California has numerous niches where biomass energy can help the state achieve its energy and climate change policy goals. “There is presumably biomass available in many places in California,” said Stephen Kaffka, new co-director of the California Biomass Collaborative, but in using it to create energy sustainability is the key. Kaffka sees potential in growing biofuels feedstock on land in the western San Joaquin Valley that has become salty due to years of irrigated agricultural. Studies have shown that grasses grow there and that canola plants could be farmed to produce cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel respectively. As much as half of the corn stover produced in the state could be used to make cellulosic ethanol while maintaining farm soil, according to Kaffka. He also points to the potential to make electricity at dairies with methane digester installations and to either burn or turn into fuel a wide variety of agricultural and food processing wastes in the state, from nutshells to residues from food processing. As California moves to advance bioenergy, it should “pick the best projects” based on sustainability in a broad sense, said Kaffka, including the environmental and economic aspects.
