Friday, May 4, 2012

Instead of "drill, baby, drill", how about "grill & fill"?


U.S. biofuel industry moves from the beaker to the barrel

No matter what we eventually do about changing the energy infrastructure of this country for the better, it's going to be a long time before the transportation fleet is switched to something futuristic like electric or hydrogen to any great extent.  Therefore, I've acknowledged before and I acknowledge again that something that burns will have to go into the nation's gas tanks for a few more decades, even though a mixture of nuclear, renewables, and fusion (??) is where we eventually have to get to.  So it's good news that biofuels are expanding, and also good news for those of us who think all that cooking oil used at McDonald's and KFC ought to be used (and useful) more than once.

Now, also note that in the quote below, the aspect of bipartisanship that is so egregiously lacking in today's Congress and the unfortunate political era that we are in enabled some of the advances that biofuels have made thus far.



"McAdams also noted, "the single most important policy component is the Renewable Fuels Standard, passed overwhelmingly in 2007 by a bipartisan Congress and signed into law by President Bush. Although it is not perfect, it is fundamentally important that the Congress continue to send a strong bipartisan signal of support for this policy if we wish to continue the remarkable progress and grow an advanced biofuels industry."

He concluded his testimony, "We believe we can and should be a fundamental part of an American energy policy that adopts a portfolio approach. As I have shared with you this morning, we are already starting to see advanced biofuels delivering on its promise of creating new jobs, and helping to strengthen our nation's economic and energy security."

We need more of that kind of thing.

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