New study says ethanol from cellulose not likely affordable - ever!
That means no ethanol from switchgrass, wood chips, and "crop waste"
is ever likely to be affordable!

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/3/3/125745/7746

Cellulosic ethanol: not likely to be viable

New study from mainstream ag economists at Iowa State

Posted by Tom Philpott at 3:45 PM on 03 Mar 2008

Cellulosic ethanol represents a beacon on the horizon -- the
justification cited by wiseguys like Vinod Khosla for dropping
billions per year in public cash to prop up corn ethanol production.

Corn ethanol, you see, is a bridge to a bright cellulosic future.

But the beacon is looking more and more like a mirage, a ghost, a
specter; the bridge we're hurtling down may well lead to a chasm. A
quiet consensus seems to be forming among people you'd think would
know the facts on the ground: cellulosic ethanol, touted as five years
away from viability for decades now, may never be viable.