SUPER CALA PHRAJELLISTIC CELLULOSIC

Even President Bush, based on his comments at the Governors' Conference earlier this week, is finally beginning to understand that corn ethanol is NOT the answer and plug-in hybrids are necessary to make ANY kind of ethanol part of the solution.

Push made for cellulosic ethanol
Krishnadev Calamur, February 26, 2007 (UPI)

- Amid rising corn prices affecting the margins of livestock farmers, the Bush administration has renewed its call for cellulosic materials to eventually take the place of corn as the main source of ethanol…
- As part of its efforts to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil the Bush administration has set a goal of reducing gasoline usage by 20 percent over a 10-year period. More than 45 percent of gasoline sold in the United States is 10 percent blended with ethanol, and there are growing calls for that proportion to increase…
- The United States consumes some 7 billion gallons of ethanol a year made from corn. More ethanol means, at least for now, more corn…This rising demand has made corn a red-hot commodity and pushed up prices…Those who use corn, mainly as a feedstock, are not [happy]…farmers are considering planting it in fields where they would normally grow soybeans…

- In 2005 [14 percent of corn production was used to manufacture ethanol]…In 2006 it touched an estimated 20 percent…
- It is hoped that ethanol from cellulosic sources such as biomass and switchgrass can help reduce some of the dependence on corn. The problem: costs, though there [has] been…a drastic reduction in the cost of ethanol from cellulosic sources…
- …the Bush administration [fiscal year 2008 budget] committed $179 million for research into producing ethanol from a variety of sources in a bid to make cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive by 2012.

- The $24.3 billion budget for the Energy Department also requested $2.7 billion for the Advanced Energy Initiative, which promotes renewable energy technologies such as biomass. Separately, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy gets $1.24 billion, including a funding increase for biomass. Biomass also gets $113 million out of the $713 million requested for Science Programs.
- Questions remain, however, on how far along cellulosic ethanol is…Last year the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy's data arm, said ethanol production from cellulose would reach 300 million gallons by 2030, slightly higher than the 250 million gallons per year required starting in 2013 by the Renewable Fuels Standard in the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
- Supporters of cellulosic contend, however, that those estimates are too low...