The Industry Standard - Electric cars vs. biofuels: The presidential energy debate heats up - Comments

Given that Lithium-Ion

Jim Adcock — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:36:12 -0400

Given that Lithium-Ion battery leader A123 has already secured $250 Million in funding, the $300 Million that McCain is proposing simply underscores how out of touch he is with the reality of both the need and the opportunity of advanced battery technology and electric cars to help rid ourselves of our oil addiction and the resulting rapid destruction of our planet. In turn Obama's support of advanced biofuels demonstrates his lack of undertanding that the world cannot produce enough biomass to fuel today's supersize-me pickup trucks and SUVs in any case. We need 100% electric vehicles powered by wind and solar. An important stepping stone to getting there near-term is plug-in hybrids such as the Chevy Volt. However, in new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks published April 22 2008 by the Bush Administration, they have designated new stringency rules for cars and trucks based on the assumption that gasoline prices are going to be $2.26 a gallon!? Don't know about you, but I'm paying $4.50 a gallon already!

SunOpta BioProcess is far

William Dittl — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:18:15 -0400

SunOpta BioProcess is far ahead of the companies you list. Thermochemical processing needs some major cost reductions before it can compete with biochemical fermentation and other fuels. Even companies like Coskata who plan on using garbage as a feedstock are not truly "cellulosic." The bottom line is that the most bang for your buck comes from the pretreatment of biomass. Only from there can enzymatic hydrolysis reduce costs even further. SunOpta BioProcess has been designing and buidling plants arround the world for over 30 years. They built the first modern cellulosic butanol plant in France and have far, far more experience than the companies you list. SunOpta BioProcess even designed the premier DOE-funded pilot plant in York, Nebraska. Cellulosic ethanol, however, will become a significant share of the energy market because that is what creates the economies of scale for the emerging bioeconomy and offers real substitutes for petroleum-based products through the the biobased system know as the Sugar Platform Process. SunOpta BioProcess has the only industrially proven, continuous pretreatment platform that comes with written process guarantees. That's probably why BlackRock with $1.3+ trillion under asset management bought about 10% of the division in June of 2007.

-William James Dittl (GATO Group founder and BOD member)
www.gatogroup.org

Electric cars vs. biofuels: The presidential energy debate heats up

Venture Beat — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:43:16 -0400

Drawing a sharp contrast with his Democratic rival, John McCain today assailed government subsidies for ethanol production and unveiled a set of proposals aimed at encouraging the development and mass adoption of electric vehicle technologies.

McCain would provide a $5,000 tax credit to consumers who buy zero-emissions vehicles and proportionately smaller tax credits for low-emissions vehicles, like hybrids. In addition, he said he would award a $300 million bounty for a car battery that can “leapfrog” existing technologies.

Turning to biofuel production, he said the federal government should eliminate subsidies for domestic corn-based ethanol and the tariffs placed on Brazilian sugarcane-based ethanol to level the playing field. Obama, who has surrounded himself with advisers with ties to the ethanol industry, supports the continuation of government subsidies and tariffs, arguing that both are necessary to help the U.S. become energy independent.

According to energy experts, sugarcane is a much more efficient source of ethanol. Not only does it create more than 8 units of energy for every unit used to produce it — corn ethanol, by contrast, creates less than 2 units for 1 unit of production — it is also grown in tropical countries where land prices are much cheaper. Like corn ethanol, however, it has also received its fair share of criticism for contributing to deforestation in the Amazon.

Obama is also a strong advocate of second generation biofuels, like cellulosic ethanol, and wants to invest $150 billion in clean energy R&D to develop advanced biofuels and other low-emissions technologies — including, presumably, electric cars. McCain’s energy plan is not nearly as ambitious in its scope and, unlike Obama’s, would not provide tax incentives for renewable energy.

While they may be more desirable than hybrids, electric cars are still much too expensive for most consumers and will likely remain so for a few years (we all wish we could afford Teslas). Also, the fact that most electric cars have a shorter range and low top speed could detract from their appeal. For now, plug-in hybrids seem like the more promising option, with major automakers like GM and Toyota set to roll out their own models within the next 2 years and firms like V2Green, Epyon and Delphi developing technologies to improve their performance.

And though corn ethanol is on its way to becoming universally loathed, in large part due to accusations that it raises food prices, the ethanol industry will continue to expand thanks to the raft of subsidies enacted by the 2008 farm bill and rising demand for flex-fuel vehicles.

Cellulosic ethanol and other second generation biofuels, which are being developed by a rapidly growing field of well-capitalized start-ups (Coskata, Range Fuels and Mascoma, to name a few), probably won’t become major players until a few years from now and, even then, likely won’t account for a significant share of the energy market.