AutoblogGreen

AutoblogGreen readers know about cellulosic ethanol (if you're new to the site, click here for previous posts on the subject) What you might not know is that Congress, a big friend of big ethanol, has been stalling cellulosic ethanol production thanks to a single sentence inserted into the Energy Policy Act of 2005 at the behest of an methane-fueled ethanol entrepreneur. This offending sentence reads: "The term [cellulosic ethanol] also includes any ethanol produced in facilities where animal wastes or other waste materials are digested or otherwise used to displace 90 percent or more of the fossil fuel normally used in the production of ethanol." What this means is that even corn ethanol can count as cellulose ethanol under certain conditions. This tasty tidbit of information comes to us in from David Morris, who recently wrote "The Strange Legislative History of the Cellulosic Ethanol Mandate" for Renewable Energy Access.

Morris is educated on the subject. He is vice president of the Minneapolis-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance and was an advisor or consultant to the energy agencies of Presidents Ford, Carter, Clinton and George W. Bush. He also wrote the books "The Carbohydrate Economy" and "Driving Our Way to Energy Independence." Morris is calling on the new Congress to change the Act back to the way it was before the late-night change to make the words "cellulosic ethanol" mean what they say again. He has a very convincing argument, and I encourage you to read the whole thing.

[Source: Renewable Energy Access]