Date: September 26th, 2008

Source: The Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory says ethanol is a transition step in the development of biofuels.

Nobel Prize winner Steve Chu told officials of state agriculture departments Tuesday that researchers are seeking to use waste materials or grasses to make their own gasoline or diesel-type fuel, rather than to make ethanol.

"I think you have to go to this generation of biofuels so that it is not seen as a direct competition with food," Chu said. "Its energy inputs are far less than growing corn, which is a very heavy energy-intensive crop due to the fertilizer, all the tillage, everything else."

Diesel from biofuels actually is superior to gasoline, though it may be years away, Chu said. He expects a number of test projects in the next four years.

"We have already taught the microbes like yeast, that is now used to make ethanol, how to make gasoline and diseal-like fuel," he said.

The design of diesel-fueled vehicles is changing, Chu said.

"The old clunky diesel (vehicle) that you know about from the 1960s and 1970s, is no longer applicable," he said.

Chu spoke to the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture meeting in Bismarck.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.