Biotechnology Breakthroughs Can Help Drivers Reduce Fuel Costs Biotech enzymes can make ethanol cost-competitive with gasoline

The U.S. Department of Energy last week reported that gasoline prices had topped $3.00 per gallon in some regions of the United States. Reacting to the announcement, Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) President & CEO Jim Greenwood said, “American drivers today face record-high fuel prices as worldwide demand for oil continues to outpace petroleum production and refining capacity. Even higher gasoline prices are possible this year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. If America is to deal with the problem of high fuel prices, we must develop and scale up a less expensive domestic fuel supply, and ethanol is the best, most readily available solution. Most people are not aware that biotechnology now offers ways to dramatically increase ethanol production and bring down fuel prices.” Ethanol from corn currently contributes over 4 billion gallons to the fuel supply every year. And under the renewable fuel standard mandated in last year’s energy bill, ethanol production will double in the next few years. “Agricultural biotech is helping farmers increase corn yields so we can make more ethanol. Added to that, industrial biotech companies are developing new enzymes that will make current ethanol processes more efficient. But we need to produce much more than 8 billion gallons of ethanol if we are to lower fuel prices, end our addiction to oil, and enhance our energy security. We could produce more than 70 billion gallons of ethanol or more each year if we use the entire corn plant as well as other crop residues and dedicated energy crops,” Greenwood continued. "Source":[ http://www.bio.org/news/newsitem.asp?id=2006_0509_01]

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