The AFRI Sustainable Bioenergy Challenge Area focuses on the societal challenge to secure America’s energy future.
Demand for biomass continues to increase as additional targets for heat, transportation fuels, power, and biobased products are met. Current policies are designed to provide agricultural support, rural enhancement, reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy, climate change mitigation/adaptation, and environmental sustainability.
New policies will need to take into full account associated risks/uncertainties and unintended consequences of feedstock production systems on natural resource and ecosystem service sustainability. The long-term outcome for the AFRI Sustainable Bioenergy Challenge Area is to implement regional systems that materially deliver liquid transportation biofuels to help meet the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 goal of 36 billion gallons/year of biofuels by 2022 and reduce the National dependence on foreign oil and, as appropriate, produce biopower and biobased products.
