This excellent series three part series written by David Rotman and published in the MIT Technology Review is well worth reading if you are at all interested in biofuels. It is very US and ethanol focussed but appears to be a well balanced summary of what I’ve been reading lately.
Biodiesel doesn’t get a mention for some reason but synthetic fuels do. The series is written with an academic flavour but there are interesting snippets from scientists, entrepreneurs and a few choice words from Vinod Khosla about electric cars being toys because they will be too expensive for widespread adoption in India and China.
Source: The Big Biofuels Blog
Filed under: Agriculture, Biofuel, Ethanol, Greenhouse gas, Synthetic diesel, Synthetic jet fuel, Technology | Tagged: David Rotman, MIT, Vinod Khosla
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
I think we still need biofuels but at the same time must also adapt the use of electric
A lot of the attention has been focussed on cars. I think liquid fuels will be around for a long time in farming and long haul transport. What form those liquid fuels take will depend on how fast technology improves. If it is slow then they’ll be oil based or natural gas. If it is fast then maybe biofuels as we know them today or synthetics from biomass.