The sea change in US biofuels' funding: from cellulosic ethanol to green gasoline

The direction of federal funding for biomass conversion into biofuels has shifted dramatically in just the last few years. Four years ago, the national action plan essentially read ‘ethanol‐only’, and was to meet the new renewable fuel standards solely with cellulosic ethanol. While ethanol is still part of the picture, the most recent emphasis is on ‘high energy density, infrastructure‐compatible biofuels’ – hydrocarbons. In this paper, the transition from one focus to the other, a real sea change, is conveyed from the perspective of one who, with the support of the NSF and colleagues in other federal agencies, helped to bring it about.