Really Encouraging News on Biofuels.

Thanks to the Instapundit for linking to this article from Popular Mechanics:

DETROIT — General Motors announced a partnership today with bio-fuel developer Coskata that it hopes will result in the production of cost-effective E85 by 2011.

GM chief Rick Wagoner announced the partnership, saying that GM had taken an undisclosed equity stake in Coskata: “We are very excited about what this breakthrough will mean to the viability of biofuels and, more importantly, to our ability to reduce dependence on petroleum.”

Coskata’s process addresses many of the issues associated with grain-based ethanol production, including environmental, transportation and land use concerns (i.e., it takes a lot of energy input to get only a little output).

Using patented microorganisms and transformative bioreactor designs, Coskata ethanol is produced via a unique three-step conversion process that turns virtually any carbon-based feedstock—including biomass, municipal solid waste, and a variety of agricultural waste—into ethanol, making production a possibility in almost any geography. The technology is ethanol-specific and enzyme independent, requiring no additional chemicals or pre-treatments.

Simply put, the Coskata process can produce ethanol almost anywhere in the world, using practically any renewable source, including feedstock, garbage, old tires and plant waste. And it can do so for less than a dollar per gallon.

This is a big deal. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil and reducing the financial bonanza the foreign oil producers are reaping from that oil would go a long way to solving our balance of payments problems and reducing the funding of Islamic terrorism by by Middle Eastern governments. Ethanol produced from corn is an economically marginal idea. But using bio waste is to produce the ethanol would have very favorable economics. i will be keeping my fingers crossed this works out.