FRANKLINTON, N.C. (AP) -- President Bush is leaving North Carolina, having spent the early afternoon touting the science of turning grasses and wood chips into ethanol to reduce the US need for foreign oil.
Bush has proposed increasing the production of alternative fuels such as ethanol made from something other than corn.
The president wants to require the use of 35 billion gallons a year of ethanol and other alternative fuels, such as soybean-based biodiesel, by 2017 -- a fivefold increase over current requirements.
The president participated in a panel on the special type of ethanol at Novozymes North America, a Franklinton plant which is researching enzymes to break down crops such as corn waste and spruce chips to produce ethanol.
Production of ethanol from corn is expected to fall far short of meeting the increased need. So Bush envisions a major speedup of research into production of ethanol made from wood chips, switchgrass and other feedstocks.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
