Studies Deem Biofuels a Greenhouse Threat - New York Times

Studies Deem Biofuels a Greenhouse Threat - New York Times

...worse than greenhouse emissions from conventional fuels...

Finally the New York Times prints a story worthy of printing. A check of this blog will reveal views expressed over a year ago that the biofuels scam is exactly that -- a green, feel-good fraud promoted by special interests (first and foremost, the agribusiness industry), the ramifications of which were not thought through before being foisted on us by venal politicians and the stupid, lapdog media, and has not only caused enormous foodstock price inflation around the world, but, lo and behold, a worsening greenhouse gas situation. This is another example of the well meaning gullible siezing upon the self- righteous, intellectually empty proclamations of the venal and the deranged (sound like the Barack Obama craze?). Whether in politics or energy policy, people must think through seemingly easy solutions to complex problems before just getting on the band wagon.

When the right solutions are reached for creating biofuels economically from genuine waste biomass, not from harvested corn and other seeds and grains, we will get somewhere on this problem. In the mean time, we'd be a lot better off if a fraction of the emotional energy (and government funding) devoted to biofuels and other less technically feasible magic bullet solutions went to more practical and immediately available areas. First and foremost, this means nuclear energy, superconductivity (so the nuclear plants can be located out of populated zones, and the grid can transport energy more efficiently) and carbon sequestration (the US is the OPEC of coal -- if we can figure out how to efficiently sequester or otherwise neutralize their carbon emissions). After all, only 20% of our energy usage is spent for trasportation -- 80% for power generation, where some big solutions are within our grasp in the next 20 years. The savings to the environment, not to mention our national security interests, of vigorously pursuing these alternatives are infinitely greater than jerking around with a vegetable oil-powered Mercedes.