Don’t waste wood waste

This article in Pallet Enterprise (America’s leading - and perhaps sole - pallet and sawmill magazine for over 25 years) is a pretty good synopsis of the recent surge in cellulosic ethanol research. One sticking point we found, purely in the interest of playing devil’s advocate, is that using wood waste as a primary ingredient would piss off environmental groups to no end; they’re already steamed about rising corn prices, so one can imagine how they’d react to any idea that legitimizes cutting down trees. Thankfully, wood waste has become such a commodity through mulching and pellet fuel operations that “cellulosic ethanol producers are planning to use dedicated timber and switchgrass feedstocks” instead. That might soften the blow a little while we look for a more agreeable solution. And keep in mind that we still haven’t fully exploited our most prolific, otherwise-useless biological waste product; B-list celebrities.