Why is it that stupid ideas find so many followers? European Governments, the US Federal Government, and an increasing number of US State Governments have issued legislation that requires the use of ethanol in cars.

Making ethanol from corn was promoted by the US agricultural lobby as the best approach for producing biofuels. None of the decision makers listened to the advice of scientists, who pointed out correctly, that the benefits of ethanol were minute. Ethanol is incapable of reducing consumption of petroleum-derived fuels and of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Almost all of the food producing acreage in the US must be converted to growing corn before a sizeable reduction in foreign petroleum imports can be expected.

For the agricultural lobby the financial rewards of the ethanol craze have been spectacular. When future prices of corn began to escalate, more and more farmers decided to plant corn in favor of other crops like soybean and wheat. Predictably, food prices started soaring.

Now we must deal with the sorry political mess that the ethanol subsidy of the US Federal Government has left behind. Poor countries have been hit hard with escalating prices for grains and other basic food staples. Protests are growing across the globe demanding price reductions or price controls. Demonstrations are stoking social unrest in many countries. Demands are growing to prohibit the production of biofuels altogether.

What originally began as an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and an attempt to reduce consumption of fossil fuels and petroleum, may instead be perceived as a worldwide failure of renewable biofuels. Such result would be unfortunate and ultimately disastrous.

We know for sure that petroleum reserves are getting scarce and will be depleted soon. We know for sure that global warming is caused by greenhouse gases produced by fossil fuel combustion. We know for sure that economies will begin to fail, when liquid motor fuels become scarce and unaffordable.

We must replace fossil petroleum sources with an alternate source for liquid fuels or world economies are doomed to fail and contract. Only biomass meets the requirements for such a new energy source. However, virtually all the biomass crops, which are being used, have one common shortcoming. Instead of using plants with exceptionally high energy yields, we are converting low-energy food crops into ethanol, a low-energy fuel.

Only high-energy crops can become the savior of our huge transportation sector. The wellbeing of this sector is absolutely vital for the continuing functioning of world economies. Famines will result if we convert instead low-energy food crops into liquid fuels. There are not enough arable lands on this Earth to provide food for an additional three billion people during the next fifty years and grow simultaneously sufficient amounts of low-energy biomass for replacing petroleum as source for liquid motor fuels.

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