[Logos]

Yes biofuel from crops like corn is very costly and unproductive, but biofuel from algae is a whole different story. Its sad that the article discredits the whole movement.

[Caelon]

The original push for bio fuels was from the US farm sector looking for an alternative market for their crops when grain prices and demand was low. Bio fuels were legislated into large scale use in order to appease a strong farm lobby and enviro groups that jumped on the band wagon. It never made good economic sense and has caused other issues like restricting available livestock feed. Canada has followed the American push to a lessor degree, but has still used legislation to force bio fuels into use.

Ethanol produces less energy per unit of volume than conventional gasoline so in areas of mandated 10% ethanol you will see fuel economy drop. Bio diesels have huge issues when the temperature drops to less than -20*C. You end up with plugged fuel filters and vehicles stuck on the the side of the road in freezing temperatures. Even to have biodiesels that will perform below -1*C you must add more expensive light ends to get the cloud point of the fuel down. You also must keep the bio portion down to less than 2% of the fuel as otherwise you cannot get the cloud point low enough to stop filter plugging. In other words it was a political need not an economic need.

[N_Fiddledog]

Caelon Caelon:

Bio fuels were legislated into large scale use in order to appease a strong farm lobby and enviro groups that jumped on the band wagon.

Kind of, but ultimately didn't Al Gore break a tie by casting the deciding vote to subsidize ethanol?

Answer