BP has announced a 50-50 joint venture with Verenium to develop and commercialize Cellulosic Ethanol from non-food feedstocks.

The companies have committed $45 million in funding and assets to progress the development of one of the nation's first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities, located in Highlands County, Florida. 

Yes, it will take years to scale up cellulosic (and algae) Energy systems, but the pace of breakthroughs and production focused investments remains one of the most compelling stories emerging in the energy sector. 

The Real Transition:
Growing Energy by Closing the Carbon Loop
The law of conservation of energy states that energy may neither be created nor destroyed.  But the real question for those exploring the futures of energy is: Will our economy continue to be based on energy that is 'borrowed and wasted' or 'created and recycled'? 

We shifted from an Agricultural to Industrial society, by tapping 'stored energy' locked up in the chemical carbon-hydrogen bonds of coal, oil and natural gas.  And this system is shamefully inefficient at every level from electric power generation to the mechanical engines that power our transportation sector.

If the Industrial Age was based on a high value energy 'input', low value energy 'output' (waste), the 21st century could be shaped by our efforts to close the loop of chemical energy cycles using biology (chemistry, et al) to return to a high value energy product from that waste.

Looking at Biology is an Energy Tool

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen