According to EcoGeek, Georgia becomes the first state in US to allow a cellulosic ethanol plant in USA
The state of Georgia just granted Range Fuels a permit to create the first cellulosic ethanol plant in America.
Why is it important?
Cellulosic ethanol is ethanol that comes from cellulose instead of sugar. This is good because most plants don’t have a lot of sugar, but all plants have lots of cellulose. So, instead of using food crops, (like corn and sugar cane which have lots of sugar) to create fuel, we can use any crops, like mown grass clippings, fallen tree limbs or corn stalks (instead of corn ears) to create ethanol.
Is it efficient?
Cellulosic ethanol can contain up to 16 times more energy than is required to create it! If that doesn’t sound ridiculously impressive, consider that gasoline contains only 5 times more energy than was required to create it and corn ethanol is totally lame, containing only 1.3 times the energy required to create it.
So whatz the problem?
Well, it is expensive to create cellulosic ethanol at this point of time. With further advance in research, scientists and entrepreneurs are hoping to bring down the production costs comparable to gasoline. Read the post for more info.
July 16th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Was it the state of Georgia giving them permission, alone, or are they also getting federal funding? From what I understand the boys who run the Corn industry have a tight grip on congress for the rights to ethanol grants. I would be surprised and extremely happy to hear Congress finally give a chance to other means of production.