July 2006 Digest

Despite being the world's leading consumer of ethanol (95% of which is imported), California cultivates very little corn. The corn that will be sugar fermented into ethanol at new in-state biorefineries will be trucked in from surrounding states. So the growth of ethanol production in California is dependent on localized deployment of biorefineries whose cellulosic feedstocks include not only agricultural and forestry waste but also unrecycled urban waste.

This sets the stage for the waste stream turf war between the entrenched recycling industry, landfill operators, and the broad-based conversion technology coalition headed by the L.A.-based BioEnergy Producers Association.

Two conferences held in Los Angeles recently provided an inside look at this turf war and are reviewed in a separate section of this month's digest.

Here is a Digest of articles posted on the BioConversion Blog during the month of July, 2006:


REVIEW: Two L.A. Alternative Energy Conferences------------
• The Future of Alternative Fuels in California
• Southern California Emerging Waste Technologies Forum
  
General Topics--------------
• "Super Ethanol" Attracting Investment Attention
• U.S. INFO: Seeking Money to Accelerate Energy Innovation
• U.S. D.O.E.: Roadmap for Developing Cleaner Fuels
• Research Tool for Assessing International Energy Agreements
• Spinning “Gold” Out of Trash
• Could Ethanol Boom Hurt the World's Poor?
• Ethanol Net Energy Balance - A Response to Dr. Pimental
• MIT: Redesigning Life to Make Ethanol

Vehicles-------------------
• Ford Should Build Flexible Fueled, Plug in Hybrids

Around the Nation--------------
• CALIFORNIA: Governor Announces BioEnergy Action Plan
• CALIFORNIA: The Future of Alternative Fuels in CA?

Around the World--------------
• BRAZIL: Impact of the Ethanol Gold Rush
• INDONESIA: $22 Billion on Biofuels by 2010
• ASIA: Linking Asian Climate Change to Energy Future
• EUROPE: Report on Bioenergy and the Environment


technorati digest, biofuels, conversion, bioenergy, cellulosic, feedstock, ethanol