ABSTRACT
With shortages of fossil energy, especially oil and natural gas, the United States moved to convert corn grain into ethanol with the goal to make the nation oil-independent. Using more than 34% of all U.S. corn from 24 million acres in 2008 provided the nation with less than 1.7% of its oil consumption. A real tragedy! Because the corn ethanol project has become a disaster, interest in developing cellulosic ethanol is growing. Wood, grasses, and crop residues have also been proposed as ethanol fuels (Pimentel and Pimentel, 2008a). It may appear beneficial to use renewable plant materials for biofuels, but the use of crop residues and other biomasses to produce biofuels raises many concerns about major environmental problems (Pimentel, 2006).
