From the Guardian comes word of research into new sources of biofuels:
Britain could meet much of its future energy demand by turning waste products such as wood, plastic bags and even human sewage into transport fuels, scientists said yesterday.
So-called “second generation” biofuels could also be produced from agricultural wastes such as straw, as well as farmed energy crops such as willow, and would be free of the controversies that surround current green fuels. A network of waste converters across the country could produce a third of the diesel required by UK motorists while slashing greenhouse gas emissions, the scientists said.
Building the plants that would make such biofuel products doesn’t come cheap. But let’s face it, the supply of raw materials is in abundant. And unlike ethanol, it wouldn’t require an enormous federal subsidy to produce (yet…somewhere the bureaucratic wheels are turning to develop poop price supports…or will be, if the idea catches on here).
If ever there was an opportunity for Virginia to take the lead in alternative energy production, here it is.
