Challenges to the Development of a Dedicated Energy Crop

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 includes a provision designed to double the production and use of ethanol in fuels by 2012, and to ensure that by 2013, a minimum of 250 million gallons per year of ethanol is produced from cellulosic sources, such as corn stover, wheat straw, and switchgrass. Cellulosic ethanol (CE) has a much greater potential volume than grainbased ethanol. For example, if the entire 2005 U.S. corn crop of 11.1 billion bushels had been converted to ethanol, the resulting product would have contained less than 9% of the en-