When oil runs out, forests may provide petrol for our cars. Nordic researchers are close to a breakthrough in the technology of producing petrol from wood.
Bio-fuels, i.e. petrol and diesel oil produced from biological, renewable raw materials, are expected to be the most important future fuels. Researchers are working intensively on the problem how to extract ethanol from wood.

At present producing ethanol from wood is a very complicated and expensive process. If we can mange to simplify it, this may become a very interesting business, particularly for farmers, says Mr Petter H. Heyerdahl, first research assistant at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
E.g. the Norwegian Government has set the target that by 2010 almost six per cent of all fuels sold in Norway shall be bio-fuels.
Bio-energy and bio-fuels are sectors where we can kill two birds with one stone; we can promote both regional employment and environment conservation. If we are to achieve economic growth and development in the rural sectors, we must invest in this new technology, says Ms Terje Riis-Johansen, Norwegian Minister for Agriculture and Food.