It is becoming more and more apparent that the planet will not be able to provide both food and fuel for even its current population at their present standard of living, let alone with the doubled population forecast for 2050. As well as addressing alternative energy we have to seriously look at developing sustainable economies based on a stable or even decreasing population. As I see it, we can either try to engineer a soft landing for humankind or look forward to a really rough time ahead. Why politicians refuse to even discuss population control remains a mystery to me.

Hydrocarbons can be made from water or methane and carbon dioxide and energy (sunlight). Using plants that need other attributes to survive is not a cost effective way to produce biofuels. We need biofuel factories (plants) that operate without "natural plants". Put research and development dollars into things like synthetic photosynthesis and we can solve the liquid fuel problem and even start to take CO2 out of the atmosphere.

It may be possible to have both carbon capture and sustainable biofuel via thermochemical processing of garbage, stubble and forestry waste. Some of the char produced can be returned to the soil so it gradually withdraws carbon from the atmosphere. That may also lessen the need for fertiliser on food crops. I'd rate this technology as more promising than 'clean coal'. When petrol is $2 a litre it will become more competitive. I think these second generation biofuels will have a niche when oil is gone and cars are mostly battery powered but needing small liquid fuelled engines as range extenders. Public transport must also increase.

The big question is how many cars? If electricity becomes a fuel substitute we will need more clean power generation. At this point of time there is no convincing evidence that any form of solar can meet that demand, plus run aluminium smelters and the like. We'll just have to travel and transport less.

Billions of dollars being ripped off taxpayers who don’t seem to mind all that much because they are desperate to believe that all of the whacky ideas hurled around by the people grabbing this money will actually work and save them from climate change.

The author’s reference the competition with food production that could occur if large scale production of bio-fuels went ahead has been mentioned before, but largely ignored, by the wannabe bio-fuel billionaires, and the motoring addicted public.

It could boil down to a simple question: fuel or food. The world is struggling to feed itself already and paradoxically, climate change is already hitting agriculture in Australia.

Presumably, the growing of bio-fuel crops would require the same weather conditions to thrive as food crops.

It’s good to see Simon Upton mention the “self- interest” of people who want our money to help them become richer. Self-interest is behind most of the absolute rubbish currently talked about climate change and “solutions”.

Cast your minds back to the beginning of concern about climate change. Remember the ‘optimists’ who talked about the ‘opportunities’ to be had from global warming?

It seems, now, that those opportunities were for the people our idiot politicians are handing our money to without question

I find when trying to explain to others the difficulties with biofuels
that people are unaware of the scale of the problem.
I saw a figure for the US where they have currently some 150 to 200
ethanol plants. It was shown that to provide ethanol for 100% of the
vehicle fleet they would need 87,000 more ethanol processing plants.

On the back of an envelope I transfered those figures to Australia and
we would need some 6000 ethanol processing plants of that size.

Just think about it for a moment and it becomes an impossibility.

All of the reasons Simon Upton gave indicate that the use of biofuels should be regulated.
There are two more.
Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) are very inefficient, over 75% of the energy in the fuel is wasted as heat and does nothing to turn the wheels.
ICEs are very polluting and the ultra-fine particles produced can have a direct effect on the heart.

Biofuels should only be available for mass transit.
If people want personal transport they can go for solar powered electric vehicles.