PRESS RELEASES   State needs to seize the day 05/22/2006 The Oklahoman, Opinion By Michael D. Anderson, Ph.D. "Cellulosic ethanol" isn't a term we are hearing in the debate about higher fuel costs and the advantages of exploring alternative energy sources, but it may soon be a popular term here as energy and agriculturally rich Oklahoma looks for the next generation of fuel sources. Oklahoma is an energy and farming state, among other things, and has an opportunity to join the biotech revolution in an important phase of the battle for more energy, cleaner fuel, using the best new botanical technologies and increasing economic opportunity for Oklahomans. A new University of California study suggests a new highly efficient method of producing ethanol, corn-based ethanol, can be produced using just one-tenth of the energy it provides. Albert Einstein said, "When I was young, I found that the big toe always ends up making a hole in a sock. So I stopped wearing socks." One day consumers will stop their dependence on oil. First, how is cellulosic ethanol made? Various farm products are used, mainly corn, perhaps the native switch grass whose 6-foot-long roots make it drought resistance and it is a naturally perennial crop. Much as in back-country stills, the ground-up product is mixed with water to form a mash. The mash is cooked at a high temperature, cooled and yeast is added. The mash is continuously agitated to aid the fermentation process. Distillation columns separate ethanol from waste products (which are used for livestock feed). Ethanol from the fermenter is passed through a strainer, concentrated and dried to create a liquid that's nearly 100 percent pure grain alcohol, which is mixed with gasoline to denature the ethanol. It's estimated the United States will double its ethanol usage to 6 percent, compared with gasoline, by 2012 with the farm states of South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota taking the lead as primary producers. Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin are close behind. Iowa's legislature is planning to make ethanol and biodiesel 25 percent of its energy needs by 2008. Ten percent of ethanol/gasoline mix is commercially available now in many stations. New York state is considering mandating alternatives like E85, a mix that is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Congress has several measures "under consideration" to make ethanol the leading near-future alternative to petroleum for cars and trucks. The urgency for Americans to consider alternative fuels is obvious as we import more than one-half of our oil supply and much of it from politically unstable nations. Necessity may be the mother of invention, however, innovative science is indeed the father. We have the science, the land and the opportunity to seize the day for this challenge. Oklahomans have an Einsteinian practical wisdom to solve problems. Let's "take our socks off" and go to work making sure Oklahoma is on the front -- in front of our nation's energy future. Anderson is president of the Presbyterian Health Foundation.