Journal of Energy Engineering

Biomass is a versatile, abundant, and renewable energy resource used widely throughout the world. It is perhaps the most common energy resource in developing countries, used primarily for cooking and heating. While industrialized and newly developing nations have turned to fossil fuels to support economic growth, some are returning to biomass as a means of preserving their depleting natural resources, reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels, strengthening agricultural industries, or reducing environmental pollution. A number of technological advancements, particularly in converting biomass into electricity or alcohol transportation fuels, have triggered this reassessment of biomass as a significant energy resource. The writers report on research and development taking place worldwide, with a focus on work being done in Hawaii. They also assess the technical and economic feasibility of adapting bioenergy technology elsewhere, with particular attention directed at the potential of alcohol fuels for transportation applications and the need to develop bioenergy crops as a precursor to expanded alcohol fuel use and renewable electricity generation.

The Japan Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has integrated the energy-related Sunshine and Moonlight Projects into a single program aimed at developing technologies to solve global energy and environmental problems. This consolidated effort, called the New Sunshine Program (formally named the Comprehensive Research and Development Program on Energy and Environmental Technologies), was established by MITI in 1993 to promote the development of innovative technologies to support economic growth while solving energy and environmental issues. The New Sunshine Program serves as an example of a comprehensive, national effort to promote sustainable development.

Conventional literature argues that the competitiveness of new energy technologies is dependent on existing market conditions. Moreover, contemporary analyses have suggested that enhanced, energy-related research and development activities alone are insufficient to ensure a sustainable future. Korea's energy policies, meanwhile, have given top priority to research and development of new energy technologies. Given the aforementioned approaches, the Korean government has adopted “diffusion-oriented” policies that encourage technology transfer, international alliances, and the dissemination of information to supplement research and development. In addition, it has adopted the policy that market barriers can be overcome in part by direct government involvement in the energy marketplace, under the premise of promoting the public good. The present paper analyzes Korea's national energy strategy, describes the potential contributions of new energy technologies, and provides an overview of Enertopia, a major demonstration project being sponsored by the central government to test the viability of the sustainable development concept.

In June of 1992, the National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sponsored a strategic planning workshop, involving 35 ocean technologists representing the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific marine communities, to develop a proactive plan for the commercialization of our national Exclusive Economic Zone resources. This meeting was the culmination of a series of gatherings held over the past decade, each treating specific ocean applications. The blue-ribbon panel recommended the consolidation of all ocean resource development activities within the federal government, and named the Department of Commerce as the ideal agency to manage this office, congressional oversight hearings to reestablish ocean priorities, and a broad spectrum of major ocean enterprises for the 21st century. During this same period, an international workshop was held in Hawaii with 50 invited specialists from six countries to discuss the merits of a cooperative program identified as Project Blue Revolution. The attendees determined that a 1 ha (100,000 sq ft) floating platform powered by ocean thermal energy conversion and at a projected cost of $500,000,000 to serve as an incubator for facilitating the commercialization of ocean resources and supporting marine science research, was a feasible venture.