1) Massive requirement for fresh water in regions of the world that are increasingly water-stressed

2) Massive deforestation as a result of increased demand for cropland, including destruction of the tropical rainforest, some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, at a rate of 1,200 acres of forest every 20 minutes.

3) Massive increase in C02 emissions as a result of #2, above. Current deforestation accounts for 20% of ALL C02 emissions. You want a global climate disruption tipping point? You want runaway global weirding? I don’t.

Biofuels can be part of the energy-climate-crises solution. They are not THE solution. Where they make sense (in existing cropland, that is not being used for food (eg Brazil) they should continue to be used. Where they don’t make sense (e.g. Iowa) they should never be tried.

It would be a terrible tragedy if we escaped the clutches of Big Oil only to be ensnared in the grasp of Big Ag. Please stop and consider your articles more thoroughly before posting them. This is a much more complicated problem than you recognize.

1) Massive requirement for fresh water in regions of the world that are increasingly water-stressed

2) Massive deforestation as a result of increased demand for cropland, including destruction of the tropical rainforest, some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, at a rate of 1,200 acres of forest every 20 minutes.

3) Massive increase in C02 emissions as a result of #2, above. Current deforestation accounts for 20% of ALL C02 emissions. You want a global climate disruption tipping point? You want runaway global weirding? I don’t.

Biofuels can be part of the energy-climate-crises solution. They are not THE solution. Where they make sense (in existing cropland, that is not being used for food (eg Brazil) they should continue to be used. Where they don’t make sense (e.g. Iowa) they should never be tried.

It would be a terrible tragedy if we escaped the clutches of Big Oil only to be ensnared in the grasp of Big Ag. Please stop and consider your articles more thoroughly before posting them. This is a much more complicated problem than you recognize.

1) Massive requirement for fresh water in regions of the world that are increasingly water-stressed

2) Massive deforestation as a result of increased demand for cropland, including destruction of the tropical rainforest, some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, at a rate of 1,200 acres of forest every 20 minutes.

3) Massive increase in C02 emissions as a result of #2, above. Current deforestation accounts for 20% of ALL C02 emissions. You want a global climate disruption tipping point? You want runaway global weirding? I don’t.

Biofuels can be part of the energy-climate-crises solution. They are not THE solution. Where they make sense (in existing cropland, that is not being used for food (eg Brazil) they should continue to be used. Where they don’t make sense (e.g. Iowa) they should never be tried.

It would be a terrible tragedy if we escaped the clutches of Big Oil only to be ensnared in the grasp of Big Ag. Please stop and consider your articles more thoroughly before posting them. This is a much more complicated problem than you recognize.

1) Massive requirement for fresh water in regions of the world that are increasingly water-stressed

2) Massive deforestation as a result of increased demand for cropland, including destruction of the tropical rainforest, some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, at a rate of 1,200 acres of forest every 20 minutes.

3) Massive increase in C02 emissions as a result of #2, above. Current deforestation accounts for 20% of ALL C02 emissions. You want a global climate disruption tipping point? You want runaway global weirding? I don’t.

Biofuels can be part of the energy-climate-crises solution. They are not THE solution. Where they make sense (in existing cropland, that is not being used for food (eg Brazil) they should continue to be used. Where they don’t make sense (e.g. Iowa) they should never be tried.

It would be a terrible tragedy if we escaped the clutches of Big Oil only to be ensnared in the grasp of Big Ag. Please stop and consider your articles more thoroughly before posting them. This is a much more complicated problem than you recognize.

You have finally realized the true potential of biofuels. It is not that the United States can become energy independent using corn based ethanol or soybean based biodiesel. It is that we will import ethanol and biodiesel from places that right now are some of the poorest on earth but as we start shifting our energy purchases there, that will change.

Right now the corn based ethanol is getting the infrastructure in place so that we will be able to use ethanol from any source. Even if we were to be so foolish that we never imported ethanol, the cars and trucks we will be producing that can run on ethanol mixes will enable countries that make ethanol from sugar cane to develop and improve their quality of life without the economic and environmental costs of importing petroleum products.

One of the really nice things about producing ethanol from sugar cane as opposed to drilling oil is that it requires a higher standard of governance. In places like Nigeria, they hire a relatively few foreigners to drill and pump the oil and then the people in government and their relatives keep all the revenue. With sugar cane you have to have decent roads to deliver the sugar cane to the plants during harvest time, the government can’t just steal the farmer’s land or profits or he won’t bother working and the government has to keep a lid on banditry and corruption at least to the level that land can be farmed and the cane can be made into fuel.

And there is the nice byproduct that the bagasse is burned to produce electricity.

Environmentally cleaner and it improves the standard of living for some of the poorest people on earth. What is not to like about this?

You have finally realized the true potential of biofuels. It is not that the United States can become energy independent using corn based ethanol or soybean based biodiesel. It is that we will import ethanol and biodiesel from places that right now are some of the poorest on earth but as we start shifting our energy purchases there, that will change.

Right now the corn based ethanol is getting the infrastructure in place so that we will be able to use ethanol from any source. Even if we were to be so foolish that we never imported ethanol, the cars and trucks we will be producing that can run on ethanol mixes will enable countries that make ethanol from sugar cane to develop and improve their quality of life without the economic and environmental costs of importing petroleum products.

One of the really nice things about producing ethanol from sugar cane as opposed to drilling oil is that it requires a higher standard of governance. In places like Nigeria, they hire a relatively few foreigners to drill and pump the oil and then the people in government and their relatives keep all the revenue. With sugar cane you have to have decent roads to deliver the sugar cane to the plants during harvest time, the government can’t just steal the farmer’s land or profits or he won’t bother working and the government has to keep a lid on banditry and corruption at least to the level that land can be farmed and the cane can be made into fuel.

And there is the nice byproduct that the bagasse is burned to produce electricity.

Environmentally cleaner and it improves the standard of living for some of the poorest people on earth. What is not to like about this?

You have finally realized the true potential of biofuels. It is not that the United States can become energy independent using corn based ethanol or soybean based biodiesel. It is that we will import ethanol and biodiesel from places that right now are some of the poorest on earth but as we start shifting our energy purchases there, that will change.

Right now the corn based ethanol is getting the infrastructure in place so that we will be able to use ethanol from any source. Even if we were to be so foolish that we never imported ethanol, the cars and trucks we will be producing that can run on ethanol mixes will enable countries that make ethanol from sugar cane to develop and improve their quality of life without the economic and environmental costs of importing petroleum products.

One of the really nice things about producing ethanol from sugar cane as opposed to drilling oil is that it requires a higher standard of governance. In places like Nigeria, they hire a relatively few foreigners to drill and pump the oil and then the people in government and their relatives keep all the revenue. With sugar cane you have to have decent roads to deliver the sugar cane to the plants during harvest time, the government can’t just steal the farmer’s land or profits or he won’t bother working and the government has to keep a lid on banditry and corruption at least to the level that land can be farmed and the cane can be made into fuel.

And there is the nice byproduct that the bagasse is burned to produce electricity.

Environmentally cleaner and it improves the standard of living for some of the poorest people on earth. What is not to like about this?

You have finally realized the true potential of biofuels. It is not that the United States can become energy independent using corn based ethanol or soybean based biodiesel. It is that we will import ethanol and biodiesel from places that right now are some of the poorest on earth but as we start shifting our energy purchases there, that will change.

Right now the corn based ethanol is getting the infrastructure in place so that we will be able to use ethanol from any source. Even if we were to be so foolish that we never imported ethanol, the cars and trucks we will be producing that can run on ethanol mixes will enable countries that make ethanol from sugar cane to develop and improve their quality of life without the economic and environmental costs of importing petroleum products.

One of the really nice things about producing ethanol from sugar cane as opposed to drilling oil is that it requires a higher standard of governance. In places like Nigeria, they hire a relatively few foreigners to drill and pump the oil and then the people in government and their relatives keep all the revenue. With sugar cane you have to have decent roads to deliver the sugar cane to the plants during harvest time, the government can’t just steal the farmer’s land or profits or he won’t bother working and the government has to keep a lid on banditry and corruption at least to the level that land can be farmed and the cane can be made into fuel.

And there is the nice byproduct that the bagasse is burned to produce electricity.

Environmentally cleaner and it improves the standard of living for some of the poorest people on earth. What is not to like about this?