FROM EERE - U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today announced plans to provide $786.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to accelerate advanced biofuels research and development and to provide additional funding for commercial-scale biorefinery demonstration projects.
"Developing the next generation of biofuels is key to our effort to end our dependence on foreign oil and address the climate crisis—while creating millions of new jobs that can't be outsourced," Secretary Chu said. "With American investment and ingenuity—and resources grown right here at home—we can lead the way toward a new green energy economy."
Read full with breakdown of funding options at EERE (DOE)
On a positive note, he made good on his dream
From my April post & Oil Drum: "Steven Chu’s Aprils Fools - Biofuels the 4th!"
According to Dave Cohen, Steven Chu sees no particular urgency to our current problems.
His way of dealing with potential shortfalls is described as follows:
“The answer is let efficiency take care of it, at least in the foreseeable future 5, 10 or 15 years from now. Chu’s reasoning is based on his miscalculation that we have between 10 and 40 years before oil & natural gas production, taken together, will peak and decline. Efficiency is supposed to double the time we have to find replacement fuels, so Chu has recast the problem to give himself the 20 to 80 years he requires to find a way to replace oil. (Biopact, October 8, 2007).“
The problem with Fourth Generation Biofuels is that they are way, way, way off in the future, if they can be done at all.
The plan is to somehow improve the whole process through bioengineering to do what nature does not do now. Is this a sensible way to approach a very real current fuel problem? Read more from the Drum
Click here for more posts on Mr. Chu (Who I am actually a huge fan)