Biomass conversion into fuel is our one and only option. We must learn how to convert sunlight, water, carbon dioxide, and fertilizer into biomass. Food crops are not suited for conversion. Food crops have been selected, domesticated, and bred to provide tasty and nutritious foods. Energy crops must be selected based on entirely different properties. Energy crops must have very high energy content, must provide very high crop yields, and must grow very fast. This means that we must find and further breed plants with very high energy yields; i.e. plants with the highest values of energy per acre per year.

When designing biomass plantations, we must address several specifications. We need plenty of sunshine and we must protect against the misappropriation and abuse of fertile lands and of forests. By locating biomass plantations on arid lands and by combining biomass growing and biomass conversion into a single facility, we can avoid abuse of agricultural lands.

Biomass production must be designed to be highly automated and mechanized to lower costs. Additionally, biomass is best converted into petroleum substitutes within hours. Such quick conversion requires on-site processing. Harvested biomass cannot be stored for long times. Liquefied petroleum substitutes can be stored in tanks and can be transported by pipeline.

Obviously, such radical plantation concept, which ideally uses hydroponic techniques and is not dependent on soil quality, will need development. New biomass types must be identified. The performance of high energy yield plants must be optimized. The engineering of hydroponic plantations located on arid lands or in deserts must be completed, pilot plants must be built and tested, and fast conversion processes for converting carbohydrates into hydrocarbons must be found and developed to maturity.

One question remains; does our Earth have large enough areas of arid land which are ideally located closely to coasts and seawater?

In 2004 the world consumed roughly 30 billion barrels of petroleum. This figure translates into an energy consumption of 173 exajoules per year. We know the energy yields of a few food plants. We can extrapolate those energy yields and arrive at a probable energy yield of newly bred plants of 10,000 gigajoules per hectare per year. When we divide energy consumption by energy yield we arrive at a figure of 17.3 million hectare or 42.6 million acres. This area is equal in size to the state of Florida. This small area can support biomass growth to supply the entire world with transportation fuels! Very large areas are readily available to support the growth of biomass. The Earth has many arid areas and huge deserts.

US government must lead the world in this endeavor and must establish an agency with a single mission: Develop the technologies to produce plentiful, affordable, and secure liquid transportation fuels for the next few centuries.

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