Vuron Posted:

Corn-based ethanol is crap, the amount of fossil fuels needed to produce a single gallon of corn-based biodiesel is a very significant percentage. Considering corn-based ethanol has poor energy density (1 gallon of ethanol will get you significantly less miles in your car) domestic corn-based ethanol is basically a government subsidy to big agribusinesses such as ADM. That’s not even getting into the impact corn-based ethanol subsidies have had

Algae-based Biodiesel seems to be the obvious answer as the US could likely make do with roughly 140 billion gallons of biodiesel a year. If current estimates concerning the use of algae-based biodiesel is that 15,000 square miles of algae ponds would be capable of producing the neede biombum to generate that much biodiesel.

Currently the technology isn’t quite there but it definitely seems like a solid long term solution. If you combine the use of biodiesel with existing hybrid technologies you can get pretty impressive MPG totals, for example the Dodge Intrepid ESX3, built under Clinton’s PNGV program – a full-size diesel electric hybrid sedan that averaged 72 mpg in mixed driving .

i love you, you’re one of the only people i know that knows of that fact too. it takes nearly a gallon of fossil fuels in order to make a gallon of biodiesel. then the biodiesel is burned in the vehicle. it really isn’t very efficient.

i think electric cars would be our best bet if we could get solar and wind going more since they’re pretty pollution-free. hydro-electric is a bad idea since the dams that are required for it have a huge environmental impact. and i hate to say it, but discounting the possibility of meltdowns nuclear is a pretty clean way of getting energy too. just try telling that to a hippy.