported economically by truck creating more jobs for Americans.
To accomplish this goal of clean energy independence in America we must demand an end to hemp prohibition, so American farmers can grow this energy crop. Our government foolishly outlawed it in 1938. Hemp is the world's most versatile plant. It can yield 10 tons per acre in four months. Hemp contains 80% cellulose; wood produces 60% cellulose. Hemp is drought resistant making it an ideal crop in the dry western regions of the country.
During World War II, the federal government faced a real economic emergency when our supply of hemp was cut off by the Japanese. The federal government responded to the emergency by suspending marijuana prohibition. Patriotic American farmers were encouraged to apply for a license to grow hemp. They responded enthusiastically and grew 375,000 acres of hemp in 1943.
The argument against undertaking this massive hemp production effort today does not hold up to scrutiny. It is time for the federal government to once again respond to our current economic and energy emergency by utilizing the same procedure used in World War II to permit our farmers to grow American hemp so this mighty nation can once again become energy independent and smog free.
This article was produced for the Business Alliance for Commerce in Hemp (BACH), Help Eliminate Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP), and the American Hemp Council. For more information: www.globalhemp.com.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2001
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited