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Mr. Huckabee makes a good point when he talks of using the biofuels at the point where they are created, thus reducing the costs of trucking the fuel to distant markets. Still, the energy costs associated with the refining of biofuels far exceed their benefits. Mr. Huckabee's emphasis on using animal & plant waste as opposed to purpose grown crops is another good point, but all these biofuel projects are just an attempt to shorten the cycle of capturing solar energy. Oil, natural gas and coal are all examples of solar energy converted in readily usable forms of energy. Solar energy, whether thermal or photovoltaic, is clearly the best way to address our energy crises. BTW, I enjoy the Governor's bass playing.

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I also believe in this idea of a universal bio-fuel, or bio-diesel. Henry Ford once used Hemp as fuel as well as to build his first model T. From the research i did on it in High School, I found out that this plant has very short grow seasons, and can be used to make Bio-diesel or ethanol. The emissions themselves would basically cancel out, because while growing, the plants still use photosynthesis to convert CO2 into O2. But, once again engineers are faced with the problem of adapting this carbon emissions efficient fuel into the modern day fossil fuel guzzling automobile.

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The katabatic winds of the Antarctic must be the world's greatest untapped renewable resource. If wind turbines can be installed high above the ground level they could generate an enormous amount of electricity. The power can be stored in 4000 lb. pressure tanks such as will be used in German built cars in 2008. Vast areas of insulated greenhouses could be supported, providing food for a million meals served per year in Antarctica.. They would be fee from insects and diseases. Much agricultural work could be effectively done under those conditions All the power needs of some of the bases could be satisfied. Nearly all need for polluting fuel oil would be eliminated. There would be electrical power all along the coast-to-south pole highway.

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Since we are seeing that biofuels will not scale up to our needs rapidly or maybe even never to our present glut we need to focus on getting the fuel where it will benefit society the most. Thanks to Richard Heinburg it is clearer to me that it is the farmers who need the fuel security and they may be in the best position to help themselves. Below is a web site which talks about a logistics problem with biofuels Cellulose is not very energy dense, which makes transporting it a real problem.What I think I see here is a problem that could be solved by having smaller more local refineries. I saw a web site that talks about the mini refinaries being made in Brazil The question I have is why do these cellulosic plants/refineries have to be so large as in the one described in the web site below? Can we follow the Brazillian example and solve this logistics problem? I am certainly not going to be the one who deals with these high tech problems but food producers I believe in a few years will begin to be desperate. --Gerald http://i-r-squared.blogsp ot.com/2007/03/logistics- problem-of-cellulosic-eth anol.html

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A good Idea and it has been done on large dairy farms. For the home scale, would it be difficult to have enough wast/material?

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There are many versions of biodigesters in use worldwide, including some that cost less than $150, which can converse human, animal and other organic waste into sterile soil and gas for cooking. They are quite useful for homes which have low energy requirements. I have wondered for a long while why we waste so much potential fuel by simply flushing our toilets into septic systems and sewers. And other methods of generating fuel abound if we could simply live more simply and consider the life cycle of growing things. For example--dendropower. Not cutting down full grown trees but coppicing the branches that grow every year. Again, I have wondered why fast-growing species like bamboo or even moringa couldn't be used for such purposes. This is not all wishful thinking. If one looks at moringa (also known as miringa or drum stick), one can see that it grows exceptionally well in dry climates where extreme hunger exists. It has fantastic nutritional value among other things. Bamboo and hemp also have excellent benefits for products and processes that we have barely begun to explore. The key, I believe, is to consider such options on the smaller scale that pertains to households, neighborhoods or single buildings rather than the mass scale of most windfarms, power grids, etc. Appropriate technology.

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I think we should pray and wait for GOD to answer. presupposing he exists he /she would tell us that controlling our wants and our consumptions is the answer. 7 billion on the planet is going to mightily tax our engineering abilities. While Gov. Huckabee seems a little niave at least he has made the first steps

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If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Mr. Huckabee, I refer you to the Book of Genesis, to the story of the Pharoah's dream. We are heading for some lean years, and they will not be evaded with wishfull thinking.

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From where does the energy to run such a machine come? From the output product of this multi-stage waste processor? From a coal fired power plant miles away? Ideas like this sound great! Until you consider the Energy Returned On Energy Invested (EROEI). Net energy output must be greater than the energy input, or you are wasting time. Such a wonderful machine does not exist, for a reason. Come on Mike, get real.

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I think that the comments by Governor Huckabee demonstrate a total lack of perspective as to the amount of energy used by the average American. Sounds like a pie in the sky. The steel industry uses immense amounts of energy yet has no or limited waste products suitable for energy production. There is probably room for efficiency gains but I didn't hear that. I have reduced my waste at the source and come no where close enough to power my frugal lifestyle. Empty dreams about various forms of co-production is what I believe I read.

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I think this idea not only interesting, but also indispensable. The engineers can play a role of design and optimisation, but are the biologists and chemists the ones that must set the conditions and the process.

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Its very heartening to see that somebody has focussed on this energy saving topic. seeing the rising demand of petroleum based products, and global warming becoming a global issue, the bio-fuel cells will lead the future.

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The Aquatic Species Program Microalgae Biodiesel --  In 1978 Jimmy Carter launched The Aquatic Species Program to cultivate Microalgae for the production of bio-diesel from algae. Carter's research program funded by the US Dept. of Energy, operated over a span of twenty years in search of finding alga specie with large lipid content and thus created 1000 square metre pond systems. Why was the funding to Carter's viable research program cut by Clinton back in 1996?

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Governor Huckabee, In 2007, I am surprised to see your comments on _Biofuels_. As a leader in our American system of _governance_, I'd expect you to challenge the great minds in Engineering to solve our pressing problems of governance. For example, the folks who brought Unix to ATT and Virtualization to IBM more than 3 decades ago know a LOT about resource management. Why aren't you asking them to solve "The Closing of the Frontier", and other challenges of national resource sequestration? We are dying of our own political inertia. At other peoples' expense, we sped past Europe largely because abundant resources enhanced our freedom to adapt, leaving Europe mired in their contentious past. Australians, starting later, also at the expense of other people, reached world prominence even faster. Europe, after using our help to press the Reset Button twice before 1950, is restructuring itself nicely now, and restructured China's progress has the world's attention. How are we going to escape OUR inertia? How are we going to release some of the energy now dissipated in OUR internal political conflicts -- and move more toward the "reinvention" models that have succeeded worldwide?