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Endless Energy
5/11/2004

By Burl Gilyard

Lanny Schmidt, professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of Minnesota, has quietly toiled away at research projects for nearly two decades. Then suddenly this winter, he found himself amid a flurry of media attention following an article he and his colleagues published in Science magazine. He was interviewed from Canada to Australia and for numerous news organizations in between. Schmidt and fellow U researchers had hit on a new way to extract hydrogen from fossil fuels and ethanol. Ultimately, Schmidt says, the goal is to produce hydrogen from renewable energy sources.

The paradox of hydrogen is that it's the most abundant element in the world—including in water—yet it doesn't exist on its own. "'The hydrogen economy' is a buzzword phrase that's been picked up," acknowledges Schmidt, a Regents' Professor. "It doesn't mean anything because hydrogen doesn't exist in free form." Currently, hydrogen must be produced by large-scale refineries using large amounts of power. Hydrogen energy is stored in fuel cells—which convert chemical energy into electricity—that could be housed in homes or vehicles. But so far, producing hydrogen has been prohibitively expensive.

In what amounts to a small pipe, Schmidt and his colleagues have created a reactor wherein a chemical reaction converts ethanol into hydrogen without burning it. In Schmidt's model, the hydrogen wouldn't be stored, but would be used as it's produced. In theory, consumers armed with reactors like Schmidt's, about the size of a softball bat, could convert ethanol into hydrogen to provide power for their homes and the computers and appliances inside them.

This breakthrough potentially means that hydrogen energy can be produced more cheaply and easily than is currently possible. "The bottom line is we want to go to renewable energy because [in Minnesota] our fossil fuels are all imported. Minnesota spends $7 billion a year importing fossil fuel. The premise is that renewable fuels would all be made in Minnesota," says Schmidt. "We all agree probably that we will switch someday from fossil fuels to renewable fuels. But will this happen in five years or 50? We don't know. That's where the University comes in. You need research to discover new technologies, to make these things economical and scalable."

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Schmidt's hydrogen research is just one piece of a larger renewable energy effort under way at the University that involves several colleges, centers, and campuses across the system. The initiative began to take shape almost two years ago, when U lobbyist Dick Hemmingsen (B.S. '70, M.Ed. '94) attended a meeting in Brookings, South Dakota, to discuss the Sun Grant Initiative, designed to help bolster research in renewable energy. Hemmingsen wondered how the U could get positioned for federal grants for such research—if and when they became available. The University had no centralized organization for renewable energy research at the time, but, Hemmingsen says, "As we dug around, we found there was a lot of work going on."

Meanwhile, Bob Elde (Ph.D. '74), dean of the College of Biological Sciences, and Ted Davis, dean of the Institute of Technology, were also discussing renewable energy ideas. Soon, talk turned to forming a renewable energy consortium at the University. "We had these pockets of expertise, but those pockets didn't know that each other existed," says Elde. These ideas became somewhat loosely organized under the heading of the University of Minnesota Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment (IREE).

As fate would have it, renewable energy became a hot topic at the state Capitol in 2003. When the Minnesota Legislature approved extending waste storage at Xcel Energy's Prairie Island nuclear plant, part of the deal earmarked $20 million over the next five years for renewable energy research at the University. The funding transformed IREE from a concept into a real, University-wide program, and Hemmingsen became interim director of the fledgling IREE.

Under the new umbrella, IREE has been organized into four "clusters" of research: hydrogen; bioenergy and bioproducts; policy, economics, and ecosystems; and conservation and efficient energy systems. Researchers apply for "seed grant" funding from IREE to fund various projects in these clusters.

The impetus for finding renewable sources of energy is driven by U.S. dependence on finite fossil fuels, some of which must be imported. Domestic demand for oil is steadily rising while domestic production is falling, making the United States increasingly dependent on foreign imports. Some critics of U.S. foreign policy see protecting U.S. access to oil as a motivating factor in overseas military actions, such as the war in Iraq. One of the incentives offered by renewable sources of energy is that they have the potential to produce power domestically, thereby reducing U.S. dependence on imports.

Another reason to develop renewable energy is that coal, the single largest domestic source of power in the United States, is also a major contributor to air pollution. Renewable energy offers the promise of an unlimited domestic energy supply, with less impact to the environment. One of the challenges of renewable energy, however, is making it cost-effective to use. In other words, the energy created must sufficiently offset the cost of generating it.

One of the key tenets of IREE funding is to make the research funding renewable as well. Researchers are encouraged to forge multidisciplinary partnerships both inside and outside the University and to use IREE funds to leverage other financial support wherever possible. "The challenge is going to be investing wisely," says Hemmingsen. "Strong collaborations and partnerships are going to be one of the hallmarks of this initiative."

University President Bob Bruininks has made IREE one of his academic priorities and believes that the U is well-positioned to be a leader in renewable energy research. "We have extraordinary academic strength and I would argue that strength is a comparative advantage," Bruininks says. "We have renewable sources of energy that are very rich possibilities in our own state. I think we'll not only advance knowledge, but create very important economic activity in this area as well."

IREE has already helped attract new talent to the University. Microbiologist Daniel Bond left the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to join the University this spring. Bond's work has focused on extracting energy from organic matter found on the ocean's floor. "It seemed that we really had the opportunity to bring together dream teams here at the University," says Elde. "[IREE has] really captured the attention of some of our very best people here at the University. It's pretty amazing what's happened already, so I'm very optimistic for the long haul."

Bioenergy and Bioproducts

Given Minnesota's agricultural heritage, researchers are thrilled about the prospects for harvesting, literally, new sources of power from the land, from plants and plant byproducts. Ethanol, for example, is a mixture of gasoline and a small percentage of fuel generated from crops such as corn. But today, most ethanol is largely comprised of traditional fossil fuel. Minnesota already has an emerging ethanol industry, and University researchers are investigating several new frontiers.

Biomass—plant materials—can replace fossil fuel-based products such as plastics and can be burned as an alternative to fossil fuel itself. While biomass generates roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide as fossil fuels, continually replenishing plants in a bioenergy system actually removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, potentially resulting in a zero net emission.

Donald Wyse, professor of agronomy and plant genetics, says that one of the issues researchers are discussing is diversifying the landscape of plants in Minnesota with plants such as perennial sunflowers and flax. "We're looking at a wide range of other grasses," says Wyse. "Perennial flax has the same oil content as annual flax and could be used for dual purposes. It could be used for fiber; it could be used for energy."

Wyse notes that plants need to have multiple uses to be economically viable. That means thinking holistically how to utilize new plants: "We have to be thinking about how we develop biomass systems."

Meanwhile, at the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD) campus, researchers are investigating the possibilities of fast-growing, disease-resistant hybrid poplar trees. The hybrids could grow to full size in seven years, in contrast to the standard 40 years, and could be used as a potential source of fuel.

"You could use the whole tree as a biomass source for energy," says Donald Fosnacht, director of the Center of Applied Research and Technology Development at the Natural Resources Institute at UMD. One idea that's being explored is putting many of the dormant taconite mining sites in northeastern Minnesota—in addition to other sites around the state—to use as biorefineries. "We think that those could be potentially virgin sites for this type of opportunity. You have a real opportunity for economic development and you're also attacking some of the energy issues. This is real stuff."

Conservation and Energy Efficient Systems

One of the challenges for renewable energy researchers is that existing homes and commercial buildings aren't necessarily equipped to use renewable sources of power. Professor Jane Davidson in the Department of Mechanical Engineering has been wrestling with one possible solution to that problem. "Over a third of U.S. energy consumption is in buildings," Davidson says. "Right now a solar system to provide hot water is used in only 1 percent of U.S. houses. The payback is so long that people aren't willing to invest in a solar system. One of the things that I've been working on almost since I've been at Minnesota [since 1993] is to develop a much lower-cost solar heating system.

"What we're trying to do is develop an all-polymer solar water heating system," she continues. "The idea is that the initial cost would be much lower." Polymers would replace parts that are currently made of glass and copper, thereby making solar thermal energy systems more affordable. Partners on the project include several companies (DuPont, FAFCO, Solvay Advanced Polymers) and the federal National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Davidson stresses that these ideas aren't just blue-sky notions but are very close to becoming reality. "It's very exciting. Sometimes you work on things for years and you never see them. There are a lot of technical challenges and barriers [but] the companies have built the prototypes. This is something that we think will be a reality in the very near term. We hope to get systems out in the next couple of years."

John Carmody, director of the University's Center for Sustainable Building Research, says that one of the broad concepts that researchers are exploring is the creation of a "zero energy building," a building that generates its own power through wind, solar, hydrogen, or other renewable energy sources. "It would essentially be a building with no net energy input from the utility," says Carmody. While Carmody notes that such buildings are still far in the future, taking steps like using high-performance windows in buildings today can help create more efficient buildings.

Associate Professor Greg Cuomo at the University of Minnesota-Morris, where he heads the West Central Research and Outreach Center, says that one of his goals is to turn the campus into a demonstration center and resource for rural communities interested in renewable sources of energy. "What we're trying to do is take the resources that are available to us in west central Minnesota and turn them into an economic advantage for the area," says Cuomo. One of those plentiful natural resources on the prairie is wind. By spring 2005, Cuomo says, the campus hopes to have two 950-kilowatt wind turbines installed on campus to generate power.

Davidson says that IREE funding has already helped make the University more competitive for national research funds. "Competition for Department of Energy funds is fierce because they don't have that much money. It's very, very competitive to get research funds," says Davidson. "Right now IREE has provided us with enough funds for two additional graduate students. It's really enhanced the educational possibilities in this area."

Policy, Economics, and Ecosystems

The most fundamental question asked about any source of energy is: "Yeah, but how much does it cost?" Currently, traditional forms of power, such as from coal and oil, are much cheaper to produce than alternative forms of energy. Regents' Professor David Tilman of the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior argues, however, that the energy source that costs the least might not be the cheapest for society in the long run.

"Right now when you buy electricity for your home, you pay a price that reflects the price of producing the products. We look at the benefits of energy production, but we don't look at the various environmental costs," says Tilman. "The main appeal of renewable energy is that it can eliminate many of these costs."

But Tilman cautions against jumping too far ahead with renewable sources of energy. "We know that we can grow corn and we know that we can convert corn into ethanol. These things are positive, but then you have to ask some other questions. Of all the crops that farmers grow, the crop that leads to the greatest ground water pollution is corn." Another issue: how much energy must be expended to harvest the ethanol? Tilman says that various studies have reached different conclusions. Some suggest that producing ethanol actually results in a slight net loss of energy while other research has suggested a gain of as much as 30 percent.

"It's a lot of work just to gain 30 percent. If there's a 300 percent gain with soybeans, maybe soybeans are a wiser approach. If we try to quantify all the costs and benefits, where do we come out?" Tilman asks rhetorically. "Wind energy is one where the environmental costs seem pretty minor, but these are just preliminary thoughts. We don't know what we're going to find. We know right now, given current market conditions, the cheapest way to produce energy is not with wind energy or biomass."

Tilman—whose research takes a broad view of total costs, including production and environmental—is working in conjunction with Professor Steve Polasky in the Department of Applied Economics. "It's not strictly economics, but it's a combination of economics and ecology," Polasky says. "It's hard to make some of the environmental consequences as tangible as some of the bottom-line consequences that show up in people's pocketbooks. That doesn't mean the environmental consequences are any less real."

The policy, economics, and ecosystems cluster is the conscience, of sorts, of the IREE. Tilman and Polasky's research is shaping and informing broad discussions on policies that affect all of the research clusters. "What we're trying to do is find out, 'What is a wise path for society to follow?' We have to ask, 'What are the long-term effects of one kind of fuel versus another?'" says Tilman.

"We're trying to help society have the information needed to make the wisest possible choices."

This article copyright 2004 by Burl Gilyard, who retains ownership and copyright of the article. No reproduction or redistribution of this article is permitted without permission from the copyright holder. Burl Gilyard (B.A. '92) is a Minneapolis freelance writer.

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