Wisconsin Technology Network | July 8, 2008 | Tom Still

At last month’s international biotech convention in San Diego, one of the seminars focused on the work underway at three U.S. Department of Energy laboratories – including the lab in Madison that will be funded with $135 million over five years. With good reason, a description of the seminar included cautionary phrases such as “overcoming cost barriers” and “formidable scientific and technological challenges.”

Replacing or even supplementing fossil fuels such as petroleum won’t happen overnight. It will take years of research, testing and perhaps constructing new infrastructure before oil becomes a less-than-dominant part of our energy portfolio.

“The first kerosene distilled from oil was used in 1853 to replace whale oil to light American homes,” said Brent Erickson, who leads the Industrial and Environmental section of BIO, which hosted the San Diego convention. “It took 125 years for the oil industry to develop oil refineries to what they are today – highly complex and technologically advanced enough to take a barrel of oil and turn it into myriad products.

“We need to think about biofuels in the same light: Ethanol from corn is just the beginning. The second- and third-generation biofuels are coming,” Erickson said.

Read the rest of the article here.

Watch Tom Still’s interview on WISN-TV’s “Upfront” show here.