luck your whole "oil is evil rant" is what I'm poking wholes at.
Oil doesn't want biofuels to happen, facts clearly point you out as uninformed.
We are stuck on oil for a long time and if we don't allow drilling domestically soon your beloved alternatives will get some nice pricing in much higher oil to give them the boost you seek.
Where did I ONCE say oil is evil? Point it out please. Since I never said that, what is your purpose in "poking holes" in an argument I did not state? I do question the wisdom of big oil ignoring or even sometimes fighting the advent of biofuels in the energy economy. But that is not evil, just unwise.
I clearly stated at least twice that I have no problem with oil as an energy source. I expect the U.S. to continue to use oil as an energy source, pretty much until there is no more oil.
What I have a problem with, what I want our society to work to change, is IMPORTING oil - or any other energy source for that matter. Our economy would be much stronger if we were energy independent. It would be stronger yet if we were an energy exporter.
As for being uninformed, it is you who continually denies the current state of cellulosic technology. You are either uninformed, or you deliberately disavow the facts to comfort yourself. The CURRENT level of technology works or there would not be a company successfully (albeit with heavy price subsidies) producing cellulosic ethanol on an industrial level. This FACT proves that the only barrier to cellulosic ethanol is relative cost per BTU compared to oil.
Yes, there are U.S. companies working on the technology to make it more economical. But the need to make a process more economical does not mean the process itself is in the experimental stage. It means it is not economically competitive. Some of the ideas bouncing around to make cellulosic ethanol production cheaper are experimental, but the base technology of turning cellulose into ethanol (and methanol) is a proven technology.
And, as you just admitted, if new sources of oil are not developed soon, then the price barrier between oil as an energy source and ethanol - including cellulosic ethanol - will be at least significantly reduced, if not removed entirely. Based on the events of the last decade, that economic turning point will arrive sooner than you seem to want to think about.
But that does not in any way mean oil will be removed from U.S. energy economy, nor have I ever said it will. What it means is we will have the capability to eliminate the need to import oil, and ultimately have the capability to export bio-fuels. This, too, will be and important economic turning point as world demand will only continue to outrace the production of fossil fuels.
The positive effects on our economy from such a transition would be unbelievably profound, to include a much, much stronger dollar. This is something every one should want to happen, even oil people, because such an event will only make the wealth derived from oil stronger.
