Corn ethanol is a racket. The companies that thrive on it are textbook examples - literally - of government subsidies of corporations. As you point out, biofuels make sense only if made from agricultural wastes or low-maintenance crops that grow in places unsuited for food crops (algae might be one example, or switchgrass).
Historically, the function of a cow has been to take the undigestible (to humans) cellulose that covers much of the planet, and turn it into things humans can eat. This basic idea tends to get lost when we feed cows people food. Biofuels are the same way. The ideal biofuel would be made from an otherwise useless weed or something like that. Wonder if anyone's tried making it from kudzu...
Best long-range idea might be to engineer a plant or algae specifically for fuel. Either by normal breeding or genetic engineering. I know a lot of work is being done in this area, but it's been a while since I checked in on the industry.
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Re: Pawlenty. Wow.
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