In addition to presenting numerous environmental concerns, corn-based ethanol also poses serious risk to human health, which makes cellulosic ethanol from non-food feedstocks a more promising alternative – as long as researchers and developers get more funding for it.

Cellulosic ethanol is a type of biofuel that comes from lignocellulose, a structural material that comprises much of the mass of plants, and is often produced from switchgrass, poplar trees or woodchips. According to new studies published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the environmental and health costs associated with cellulosic ethanol are less than half those of gasoline and of corn ethanol. The analysis studied the impacts of cellulosic and corn-based biofuels and of gasoline, and accounted for possible impacts ranging from the energy used in refineries, to the pollutants pumped out of car tailpipes, and the consequences of cultivating corn or other plants used to make biofuel.

From all accounts, cellulosic ethanol looks to be the winner of the popular alternative energy sources. Switching to cellulosic ethanol from gasoline could significantly reduce the amount of pollutants emitted during fuel production and consumption because ethanol burns more cleanly than gasoline, and crops cultivated to produce biofuel also absorb carbon dioxide – which reduces greenhouse gases. Plus, cellulosic ethanol requires less fertilizer than corn ethanol to produce, and there's no energy required for heat at biorefineries. In fact, the biorefineries that produce cellulosic ethanol can actually generate excess electricity by burning lignin.

The decrease in pollutants, and fine particulate matter in particular, by using cellulosic ethanol as opposed to gasoline or corn-based ethanol, could lead to reduced symptoms of aggravated lung diseases that have been linked to heart attacks, asthma and premature death.

The only problem with it is that funding isn’t always easy to secure. The recently passed $787 billion economic stimulus bill was slated to include $50 million for a USDA program that would have helped farmers get grants and loans to produce energy on farms, and another $200 million to help existing ethanol plants retrofit to add in cellulosic ethanol production. However, the House and Senate cut it at the last minute. Instead, the Department of Energy got $1.6 billion for research on energy, including biofuels, but not specifically targeted at cellulosic ethanol.

"The Department of Energy really has no idea how to do this," said Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) of developing cellulosic ethanol.

So now it may be up to individual corporations to lead the way in the development of the next generation of ethanol. BP, world-wide fuel suppliers, and Verenium Corporation, a biotech company focused on developing cellulosic ethanol, announced Wednesday that it would form a 50-50 joint venture to develop and commercialize cellulosic ethanol from non-food feedstocks. Together, they have agreed to commit $45 million in funding and assets to the joint venture company that will become one of the nation’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities, to be located in Highlands County, Florida. The proposed ethanol facility is expected to break ground in 2010, with production beginning in 2012 – if the joint venture company can find the nearly $300 million needed to construct the 36 million gallon-per-year facility.

This is another situation in which businesses and corporations must lead the way to a renewable energy-driven future if the government is unable or unwilling to provide incentive and funding for such endeavors. If BP is successful in this venture, perhaps someday soon the fuel we pump into our cars from one of its many gas stations will be based on cellulosic ethanol.