On Friday, Governor Rick Perry of Texas asked the Bush administration for a partial waiver on the federal requirements for renewable fuels, probably echoing the thoughts of many.  Has the push for biofuel production, with its attendant havoc on food prices worldwide, gone too far?  Corn-based ethanol production increases the price for corn, which is used for everything from livestock feed to sweeteners to cooking oil, and that increases the price of food for consumers across the board.

Currently, about 7-8 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol is being produced in the United States, representing approximately 1/4 of the total U.S. corn crop.  The 2007 mandate calls for twice as much as is currently being produced, meaning, yes, that the nation is only halfway to its mandated corn ethanol production goal.

The federal mandate for renewable fuels includes a mandate for corn ethanol and separately for cellulosic ethanol.  Cellulosic ethanol is ethanol that is made from any of a variety of plants, including algae, or plant-based waste materials like wood chips.  Plants like switchgrass grown on marginal lands don’t consume prime agricultural lands and don’t drive up food prices.  They can be converted to ethanol in cellulosic ethanol facilities like the one breaking ground in Madison, Pennsylvania.

Coskata broke ground today in Madison, Pennsylvania on a $25 million dollar plant that will produce 40,000 gallons of ethanol per year for $1 per gallon.  The biotechnology behind the company does not rely on corn.  Corn-based biofuel production is being blamed for the current run up in food prices and subsidies for its production for the global food riots now ongoing.  Coskata relies on cellulosic ethanol production, meaning that they are able to convert a wide variety of materials like agricultural waste, wood chips and tires into ethanol.  Coskata claims that cellulosic ethanol production yields an 84% reduction in greenhouse gas emission relative to either corn-based ethanol or gasoline.  The company is hoping to put a larger production facility online over the next several years.