The Lincoln MKT Concept Wagon not only features flex-fuel capable EcoBoost technology, but goes a step beyond with environmentally-friendly materials.

The MKT’s body panels use a synthetic resin provided by SABIC Innovative Plastics that is made of 85 percent post-consumer waste. Its other sustainable materials include soy-based seat foam, chromium free leather chairs, and “reconstituted” oak veneer for its interior trim. There is also soft-feel carpet in the concept version that is woven of banana leaf and bark fibers.

Hopefully, many of these sustainable features will make it to production, which is expected by 2010.

At this year’s North American International Auto Show, General Motors Corp. announced a partnership with Coskata Inc, a biofuels research company based in Warrenville, Illinois. Neither company has disclosed the details of GM’s investment.

“We are very excited about what this breakthrough will mean to the viability of biofuels and, more importantly, to our ability to reduce dependence on petroleum,” GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said.

Coskata says that using proprietary microorganisms and patented bioreactor designs will produce ethanol for under US$1.00 per gallon by 2011. Initial plans involve using wood chips in the process, but the technology could turn practically any renewable resource into ethanol—including grass and garbage.

According to Argonne National Laboratory, which analyzed Coskata’s process, for every unit of energy used, it generates up to 7.7 times that amount of energy, and it reduces CO2 emissions by up to 84 percent compared with a well-to-wheel analysis of gasoline. Coskata also reports that its process uses less than a gallon of water to make a gallon of ethanol compared with three gallons or more for other processes.

"This is big. It's a game-changer," said David Cole, chairman of the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research, after the announcement.