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Conventional wisdom says water in ethanol is bad, but a new technical understanding is emerging that could dramatically improve corn-based ethanol’s environmental footprint while revolutionizing how the alternative fuel is made, transported and used.

Biofuels patents have increased steadily over the past six years, according to a report published by Baker & Daniels LLP. The data also provides proof that there is an earnest effort underway to patent technological advances toward the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol production.

The Conservation Reserve Program encourages landowners to protect environmentally sensitive acreage. Increased demand for biofuels and a growing world population have driven crop prices to record highs. At the same time, many farmers are struggling to make a profit due to increased operating costs, and are considering letting CRP contracts expire so they can farm more land. That has prompted conservationists to wonder how the conversion will affect wildlife.

U.S. ethanol producers insist the 54-cent tariff on ethanol imports needs to be in place or the government will be subsidizing Brazilian ethanol.

It’s not a leap of faith that’s going to make cellulosic ethanol production on a commercial level a reality. In most cases, it’s going to take a plotted course that sequentially informs the evolution of cost-competitive and efficient technologies. EPM spoke with companies about the significance of piloting their technologies before scaling up to a demonstration-size facility.

Once a premier bioscience company making major inroads into the ethanol industry, Dyadic is now only limping along. In the past year, it was delisted from the American Stock Exchange, ousted its founder Mark Emalfarb, was sued by angry shareholders, and released a scathing audit report detailing corruption, bribery and a dummy company skimming profits from its Hong Kong factory.

The National Ethanol Conference gave ethanol industry leaders a venue to discuss how the industry is changing the climate for the economy, environment and consumers.

A Wisconsin cheese maker is expanding his bacteria-tending skills to include nurturing yeast to make ethanol and growing algae to produce oil for biodiesel in an intriguing energy-integrated, waste-to-power process.

Renewable Identification Numbers are becoming increasingly important not just for people in environmental compliance or accounting, but also for those in marketing, investing and sustainability.

For the Iowa-size area around the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, it’s not just the air, but the soil, that stands to benefit from biofuels.

Biofueling the economies of Europe and United States has taken distinctly different routes. The Yanks are well ahead in ethanol, but the second generation may look different.