Alcar Chemicals Group, Inc. (fka ALCX)

[MrBigz]

I just finished watching a show (The Agenda) on TVO titled Ethanol and Biofuels.
It was an hour long show and I only caught the last 20 minutes but I think you can watch it on the Internet:

http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/

Basically a round table discussion with members from USA and Canada (gov't, farmers, and college profs).

The main thing that stuck with me was that using corn and wheat are not economically feasible - corn cheaper than wheat but neither profitable. Initially temporary subsides were put in place, way back when oil was $40 a barrel. Now that oil is $65, they still need the subsidies.

estimates that subsidies to biofuels are between $5.5 billion and $7.3 billion a year in the U.S.

They stated that cellulose and switchgrass are the only current viable options (Remember I missed 2/3's of the TV show, so...), but noted that it takes 29,000 gallons of water to rinse the husk off the switchgrass and it only grows in hot, humid places like the rain forest (I'm hoping it can also be grown in SEA but haven't researched it yet).

US Gov't Biomass Program:

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/


They never mentioned sugarcane, which I'd imagine is the best option.


anyways, this post is neither pro nor con, just trying to be informative

MBL

Years down the road, you drive up to a fuel pump and notice that the labels have changed. Instead of "regular," "midgrade," and "premium," the pumps offer "poplar," "willow," and "switchgrass."