Bio-fuels. As the world now awakens to the dire consequences of its continued reliance upon petroleum-based fuels, and in its mad rush to develop alternatives to such fuels, powerful consequences are being encountered in the development new biofuels to replace petroleum. With the development of the “first generation” biofuels, corn ethanol and biodiesel, powerful consequences are being encountered, from escalation in food prices throughout the world, to mass depletion of water supplies used in the production of such biofuels.
The next generation of biofuels now being sought after is “cellulosic ethanol” which is believe to be a solution to many of these problems caused by the first generation of corn ethanol biofuels. However, the realization of an economic pathway to “cellulosic ethanol” still eludes the scientific community and is said by many experts to still be five to ten years away from realization, a period of time which may ultimately be too late.
This Article explores an “interim generation” of biofuels which may have been overlooked, and that is a generation which hopefully learns from the mistakes of the first generation of biofuels and purports to solve many of the problems now faced by the current generation of biofuels, before it is too late!