Cellulosic Boom
The energy bill passed by Congress this week requires nearly two-thirds of the new 36-billion-gallon renewable fuels standard (RFS) to be met with advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol. And the bill puts federal money where its mouth is by investing in cutting-edge research on switchgrass, woodchips and other sources of biomass.
That will help spur a boom in advanced biofuels development that has already been triggered by a huge influx of private investment capital. In fact, nearly $2.5 billion in U.S. venture capital flowed into energy technology startup companies in 2006, with the lion’s share of that — $813 million — going to the transportation and fuels arena.
Source:
Clean Edge, “Clean Energy Trends 2007,” March 2007.
