Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) and Honda R&D, Honda Motor Company's research and development division, announced that their collaborative research efforts 
have resulted in ethanol production technology from soft-biomass, a renewable resource of plant-derived material (rice straw and other plant materials). The collaboration envisions implementing a pilot demonstration project to assess the social compatibility and economic efficiency of the new bio-alcohol production system. 
The production process takes rice straw, as the soft-biomass raw material, combines it with specially-designed strain of bacteria (the RITE strain), and produces bio-ethanol for use as a fuel or source of energy. If successful, RITE and Honda will construct a bio-refinery for production of ethanol and other industrial commodities, such as automotive materials, from soft-biomass raw materials. RITE and Honda will realize their goal of a sustainable society and together contribute to the reduction of global-warming through reduction of CO2. ... 
... "Carbon dioxide (CO2) released by the combustion of bio-ethanol is balanced by the CO2 captured by plants through photosynthesis and, thus, does not increase the total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Bio-ethanol, therefore, has attracted attention as a carbon-neutral fuel, an energy source effective as countermeasure to global-warming. Existing bio-ethanol production, however, faces supply limits, as it is produced primarily from sugar and starch of sugarcane and corn feedstock, which are also utilized as food.
In its collaborative research, RITE and Honda have established the basic technology to produce ethanol fuel from cellulose and hemicellulose, both found in soft-biomass, including inedible leaves and stalks of plants, such as rice straw. Until now, such soft-biomass represented a challenge to convert to ethanol. Thus, the new process represents a large step forward for practical application of soft-biomass as a fuel source. The RITE-Honda process, newly developed as an integration of the sophisticated bio-technology of RITE and the engineering technology of Honda, paves the way to bio-ethanol production from cellulose and hemi-cellulose, with the potential to significantly increase fuel production.
Now, RITE and Honda have successfully developed the RITE-Honda process, which substantially reduces the harmful influence of fermentation inhibitors. The RITE-Honda process succeeds through utilization of RITE strain, a microorganism 
developed by RITE that converts sugar into alcohol, and by application of engineering technology of Honda, enabling a significant increase in alcohol conversion efficiency, in comparison to conventional cellulosic bio-ethanol production processes. The RITE-Honda process, resulting in a significant increase in production of bio-ethanol, and expansion of biomass utilization, holds enormous potential as a major step forward toward the realization of an energy sustainability society. The achievement solves the last remaining fundamental hurdle to ethanol production from soft-biomass. Thus, RITE and Honda will pursue research for mass production, including development of systems to integrate four operations, currently operated independently, into a continuous flow within one plant, recycling energy* to pursue energy conservation and cost reduction. " ... 
Via Honda: RITE and Honda Jointly Develop New Technology To Produce Ethanol From Cellulosic Biomass ...
RITE was created to address the issue of global climate change through research into alternative energy and green technologies ...
Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE): Established in 1990 by the joint investment of the Japanese government and private enterprises, with the goal of conducting fundamental research on countermeasure technology for global-warming, particularly climate change. Engaged in efforts to stabilize climate change through development of alternative energy research and CO2 sequestration technologies.
Honda recently describes its near-term plans and included its perspective on alternative fuels, such as ethanol. ...
Honda Ethanol Plans: "Ethanol fuel is widely used in Brazil. Since the mid-1980s, Honda has been offering motorcycles and then automobiles that accept ethanol-gasoline fuel. The percentage of ethanol has increased from 10% to 20% and 25%, and now 100% ethanol fuel, called E100, is also available in the market. Honda will introduce a FlexFuel car that accepts ethanol contained fuel at any percentage, before the end of 2006. Honda will continue to pursue efforts to utilize various non-gasoline energy sources, which is expected to have a large impact on the reduction of CO2. "
n uses no fossil fuels for heating. Instead they uses biomass from farming leftovers. 80,000 homes heated by biomass and not fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas! And this is an area of the world where it gets VERY COLD !
feedstocks, biopower and biofuels potential, production and distribution. …
Animal manure is a natural by-product of raising animals ... and needs to be disposed of properly. Improperly disposed of it can pollute water and make a smelly mess. 
Many crops have been considered / experimented with as a source of bio fuel or bio diesel. Some carry risks of causing unintended consequences as land is cleared for farming -- Now the mushroom is looming large!
constructed, it will be the world's first commercial-scale, biomass power plant using crops grown on site. As a closed-loop plant, it will contribute no additional carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, and is estimated to reduce carbon emissions by more than 20 million tons over the life of the contract when compared to coal. " ...