Thursday, February 21, 2008

Verenium expects cellulosic to garner CO2 credits (VRNM)

Now, if we can figure out a way to get the Chinese to buy carbon credits from us...nah, they'd never go for it.

But what a great way to recycle their foreign reserves. Then we use the money to buy their solar panels, then they use that money to buy our Starbucks venti mocha cappuccino, then Starbucks uses the money to replace the recalled Fusion Coffee Mugs, then the Chinese hire American attorneys...

Enough of the splendors of actual markets, here's the ethanol/carbon credit story from Reuters:

U.S. biofuels company Verenium Corp (VRNM.O: Quote) expects producers of a new ethanol made from non-food sources will earn carbon credits that will provide the industry with an additional revenue stream, an executive said on Wednesday.

Biofuel companies are racing to make commercial amounts of ethanol from cellulose -- the tough woody bits of feedstocks like switchgrass and crop waste -- as oil hits record highs and concerns about global warming rise.

Cellulosic ethanol currently costs about twice as much as alternative fuel made from corn, now the main source of U.S. ethanol. But backers say costs will fall as the industry matures and that cellulosic's potential to earn carbon credits gives the industry an advantage over fuel made from corn....MORE

I don't remember if the $1.01 cellulosic production credit made it from H.R. 6 to the final Energy Bill. If not, cellulosic would get the $.51 blender credit. Either way:
The river laughs, Vinod smiles.
(that's a paraphrase of the Japanophile dentist in M*A*S*H; I was probably thinking of Kyoto or something)