REVIEW ARTICLE Sugar Beet as an Energy Crop Lee Panella Received: 3 September 2010 / Accepted: 26 November 2010 / Published online: 27 January 2011 Ó Society for Sugar Research & Promotion 2011 Abstract The combination of volatility in the oil market and finite oil resources and the effect on global climate change from the addition of CO 2 to the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels has increased the interest in sustainable energy generation from renewable biofuels. Most 1st generation biofuels in current production are liquid with bioethanol the product of fermentation. Sugar beet provides an abundance of sucrose, which is easily fermented by many microbes and on a per hectare basis; sugar beet is one of the most efficient sources of ethanol, however storage of harvested roots is problematic. Most studies have indicated sustainable biofuels have reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) when compared to petroleum based fuels. Bioethanol from sugar beet reduces GHG comparably or superiorly to maize or sugarcane. There also are other biofuels from fermentation, including biomethanol, biobutanol ETBE, biomethane, and biohy- drogen, many of which are more energy dense than etha- nol. Storage of sugar beet is a problem that could be solved by ensilage and anaerobic digestion producing a biogas, which could yield more energy per hectare than bioethanol. As the global economy moves away from fossil fuels, sugar beet will play an increasing role in the adoption of more sustainable energy generation. Keywords Beta vulgaris Á Feedstock Á Renewable energy Á Biofuel Á Sustainable energy Introduction The combination of volatility in the oil market and finite oil resources and the effect on global climate change from the addition of CO 2 to the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels has increased the interest in sustainable energy generation from renewable biofuels. At present, approxi- mately 10% of the primary global energy demand is met using biomass (Antoni et al. 2007). Some of this is from primary biofuels (i.e., unprocessed biomass) but increas- ingly secondary (processed biomass) biofuels are being used (FAO 2008). Secondary biofuels often are divided into 1st generation (with a feedstock of seeds, grains, or sugars), 2nd generation (from lignocellulosic biomass) and sometimes 3rd generation (from algae and seaweed) (Ni- gam and Singh 2010; Larson 2006). Currently, only 1st generation biofuels are widely produced, with the wide adoption of 2nd generation biofuels requiring 5–10 years before the technology is available to economically produce them commercially (Larson 2006; de Wit and Faaij 2010). Because one of the main purposes of developing biofuels is the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG), some sort of tools or sustainability metrics need to be used to compare biofuels’ ability to reduce GHG. Once such metric is life cycle analysis (LCA), which is an attempt to measure the total GHG effects generated from the production of a product (biofuel) including the entire process from extraction of the raw materials to the end of their use (Menichetti and Otto 2009). Other metrics include Life Cycle Energy Balance, quantity of fossil energy substituted (per unit area), co-product energy allocation, life cycle care balanced, changes in land use, and integrated environ- mental assessment (Menichetti and Otto 2009; Silva Lora et al. 2010; Demirbas 2009). There is a strong need to use metrics that are based on international standards, do not put L. Panella (&) Sugarbeet Research Unit, Crops Research Laboratory, USDA-ARS, NPA, 1701 Centre Ave, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA e-mail: Lee.Panella@ars.usda.gov 123 Sugar Tech (September and December 2010) 12(3–4):288–293 DOI 10.1007/s12355-010-0041-5