Cellulosic Ethanol, So Much Promise, So Little Political Will?

Take a look at Wired’s cover story on cellulosic ethanol, "One Molecule Could Cure Our Addiction to Oil." Good intro piece on the in's and out's of cellulosic science, and refreshingly optimistic, however naïve.

Comes at a time when corn to ethanol has been bashed by the MSM as an energy cure-all. (More here and here.) Hard to blame the critics though. On the carbon-polluting side of things, corn’s right up there with fossil fuels as the worst you can get. A recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said that corn and grains could be "a cure that is worse than the disease they seek to heal." Ouch. Corn's also been a big disappointment in the U.S. farmbelt. And it's making poor people around the world even poorer, and Big Oil even richer. More from us here on that issue.

So even if you believe that corn has a place among our future energy options, which it does, it has limits. A lot of ‘em. That's why ethanol from corn is often seen as transitory, paving the way forward until cellulosic feedstock is ready for prime time.

An excerpt from Wired:

Cellulosic ethanol, in theory, is a much better bet. Most of the plant species suitable for producing this kind of ethanol — like switchgrass, a fast- growing plant found throughout the Great Plains, and farmed poplar trees — aren't food crops. And according to a joint study by the US Departments of Agriculture and Energy, we can sustainably grow more than 1 billion tons of such biomass on available farmland, using minimal fertilizer. In fact, about two-thirds of what we throw into our landfills today contains cellulose and thus potential fuel. Better still: Cellulosic ethanol yields roughly 80 percent more energy than is required to grow and convert it.

So a wave of public and private funding, bringing newfound optimism, is pouring into research labs. Venture capitalists have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in cellulosic-technology startups. BP has announced that it's giving $500 million for an Energy Biosciences Institute run by the University of Illinois and UC Berkeley. The Department of Energy pledged $385 million to six companies building cellulosic demonstration plants. In June the DOE added awards for three $125 million bioenergy centers to pursue new research on cellulosic biofuels.

There's just one catch: No one has yet figured out how to generate energy from plant matter at a competitive price. The result is that no car on the road today uses a drop of cellulosic ethanol.

Hard to argue with cellulosic ethanol when you put it like that. Reduces global warming emissions, and takes the pressure off food crops.

But ah, the catch. It's the science that's holding up the cellulosic research, says Wired. Suspicious. Sounds more like good ‘ole politics. In the 1970s during the oil crisis, money flowed to fund cellulosic research. A lot of it. And then, when Reagean declared the end of the crisis, the well dried up. Because of science? No. Because of politics? Uh huh.

Too bad we can't deploy chemistry to manufacture poltiical will enzymes in Washington politicians. Because without the will to wean America off foreign oil while also protecting the climate and foreign markets in developing nations, not sure anything else matters. Not even the most advanced developments in cellulosic science.

It's true the DOE and the USDA have been investing in the research. But as of late, they're not too hopeful with the progress.

Political will first. The money that's needed will follow. And then, so will the technology.

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