New sources near for biofuels
A scientist who is working to increase the flow of environmentally friendly biofuels to power cars and trucks struck an optimistic note Thursday, saying that processes using hardy, environmentally friendly plants like switchgrass are nearly commercially viable. Chris Somerville, director of the Energy Biosciences Institute, said global biofuels are already mainstream, with ethanol from corn totaling 13 to 14 billion gallons annually in the United States, or about 10 percent of gasoline use. In Brazil, it makes up 40 percent of liquid transportation fuel and powers 15 percent of the nation’s electricity. Current technology is robust enough, Somerville said, that ethanol would be a ready alternative if for some reason people needed to stop using oil immediately. Somerville spoke at the Harvard Science Center on the topic “The Development of Liquid Fuels from Lignocellulose,” which was part of the Harvard University Center for the Environment’s Future of Energy lecture series. Center Director...