Although biofuels are putting pressure on the food situation, the current crisis is more about the 'inconsistent' weather lowering crop yields as well as farmers in the rest of the world not being able to afford fuel and fertilizer (both of which are tied to oil costs) which then lowers farm output.
Sugar based ethanol is probably the main or sole culprit in affecting food situation. And that's only because world crop yields are not where they were expected to be. As a sidenote, ironically, the increase in fuel use is as an additive to regular gas and not for an actual fuel substitute like E85.
The problem is that there are methods of producing ethanol that don't encroach on that type of farmland. These methods are literally in mid transition between the drawing board and full scale production.
My deal in a nutshell is we finally have a fuel that has very little impact on the cost and capability of vehicles, implimentable today, severs the dependancy on foreign imports, and gives oil/gas companies actual competition.
The core of my rant is that a bad twist of events is being used to kill biofuels, particularly ethanol, in a smear campaign.
Its no surprise people making money from the current oil and gas prices don't want to see that changed.
But the other group that want to see ethanol smeared before these new processes get underway are a portion of the environmentalists. They push for 'alternatives' when in reality they want us to take the bus. So when alternatives make a car more expensive or less fun, they are for it. When an alternative comes along that only will cause negligible changes in driver behavior, they hate it.
Commenting by HaloScan
