Biodiesel and Ethanol Investing

Des Moines Register reports that in order for cellulosic ethanol (derived from grasses and other cellulosic feedstocks) to be competitive, government help and great technological advances will be necessary. These findings, not yet peer-reviewed, come from a study by General Motors and Sandia National Laboratories. To be feasible, oil prices would need to be higher and cellulosic crops would need to be grown on now idled or pasture lands.

In other news, farmers will see a 20 percent drop in income if the U. S. D. A. is correct in its predictions. Corn and soy are among the hard-hit commodities. While corn, the common ethanol feedstock, is expected to see much lower demand, several environmental groups are pushing the Obama administration to tighten emissions standards on ethanol and to phase out the current ethanol tax credits, replacing this with new environmentally-oriented tax credits.