DISagree with this part: "In my view, the worst policy option of all is to subsidize the use of alternative forms of energy. If other forms of energy are not economical on their own, then taxpayer subsidies are only harmful. The use of subsidized alternative energy does more damage to our own economy than to Saudi Arabia's."

"It's a stupid comment he makes, as if a government funded search to discover cheap clean energy is a bad idea!"

But that's not what he is saying. For example, wind turbines are not a cheap clean energy, nor are they likely to be. They are an alternative energy source and they might make some degree of economic sense in certain areas. Whereas solar energy collection could possible be significantly cheaper because they could be significantly improved in efficency and material are cheap, etc, etc. But at the moment solar panels or solar towers are not a cheap source of energy. Fission reactors can be and are relatively cheap. Fusion reactor are could be even cheaper- but after decades and billions spent by govt research this, it has been a failure.
Ethanol is another example of something that isn't a cheap source of energy- research could possible make the process of making ethanol cheaper than it is currently but most of govt money is being spent producing ethanol and this aspect of funding will not make ethanol a cheap source of energy.
What he is saying is for the govt to pay to the difference in cost which required to make something economical viable is wasteful. It's a form of kidding yourself, it's like having a lemonade stand and selling stuff at lower price than the ingredient costs, by having parent buy the ingredients for you. If you sell more lemonade, you get more money but it's really coming out of your parent's pockets. Without the subsidy you would need to charge a higher price. Since ethanol is a fairly mature technology, this industry is unlikely to create something which is a significant improvement. If the govt dumps in say double the amount money for ethanol it's mostly likely just get more Lemonade stands, rather than produce a Snapple. Wind turbines are also not likely to make a quantum leap because it's a mature technology and it has already fair amount of effort put into this technology to lower the costs.