Biofuels and Water Quality
April 4 - 5, 2007
Beltsville, MD
In his 2007 State of the Union address, President Bush proposed a national goal of reducing gasoline usage by 20 percent in the next ten years. Americans turned to ethanol to achieve these goals, but for many scientists, the race to produce corn-based ethanol ignored the potential effects on water quality.
In the spring of 2007, the MAWP, together with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, initiated the region’s first discussion on these effects by convening the “Biofuels and Water Quality Conference.” This conference identified and discussed the impacts from growing and using agricultural-based feedstocks for biofuels production and inspired regional and national discussion on the use of corn-based ethanol.
Agenda
Presentations
Ethanol as Biofuel: April 4, 2007
- Potential Water Quality Implications of Different Ethanol Production Strategies Tom Simpson, University of Maryland
- Concentrating Nutrients in Ethanol Production Areas: Impacts on Nutrient Budgets
Jim Pease, Virginia Tech - Concentrating Nutrients in Ethanol Production Areas: Feed Management Concerns
Charlie Stallings, Virginia Tech - What is the Value of My Crop Residue?
Doug Karlen, USDA – Agricultural Research Service - Technologies and Challenges of Competitive Cellulosic Ethanol Production
Tom Richard, Penn State University - Potential for Multiple Revenue Streams for Grain vs. Perennial Grass Grown for Ethanol
Tom Simpson, University of Maryland - Hulless Barley for Ethanol
Bob Kratochvil, University of Maryland
Biodiesel and Gasification: April 5, 2007
- Diversity of Biofuels an Overview
Matt Smith, USDA – Agricultural Research Service - Feedstocks for Gasification
Foster Agblevor, Virginia Tech - Feedstocks for Biodiesel
Robert Butz, Chesapeake Green Fuels - Closing Keynote Address: Fuel, Feed, Food, Water - Can We Develop a Biofuels Strategy That Addresses All Four?
Ken Cook, Environmental Working Group
Publications
- Biofuels and Water Quality (2007)