since I was just reading this, another interesting economist article- this time about biofuels
www.economist.com/printedition/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_RSGGDGT
seems like a fair amount of controversy around the energy balance- some even doubt it corn based ethanol is net positive. Seems clear that sugar cane (Brazil) is good (IEA puts its energy balance at 8.3).
On the positive side, it would be pretty simple to implement on a pretty wide scale, in terms of powering vehicles- can basically use the same infrastructure and the same engines. Popularity in Brazil is case in point.
Issue is competition for land- no point in destroying rain forest to make fuel for cars. Also competition for raw materials- for corn/maize based fuels, could drive up the price of foodstuffs.
Future appears to be in 'Cellulosic Ethanol' (much investment and chat from Vinod Khosla)- trees, grasses and other biomass. Very high energy balance but harder to breakdown. Development work on enzymes to break down raw stuffs more efficiently and in special new types of produce grown specifically for the purpose (fast growing, high yield, easy to break down)
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