The Path Forward for Biofuels and

Biomass represents an abundant carbon-neutral renewable resource for the production of bioenergy and biomaterials, and its enhanced use would address several societal needs. Advances in genetics, biotechnology, process chemistry, and engineering are leading to a new manufacturing concept for converting renewable biomass to valuable fuels and products, generally referred to as the biorefinery. The integration of agroenergy crops and biorefinery manufacturing technologies offers the potential for the development of sustainable biopower and biomaterials that will lead to a new manufacturing paradigm. W eare apt to forget the gasoline short-ages of the 1970s or the fuel price panic after Hurricane Katrina, but these are but harbingers of the inevitable ex-cess of growing demand over dwindling sup-plies of geological reserves. Before we freeze in the dark, we must prepare to make the tran