One of the stark policy differences between John McCain and Barak Obama was their respective differences on ethanol. Obama favors ethanol subsidies, McCain opposes them. McCain essentially gave up on Iowa, the largest corn producing state in the nation with this position. If the consideration is solely corn based ethanol, there is justification for McCain's position. Corn based ethanol provides very little net energy gain, if any, over the underlying fossil fuels that go into the process of making it and has had the unintended effect of raising food prices. However, the fallacy of McCain's policy is that it fails to consider the next generation of ethanol technology called cellulosic ethanol. President Obama understands that cellulosic ethanol is the end game due to clear advantages over corn based ethanol:
1. Use of non-food crops
2. Use of relatively low-cost feedstock
3. Use of marginal lands for feedstock growth
4. A very beneficial net energy balance
5. Use of less fertilizer and water.
With the victory of Barak Obama, Verenium is now firmly seated in driver's seat of this emerging revolution in biofuels. Verenium's landmark agreement with British Petroleum has positioned VRNM to be one of the top performers over the next 12-24 months in the opinion of the SI Blog.
To learn more about Verenium and its potential, visit these SI blog entries:
Focus on Verenium and Cellulosic Ethanol
Forbes Article Highlights Accelerating Race for Cellulosic Ethanol Production
Interview With Verenium's John Howe
Do your own due diligence.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Biofuels are just not going to be funded in this financial climate. This is survival time and VRNM will runn out of cash. BTW I too lost pounds with res.
Larry,
Thanks for the comment. Yes indeed, this is a terrible financial climate. However, Obama has made ethanol and energy independence a top priority. Sure, it's only a campaign pledge but he did put a goal of 10 years to energy independence. We know corn ethanol is doing little, if nothing for us towards this goal. Cellulosic is the only real alternative for ethanol.
Post a Comment