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US PLANS to help biofuel production while encouraging the switch to second-generation biofuels have received widespread approval, particularly from environmental groups.

The US administration earlier this week announced it would spend a total of $1.8b to help the country’s biofuels industry. The money will be split between $1.1b in financial support for the construction of new biorefineries meeting tougher environmental standards and associated biofuel infrastructure, and a previously-announced $786m to support the development of second-generation biofuel processes which no longer use food crops as their raw material.

In a memo, US president Barack Obama instructed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to form a new Biofuels Interagency Working Group with the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture. The working group will identify and coordinate the policies needed to encourage the production of more sustainable biofuels.

While the EPA says it will stick with the old target, set by George W Bush, to raise US consumption of biofuels to 36b gallons (40b l) by 2022, to count towards the target biofuels will have to deliver an environmental benefit compared with fossil fuels. First-generation ethanol from maize will have to produce at least 20% less greenhouse gases across their full lifecycle compared with fossil fuels; while biofuels from biomass and cellulosic materials will have to deliver savings of 50% and 60% respectively. The lifecycle assessment will also take into account emissions from changes in land use, such as emissions from different farming methods or clearing forests to make way for arable land – one of the key demands made by critics of the biofuel industry.

On top of this, the EPA specifies that of the 36b g/y of biofuels to be consumed by 2022, 16b g/y has to come from cellulosic crops, 15b from first-generation processes and 1b g/y from biomass. The idea is to bring about a gradual but steady shift towards non food-derived fuels.

"Corn-based ethanol is a bridge to the next generation of fuels," says EPA’s chief Lisa Jackson. "As we work towards energy independence, using more homegrown biofuels reduces our vulnerability to oil price spikes that everyone feels at the pump.”