More support for cellulosic biomass harvesting

Project LIBERTY landed an additional $6.85 million dollars from the U.S. Department of Energy for the development of a feedstock collection infrastructure. The award will assist POET and its many partners as they design a system to harvest, store and transport the 400,000 acres of corn cobs needed annually to supply the first-of-its-kind commercial cellulosic ethanol production facility.

I think government support for this effort is critical for two reasons. First, no one has ever done this before on this scale, but lots of people will benefit. Second, while lots of people are working on the science of cellulosic ethanol, it's hard to find many that are focused on the logistics of the biomass feedstock.

If you're looking for more information, see the press release or the AP story. You can also watch this video from harvest two years ago. The equipment has made big strides since then, but you can still get a good idea of what's involved: