By Simon Bird
Listening to the headlines swirling around the energy world it’s easy to forget that corn grain ethanol constitutes our nation’s largest supply of biofuel. Almost all of the biofuel news is dominated with discussions of the newest breakthroughs in enzymes for cellulosic biofuels and advances in yield and recovery of oils from algae. But, by and large, all of these new technologies are still in the developmental stage, and many have been struggling to find the capital needed to ramp up their production from the lab to full commercial-scale facilities. In the mean time, corn grain ethanol has been left out of the equation, battered by dramatic shifts in the price for gasoline, corn and energy, and government policy for transportation fuels.
Why is this important? Is this just a sign that corn grain ethanol is old news? Though the production of corn grain ethanol does have greater potential for environmental degradation then the waste-product feedstocks used in advanced biofuels, there is much room for improvement in the current processes and sufficient low-hanging fruit that, with the right incentives, the industry could continue to show dramatic improvement. Additionally, it is widely estimated that the future of transportation fuels will be a dynamic mixture of alternative fuel sources, not one dominated by a single fuel as gasoline has for more than a century. Corn grain ethanol, as the only widely available alternative fuel source, provides a vital bridge to this future. Therefore, it is essential that all value-chain members of corn grain ethanol have methods that provide clear and effective incentives to improve their practices, and reduce their CO2e emissions. However, as environmental accountants, we are consistently frustrated by the lack of tangible current opportunities for corn grain ethanol producers. Read the rest of this entry »
