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RESULTS		Results 26 – 48 of 48
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Cellulosic ethanol: It might be a bust Thus spake Chairman Peterson of the House Ag Committee	Tom Philpott	17 Jan 2008	Gristmill
David already pointed to it, but it bears repeating: House Ag Committee Chairman Colin Peterson, a tireless champion of ethanol and any other big-ag project he can get his mits on, has declared that cellulosic ethanol could well never 'get off the ground.' At best, he declared, cellulosic ethanol stands at least 10 years away from commercial viability (exactly what cellulosic boosters have been saying for three decades). Wait a minute. Ethanol's champions have long c ...
Topics: biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

Notable quotable	David Roberts	16 Jan 2008	Gristmill
"I really think the more I look at this whole cellulosic issue, there is a lot bigger problem to overcome here than people realize in terms of the feedstocks. We have a lot of work to do in that regard. I'm not sure cellulosic ethanol will ever get off the ground." -- Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

Business-y news I should write more about, but probably won't	David Roberts	15 Jan 2008	Gristmill
GE is going to double its investment in renewable energy from $3b to $6b; Toyota plans to offer plug-in hybrids by 2010; meanwhile, GM, which also promises a plug-in by 2010, just struck a deal with Coskata, a start-up which will be making cellulosic ethanol from waste products. [Token acknowledgement that cars are not the way of the future, Grist is car-obsessed and in the pocket of The Man, public transit is awesome, and something about the happy motoring delusional ...
Topics: business, cars, cellulosic ethanol, electric vehicles, energy, ethanol, hybrids (all these topics)

So Cellulose, Yet So Far Study touts environmental benefits of switchgrass-derived biofuel		08 Jan 2008	News
Posted at 4:11 PM on 08 Jan 2008 Fast-growing switchgrass makes for a super-duper biofuel, says new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The five-year study of 10 Midwest farms concluded that switchgrass-derived biofuel can produce more than five times the energy consumed in manufacturing it, and emits 94 percent less greenhouse-gas emissions than gasoline. "This ...
Topics: biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, news, scientific research (all these topics)

Notable quotable	David Roberts	15 Nov 2007	Gristmill
'It certainly appeared a year ago that we were going to have a national push on ethanol, and we wanted to have the vehicles ready. But we always knew that food-based ethanol would not be the answer. The shift to cellulosic ethanol has been slower than we were led to believe. If we don't end up with cellulosic ethanol quickly, we are going to hit the wall on ethanol.' -- William Clay Ford, Jr., chairman of Ford Motor Co.
Topics: biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, quotables (all these topics)

Assuming There Will Be a Future, Of Course New report makes suggestions for sustainable energy future		23 Oct 2007	News
Posted at 2:52 PM on 23 Oct 2007 Coal is the enemy of the human race, but don't take our word for it: 15 national science academies pooh-pooh the evil black rock in their new report "Lighting the Way: Toward a Sustainable Energy Future." The report also rah-rahs solar and wind power and energy efficiency, and is warily supportive of nuclear energy and cellulosic biofuels. sources:� Th ...
Topics: cellulosic ethanol, coal, energy, energy efficiency, news, nuclear power, solar voltaic power, wind power (all these topics)

The USDA goes all lukewarm on cellulosic ethanol In related news, the '07 corn harvest will break records	Tom Philpott	13 Sep 2007	Gristmill
For decades now, the USDA has been dumping cash into cellulosic ethanol research (most recently through a joint venture with the DOE). So the USDA's analysts should know something about the prospects for mass production of cellulosic ethanol, hailed by its boosters as a panacea that can wean us not only from oil, but also from corn as an ethanol feedstock. So what's the latest from USDA analysts on this miracle fuel? From a report released last week: Althou ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, Department of Agriculture, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

Cane: the cellulosic Godfather A new series pivots around ethanol	David Roberts	13 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Randomly, last night I caught the debut episode of the new CBS series Cane. It's about the Duque family, a Cuban-American clan in both the sugar and rum businesses in South Florida. At the outset of the show, the Duque's long-time rivals, the Samuels -- a drawling family of white Southerners -- offer to buy up their sugar fields, claiming that the sugar business is slow and the real action is on the rum side. "We'll do sugar; you do rum." Family patriarch ...
Topics: agriculture, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, TV (all these topics)

Because Encouraging Efficiency Is Too Hard Department of Energy creates cellulosic ethanol research centers		27 Jun 2007	Daily Grist
Because Encouraging Efficiency Is Too Hard Department of Energy creates cellulosic ethanol research centers Cellulosic ethanol continues inching toward its time in the sun: the U.S. Department of Energy announced plans yesterday for three bioenergy research centers to open by the fall of 2009. Hoping to market new technologies within five years, the centers will focus on identifying microbe ...
Topics: biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, news, scientific research (all these topics)

Is corn ethanol a climate solution? Depends on how it's made	Joseph Romm	30 May 2007	Gristmill
It depends on the fuel used to drive the conversion process -- according to a new study: In particular, greenhouse gas emission impacts can vary significantly -- from a 3% increase if coal is the process fuel to a 52% reduction if wood chips are used. These results come from the energy life-cycle wizards of Argonne Lab, who have published a new study, "Life-cycle energy and greenhouse gas emission impacts of different corn ethanol plant types," in t ...
Topics: biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, climate, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

Corn ethanol: it really does suck And cellulosic might too -- plus it's still a decade off	Tom Philpott	19 Apr 2007	Gristmill
Yes, this is another bitter polemic against ethanol, but I want to make one point up front, because I sometimes forget to: The only concrete alternative energy/climate policy that our political class can agree on -- a plan that unites Democrats and Republicans to commit some $5 billion per year and rising -- is a clear and obvious boondoggle: a cash sieve that has done and will do much more harm than good. This is our main public intervention into the energy markets ...
Topics: cellulosic ethanol, climate, climate change impacts, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

Cellulosic ethanol: the fuel of the future -- always Where is it written that there's an easy out to replace oil?	JMG	17 Apr 2007	Gristmill
Another day, another story about cellulosic ethanol pointing out that, like the Star Wars missile system, it's a technology capable of sucking up endless tax dollars without ever producing anything that delivers in the real world.
Topics: cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

That's, What, Two Days in Iraq? U.S. Department of Energy to grant up to $385 million for cellulosic ethanol		01 Mar 2007	Daily Grist
That's, What, Two Days in Iraq? U.S. Department of Energy to grant up to $385 million for cellulosic ethanol The U.S. plans to sink up to $385 million into cellulosic ethanol, doling out grants for six bio-refineries across the nation. The funds, spread over four years, will cover up to 40 percent of a $1.2 billion push expected to result in annual production of more than 120 million gallo ...
Topics: cellulosic ethanol, Department of Energy, energy, news, politics (all these topics)

What, Me Warring? President Bush visits North Carolina lab, burbles about alternative fuels		23 Feb 2007	Daily Grist
What, Me Warring? President Bush visits North Carolina lab, burbles about alternative fuels Tired of explaining why other countries are pulling troops out of Iraq, President Bush switchgrassed to a favorite topic yesterday: alternative energy. A photo op at a North Carolina research facility saw the Commander in Chief don a lab coat, squint thoughtfully at a jar o' science, and proclaim, "Fission accomplish ...
Topics: cellulosic ethanol, energy, news, politics (all these topics)

A Bridge to Somewhere? What we've learned from the biofuels series	Tom Philpott	15 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Future or folly? Photo: iStockphoto After spending much of the last several months thinking about the biofuels boom and its implications in preparation for this special series, we've come to a few conclusions. Like other energy sources, biofuels have significant environmental liabilities. Boosters' rhetoric about "renewable energy" aside, topsoil -- from which biofuel feedstocks spring -- is ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

Professor Cellulose Biofuel pioneer Lee Lynd points the way toward a 'carbohydrate economy'	Jennifer Weeks	12 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Biofuel pioneer Lee Lynd points the way toward a "carbohydrate economy" By Jennifer Weeks 12 Dec 2006 Well before cellulosic ethanol became the hot new fuel, Lee Lynd was immersed in it. Since 1987, the engineering professor has been leading a major academic study group on cellulosic ethanol from his perch at Dartmouth. Before that, he even wrote his undergraduate honors thesis on it. Lee Lynd. Photo: Joseph Mehling/Dartmouth More recently, Lynd has been putting his ...
Topics: biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, scientific research (all these topics)

It's Happening in Ottawa Grains become fuel at the world's first cellulosic ethanol demo plant	Sharon Boddy	12 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Our plant supplants your plant: a real-life cellulosic ethanol refinery. Photo: Iogen Sometimes it seems virtually anything can be made into fuel. As though, if we had the right technology, we could throw together old T-shirts, bumper stickers, and pine cones to make a magical elixir to run the millions of cars on North America's highways. That's not an entirely far-fetch ...
Topics: biofuels, Canada, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

Are We There Yet? Not quite, but cellulosic ethanol may be coming sooner than you think	Jennifer Weeks	11 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Even as organizations ranging from Consumers Union to the Cato Institute cast doubt on the environmental value of corn-based ethanol, facilities designed to make it are popping up by the dozen throughout the Midwest. Meanwhile, cellulosic ethanol -- which can be derived from just about any plant matter -- draws near-unanimous environmental raves. Trouble is, the technology requir ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, ethanol, politics, scientific research (all these topics)

What About the Land? A look at the impacts of biofuels production, in the U.S. and the world	Julia Olmstead	05 Dec 2006	Main Dish
Nothing but blue skies from now on? Photo: house.gov Great news! We can finally scratch "driving less" off our list of ways to curb global warming and reduce our dependence on foreign oil! Biofuels will soon not only replace much of our petroleum, but improve soil fertility and save the American farmer as well! Sound too good to be true? Well, yes. But you coul ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, deforestation, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

The Balancing Act How experts measure the energy balance of alternative fuels	Julia Olmstead	05 Dec 2006	Main Dish
For years, critics have claimed that corn-based ethanol is fundamentally a bust: that it takes more fossil fuel to produce than it displaces in the gas tank. It takes a lot of ugly to make this pretty biofuel. Photo: industrial-innov.lbl.gov This condition, known as a negative net energy balance, has haunted the biofuel throughout its long career as a darling of corn-belt politicians like ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, deforestation, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

The Big Three The numbers behind ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, and biodiesel in the U.S.	Maywa Montenegro	04 Dec 2006	Main Dish
America devours oil like no other country in the world. Representing 5 percent of the global population, the country consumes fully a quarter of the world's oil. Every year, to move ourselves and our goods around, we burn 140 billion gallons of gasoline and 40 billion gallons of diesel -- enough to propel the average U.S. car around the world 1.6 billion times. But rising price ...
Topics: ag policy, ag subsidies, agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

Will ADM surrender gracefully to cellulosic ethanol?	David Roberts	10 Jun 2006	Gristmill
Don't miss a great piece by Sasha Lilley about Archer Daniels Midland and ethanol: "The dirty truth about green fuel." The latter part covers the environmental sins of corn-based ethanol -- familiar to Gristmillians -- but the first part provides some crucial context. It's about ADM. Here's a taste: ADM has more than 25,000 employees, net sales last year of $35.9 billion, with $1 billion in profits, as well as a recent 29 percent profit increase in the ...
Topics: biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, energy, ethanol (all these topics)

Mikey Likes It Bush's pick to head the USDA is a big ethanol booster	Amanda Griscom Little	09 Dec 2004	Muckraker
At a White House ceremony last week announcing the nomination of Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns (R) to succeed Ann Veneman as agriculture secretary, President Bush called his pick "a strong proponent of alternative energy sources, such as ethanol and biodiesel," later adding that "in a new term, we'll continue policies that are pro-growth, pro-jobs, and pro-farmer." Johanns ( ...
Topics: agriculture, biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, Department of Agriculture, energy, ethanol, Muckraker, politics (all these topics)

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Stories About: cellulosic ethanol