This is a different perspective on ethanol.

http://zfacts.com/p/63.html

I need to research the data... or if somebody has already done so please post your thoughts.

There is always another side to every issue.

I don't care for politics, but...
bush gets into office, 9/11 hits then Katrina happens.
oil skyrockets. we are still down in oil production at the major oil companies and rely more on OPEC.
the whole time oil companies brig in record profits.
bush, has his hands invested in oil.
the last year of his term...
HUGE OIL FIND IN N. DAKOTA!
there goes our GREEN PLAN!
no one will care for green cars and trucks etc.
keeping his investment going...
I don't know if this is all fact but to be honest seems odd.

Ethanol is without a doubt one of the biggest sources of pork spending over the last few years.
Most media reports have failed to show the direct increase cost of almost all food due to the ethanol frenzy.
It's small but these is even a direct link between the increased gas prices and ethanlol production because of the increased fuel use shipping corn in and ethanol back out.

Here is a little different perspective from a piece by John Stossel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9QQcP_Y1II

I'm not going to go into details because the automatic knee jerk reactions is anyone who says this must be crary.
BioDiesel would be the way to go based on a mix of vegetable and seed oils
The cheapest and easiest source of seed oils is where the discussion breaks down.

is'nt biofuel increasing costs of avg foods? such as the current trend with corn?

we have out lawed pot so there is no use for it, but yet it can be converted to a biofuel. converting pot wouldn't harm our food production and yet still be use able.

Gold star.

The single biggest reason is the DRUG scare.
Small fact for those who don't know the difference.
While Hemp and Marijuana are in the same family, they are different as men and women.
Actually that's a really good comparison seeing as how marijuana is only produced by the female plant.
Not only that but there have been over 20 varieties engineered to limit THC production to the point drug use would be impossible.

It's true it doesn't offer the same energy potential as Gas, it does have more than any other Bio based fuel source including Corn based ethanol.
Corn based ethanol can produce 350-450 gallons per acre.
While hemp based would produce 750-1000 gallons per acre.
More importantly, because hemp grows so fast it could be rotated in with food crops not a single replacement crop like corn based ethanol.
Another alternative is it could be grown in areas unsuitable for most other food crops.

Even if the drug scare prohibits hemp as a bio-fuel.
Then switchgrass or miscanthus would be a much better alternative to corn.
The only real reason corn was used 1st is because it was already available, and a common crop.
It's shear stupidity to continue using corn just because it make a good sound byte.
Fuel grown in America's heartland.

http://oakhavenpc.org/cultivating_algae.htm

I saw a special on algae production.... in the desert in greenhouses on discovery, and they were producing well over 100 times the fuel from and acre of land. ON land that is unusable for food production.

We should have been hearing about things like this for years... I need to research it a bit, have to run for now I'll try to get back to it tonight with some more info. Unless someone else has any info.

the un-intended results

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtm...4/ccview114.xml