Cuban President Fidel Castro asserted the lack of fuel in the world and its current price will worsen the problem of food.

Grain and cereal productions are increasingly targeting the production of alcohol to be used as fuel for automobiles, stated Fidel Castro in his address to the Cuban People´s Power National Assembly (parliament) seventh period of sessions.

That means automobiles are competing with food and humankind is not prepared to cope with the current energy crisis, noted the leader of the Cuban Revolution.

And in Hawaii:

'Energy plantation' would require water guarantees

Alexander & Baldwin has long said that the future of HC&S cannot continue to be in sugar as a commodity. The 37,000-acre farm must become an "energy plantation."

In concept, at least, this fits in with the state's energy policy, which calls for 20 percent of inputs from renewable sources by 2020.

Whether it also fits with state water policy is a question.

Steve Holaday, general manager of Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, said money is being spent on solving technical problems and preliminary engineering designs.

"Our hang-up," he said, "is we don't have long-term access to irrigation water," which biomass electricity must have.

The idea here seem to be to burn sugar cane leaves for electricity, not to make ethanol.  Still, it requires water which they may not be able to get.