IEA's Report on 1st- to 2nd-Generation Biofuel Technologies

Renewable Energy World.com
March 9, 2009
by Ralph Sims, Michael Taylor, Jack Saddler and Warren Mabee

The current debate over biofuels produced from food crops has pinned a lot of hope on "2nd-generation biofuels" produced from crop and forest residues and from non-food energy crops. This IEA report, produced jointly with IEA Bioenergy, examines the current state-of-the-art and the challenges for 2nd-generation biofuel technologies. It evaluates their costs and considers policies to support their development and deployment.

It is increasingly understood that 1st-generation biofuels produced primarily from food crops are limited in their ability to achieve targets for oil-product substitution, climate change mitigation and economic growth. Their sustainable production is under review, as is the possibility of creating undue competition for land and water used for food and fiber production. A possible exception that appears to meet many of the acceptable criteria is ethanol produced from sugar cane.

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