WASHINGTON, April 25 /PRNewswire/ -- In remarks on energy and gasoline
supplies delivered this morning, President George W. Bush expressed renewed
commitment to furthering technology research and commercialization to
convert cellulose from energy crops and crop residues -- such as wood
chips, corn stalks, and switch grass -- to ethanol. The Biotechnology
Industry Organization (BIO) applauds the President's commitment and
supports his request for $150 million in the 2007 budget for research in
advanced forms of ethanol from cellulose.
"With industrial biotechnology processes that use enzymes to convert
crops and crop residues to fermentable sugars, the United States could
produce over 70 billion gallons of ethanol a year from cellulose-containing
crop residues, such as corn stover and stalks, sugar cane bagasse, wheat
straw and rice straw," said Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of BIO. "These
biofuels can be cheaper than gasoline and diesel, saving us about $20
billion per year on fuel costs by 2050.
"As the President pointed out this morning, converting crop residues to
transportation fuel has the added benefit of producing billions of dollars
in extra income for farmers and rural economies. Ethanol from cellulose is
also environmentally friendly, reducing net carbon dioxide emissions. The
President's biofuels initiative can help bring ethanol from cellulose to
filling stations throughout the country within a few short years, if we
start now to build the biorefineries needed to produce large volumes of
this domestically grown fuel," Greenwood continued.
For more information, visit the BIO web site at
http://www.bio.org/ind/biofuel/.
BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic
institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across
the United States and 31 other nations. BIO members are involved in the
research and development of healthcare, agricultural, industrial and
environmental biotechnology products.
SOURCE Biotechnology Industry Organization
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Related links:
http://www.bio.org
CONTACT:
Paul Winters of Biotechnology Industry
Organization, +1-202-962-9237
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