Breakout Session III
Biofuels in an International Conext: Security and Trade
Michael Makovsky
Michael Makovsky is the Foreign Policy Director of the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Executive Director of the National Security Initiative. He is a foreign policy expert, with a specialty in the intersection of international energy markets and politics with U.S. national security. From 2002-2006, he served as special assistant for Iraqi energy policy in the Office of Secretary of Defense and Director of Essential Services in the Washington office of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the postwar Allied entity that governed Iraq. In those capacities, he advised senior Defense, National Security Council and Energy officials on Iraqi energy policy. Prior to his work in the Pentagon, Makovsky worked over a decade as a senior energy market analyst for various energy trading companies and exchanges, focusing on markets and hedging strategies for oil, petroleum products, natural gas and electric power, as well as regulatory and tax issues. He also served as a campaign manager for Missouri legislative races and worked on the Congressional staff of Senator John Danforth. Makovsky is founder and president of MSM Consulting LLC, an energy and political risk consulting firm.
Makovsky has a PhD in diplomatic history from Harvard University, an MBA in finance from Columbia Business School, and a BA in history from the University of Chicago. He has been a visiting fellow at the Claremont Institute and Institute of Contemporary British History, and has spoken at academic conferences in the U.S. and England on Winston Churchill’s diplomatic pursuits and worldview. He is author of Churchill’s Promised Land (Yale University Press, 2007), a diplomatic history about Winston Churchill.
Gary Radloff
Gary Radloff is the Director of Policy and Strategic Communications at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). He is also staff liaison to the North Central Bioeconomy Consortium (NCBEC), a 12-state partnership of Agriculture departments, University Extension offices and Agriculture Research Stations. He recently served as a lead staff policy and communication advisor for two major Wisconsin policy projects; Governor (Jim Doyle’s) Consortium on the Biobased Industry and the Working Lands Initiative. The Governor’s Consortium is a roadmap for positioning Wisconsin to play a key role in promoting the use of renewable energy and growing the state’s bioeconomy. The Working Lands Initiative is a report of detailed policy steps and strategies to protect the source of biomass – the Wisconsin working lands in agriculture and forestry. Radloff serves on the Steering Committee for the Midwest Agriculture Energy Network (MAEN). Currently, he is also staff to the Agriculture and Forestry Work Group of the Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming. Radloff has previously served as the legislative liaison for the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services as well as having professional experience as a lobbyist and a journalist. He currently serves on the Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s Universal Service Fund Council, the Advisory Board of the Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin, and the Biomass Working Group policy team for the Great Plains Institute. He has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Public Policy.
Dermot Hayes
Dermot Hayes is a Professor and Pioneer Chair in Agribusiness in the Department of Economics at Iowa State University. His research interests include food safety, livestock modeling, demand analysis, commodity markets, and agricultural and trade policy. Dr. Hayes is currently the Professor-in-Charge of the Meat Export Research Center at Iowa State University, and the Head of the Trade and Agricultural Policy Division at the Center for Agricultural Trade and Rural Development.
Dr. Hayes is collaborating with a team of scientists at ISU on research into the genomic transformation of soybeans. He is providing economic analysis on this project which is investigating how to transform normal soybean oil into high-performance lubricants and more economical fuels. Goals of the project include improving cold-weather performance of biodiesel; reducing the operating costs of soybean refineries; and increasing the oil content of soybeans without diminishing protein content of the meal byproduct. Cold-weather performance of biodiesel is being improved by inserting into soybeans the genes of microorganisms that express branched-chain fatty acids instead of the normal straight-chain fatty acids. Branched-chain fatty acids have lower crystallization temperatures and are more stable to high-temperature oxidation. Operating costs of soybean refineries can be reduced by inserting genes into soybeans from other plants that produce monoesters instead of triglycerides, in the process eliminating the transesterfication process currently required to obtain high-quality biodiesel from vegetable oil. Oil content of soybeans will be improved by redirecting photosynthate, which normally synthesizes indigestible carbohydrate, to produce oil. This would increase the supply of soybean oil without sacrificing the valuable protein of soybeans. Team members include molecular biologists to alter the types of oils soybeans produce; experts in seed processing to develop extraction technologies suitable for the new plants and oils; chemists who characterize chemical and physical properties of fuels and lubricants; engineers who test the friction, combustion, and engine performance; and economists who verify the market potential for products and applications envisioned.