Thus, the sole remaining major precursor to success is economic utility, which is a function of the cost of second generation biofuel production compared with the production costs of alternatives.

Gasoline is the main competitor of concern, given the stated objectives of both American and European governments of using second generation biofuels to displace gasoline consumption in the coming years and decades. At current crude oil prices, there is a significant gap in the cost of producing a liter of gas vs. The cost of producing a liter of second generation ethanol. For this gap to close, crude oil prices would need to nearly double from their current rate of $82 per barrel. These prices would eclipse substantially the historic highs set in 2008.

Prescriptions

The technological capacity for industrial scale production exists today, but relative to the production of competing products, the costs are high. One of the reasons...
[ View Full Essay]