Do biohybrids justify ethanol?

More ethanol in the states?

Yesterday, GM CEO Rick Wagoner called on the government to advance ethanol in the US because the "stakes" in the oil "poker game are getting higher and higher." Coincidentally (yeah right), GM announced its new lithium hybrid powertrain via the Saab BioHybrid, a new lithium hybrid optimized for biofuel.

Now, if all the biofuel was coming from something like the Coskata Project in which GM is investing - rather than corn - I could buy Wagoner's argument. However, earlier this week, the EIA already announced that cellulosic biofuels are significantly failing to meet the production standards set by the Renewable Fuel Standard. That's means even more corn, a lot more corn. That's just not acceptable.

Get the corn out, Mr. Wagoner. Get the corn out.

Coskata: GM's ethanol future

Vinod Khosla partners with Rick Wagoner and GM

GM hasn't announced any new hybrid vehicles today, although Rick Wagoner announced today that there would in the near future be a press release on the Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid.

Nonetheless, GM did make another very interesting announcement. GM is partnering with Vinod Khosla'sCoskata, a company that believes it is ready to take ethanol to the next level, cellulosic ethanol and leave grain based ethanol in the past.