Which means that these volumes, however small, are enough to be absolutely necessary to eusure the balance of the market. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Research is being undertaken, mostly at the university level, to produce ethanol or biodiesel from cellulosic feed stocks such as switchgrass, which is very fast growing and will grow well on land not suitable for crop agriculture. Such land is abundant in Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma and other areas, The primary requirement being 30" or more of rain per year.
The holy grail of this research may well be identification or creation of biological processes for rapidly digesting cellulose. Termites have microbes in their gut that perform this function. Good news/bad news: this approach may produce affordable fuels/it may involve genetically altered organisms or synthetic organisims. It may also be a process that can be retrofitted to at least biodiesel refineries and it may be available relatively soon--3-5 years.
Sorry for the lack of references. I am starting to keep track of significant items that can be used in ET comments and posts, but am not there yet. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
