Location: The missing link in calculating the carbon footprint of biofuels

The Obama administration has set a target for producing cellulosic ethanol of nearly 40 billion liters each year by 2020. One potential source is Miscanthus x giantess, a grass less likely to destabilize food prices than bioethanol from corn; researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been hard at work researching this potential breakthrough. It has a carbon dioxide-equivalent that is an estimated 80-90% lower than traditional gasoline. In an interview with Environmental Research Web, Corinne Scone of the Energy Biosciences Institute, criticized previous studies for "focusing only on tailpipe emissions" and failing to adequately analyze the life cycle of alternative fuel sources "essential to understanding their total environmental implications."