Biofuelling the future.(Editorial)(Editorial)

WE'RE very pleased to announce that Alternatives has become the media sponsor for Earth Day Canada's Hometown Heroes. The annual award goes to an individual or group who has made an outstanding contribution to the environment by working within their community. It's work that often goes unnoticed, so we are excited to be highlighting the accomplishments of these inspiring leaders. Who is your Hometown Hero? Nominations must be submitted before April 22, 2009. See earthday.ca/hometown.

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In this issue of Alternatives, we tackle the slippery issue of biofuels, including corn-based ethanol, which has become the target of the environmental and social justice movements. As our authors advise, however, we shouldn't throw out the jatropha, French-fry grease and pond scum with the maize. Corn is but one of numerous feedstocks that can be used to produce biofuel, and fermentation, the process used to make it, is but one of a handful of technologies available to us.

University of Waterloo's Kyrke Gaudreau evaluates a range of feedstocks and a variety of processes by analyzing their effect on our ecosystem. "If we are to successfully shift from a petroleum-based energy system to a biological one," he warns, "we need to look at the forest as well as the trees."

Gaudreau finds fault with fermentation, a discovery that complements what Washington State University's energy experts point out in "How Much Energy Does it Take to Produce a Litre of Biofuel?" Requiring almost as much energy to be grown, transported and processed as it generates, ethanol's future looks dim.

Meanwhile, Lyle Estill, a former resident of ...