10 



Mr. Adams. Right. The biomass area has received increasing 

 relative attention in the Department. In terms of our strategy, 

 most of the large increase in biomass use in this century, we 

 believe, according to our studies, will be by wood combustion. Pri- 

 marily the burning of wood residues from forests, and from other 

 sources. 



There will be some contribution from alcohol. DOE recently com- 

 pleted an alcohol policy review, and there will be other biomass 

 contributions in the forms of gases and liquid products. But the 

 increasing need for liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuels, and feed- 

 stocks, combined with increasing competition for edible crops, and 

 paper and building materials, et cetera, these factors in combina- 

 tion are driving us in the direction of research on sources of 

 biomass that achieve the following goals. 



Those sources that are dedicated for energy usage, in other 

 words, they are not so highly competitive, those that exhibit maxi- 

 mum yields, and low cost, and/ or amendable high conversion effi- 

 ciencies to fuels, and that show favorable economics, and those 

 feedstocks that maximize the effective use of space for their 

 growth. 



Now, successful R. & D. efforts in this area will lead us to new 

 and more plentiful sources of biomass material. We feel that this 

 could potentially greatly expand our usable sources of biomass. 



Department estimates indicate that a sustainable level of bio- 

 mass production in the Nation could be in the range of 10 to 15 

 quads per year, for forest growth, and this does not include, howev- 

 er, the growth of biomass on the oceans, or the more advanced 

 methods of biomass production. 



So when we begin to reach up into the 5- to 6- to 7-quad range, 

 we begin to tap pretty heavily into that sustainable biomass pro- 

 duction level. 



This consideration drives us in the direction of looking for other 

 advanced ways of producing biomass material. This is causing us to 

 search, both terrestrially and in waters for ways to produce bio- 

 mass. 



Out of the $58 million included for biomass in our 1979 budget, 

 15 percent was for terrestrial and aquatic biomass. It is significant 

 in this regard, that 9 of the 13 percent was terrestrial and 6 

 percent was aquatic. 



In our 1980 biomass budget mix, this is growing to about 10 

 percent. The 6 percent for aquatic is growing to about 10 percent. 



So the aquatic biomass source that we are dealing with consti- 

 tutes both marine and fresh water systems, in open oceans and on 

 land. It is still too close to call, and I will have some additional 

 comments about this, about the respective contributions in the 

 future out of these different sources. 



I would like to stress that our aquatic work, both terrestrial and 

 ocean, is research and development. It is aimed at finding sources 

 of biomass supply for the longer term. We do not see this as the 

 answer to the next energy problems in this year or in the next. But 

 it is important, longer term research. 



In our sense of priorities we would utilize first and earliest those 

 biomass sources that we could tap quickest, and in the most ready 

 and economic manner. Our work does not preclude, however, 



