The 10 Top Unanswered Biofuels Questions for 2011

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...Your calls and emails are always the highlight of our days. Most questions can be answered johnny-on-the-spot. Some are still out there and well worth arguing over. Here are the Top 10 that are still unanswered.

...1. Subsidies and tax credits. What’s the US Congress going to do? One thing is for sure, we’re more sure about winning lottery numbers than we are about the chances of the US government developing and sticking to an energy policy for longer than it takes to change an ink cartridge for the next round of bill-printing.

...The cellulosic biofuels tax credit. This $1.01 per gallon credit is in effect through 2013. Taking positive steps to eliminate a tax credit is a tax-raising measure, and potentially runs afoul of the Grover Norquist pledge taken by the majority of the Republican caucus to not support any tax increasing measures.

...2. The US Presidential field. Who’s going to win? Good question. But, interestingly, the two most pro-biofuels candidates in the Republican field have been Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

...3. Cellulosic ethanol…deployment or debacle? ...How much RFS-qualifying cellulosic biofuel will produced in 2012? Less than 10 million gallons. About 490 million gallons short of the original targets set up in 2007.

How much RFS-qualifying advanced biofuel will be produced in 2012? More than 10 billion gallons. About 8 billion over the original 2007 targets.

...4. Hot geographies. ...The soybean oil industry in Argentina remains white hot. Algae in Australia. Indonesia has continued its relentless march towards domination of the palm oil sector, like it or not.

Couple of others. Chile and Korea for seaweed. India could get super-hot again for sugarcane – so could Angola and Pakistan, if they settled their politics.