posted June 28, 2005 03:13 PM              

What do you all think of this renewable, potentially heavily domestic-based (worst-case scenario: We'd have to rely on Canada a bit) energy source?

Here's a recent story on it: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20050628/D8B0OPEO1.html

Or, for even conventional (unmodified) motor engines, what do you think of gasohol?
http://www.answers.com/topic/gasohol
And here's a 1979 US Governmental study on Gasohol: http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ota/Ota_5/DATA/1979/7908.PDF
Does anyone know if any advances have been made in the technology (not including, obviously, the move to E85 - which requires modified equipment)?

I've read some arguments that ethanol-based energy is a net wash in economic benefit when you look at the cost of increased corn production, general higher cost for the production of ethanol, and the tax breaks given for ethanol usage, but do you think that circumstances may be changing to tilt that balance (the price of oil heading towards $60+/barrel, India and China becoming greater and greater consumers of oil, and the infrastructure needed for cost-effective ethanol production getting slowly but surely into place)?

Do you see any other potential pitfalls of ethanol?

Veering a bit from the above, what do you think of biodiesel? http://www.biodiesel.org/

Do you see any downsides besides the cost of conversion/production and the ambient smell of french fries?

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What else do ya'll see as viable energy choices/sources for the US?

Should we damn the torpedoes and just find more oil (foreign or domestic)?

Do any of you think that greater taxes in support of/subsidies towards public transportation should be implemented, or do you just find that whole idea a big pain in the patoot?
(And I'm not asking that confrontationally - quite a few do feel that mass public transportation is just too inconvenient to be viable in the US.)

Is, as some voices in the Bush admin have been saying, nuclear the answer?
Do you think that the risks outweigh the potential good?

Do you see no problem at all and think that this whole "energy crisis" thing is being trumped-up by the media and by oil-producing nations in order to jack-up prices?

I'm just putting all of the above out there for discussion.
I'd like to veer away from partisanship, if possible, as these issues transcend party and ideological lines and impact how we, and our children (for jwhop: grandchildren...great-grandchildren...great-great... ), are going to live.