The appointment of alternative energy insider Steven Koonin to the position of Undersecretary of of Science at the Department of Energy bodes well for the development of a viable ethanol industry. One of the more serious criticisms of the ethanol industry in the past was that it was corn-based, which greatly inflated the price of food around the world. A sustainable ethanol industry now in favor at the DOE would emphasize the use of cellulosic ethanol from waste products and non-food sources.
