A few days ago I participated in a conference call (recording available here) about biofuels with an organization called Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). In this article, I will discuss some things I found interesting, including a new technique for making biodiesel that involves feeding biomass to algae.

The call had three speakers. The first, Jim McMillan of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory gave an overview of the current US biofuel situation. According to him, a lot of current interest is in cellulosic ethanol, since corn ethanol doesn't scale up very well. At this point, the cost of cellulosic ethanol seems to be double or more that of corn ethanol. The economics are still being clarified by demonstration projects. Until there is some sort of climate legislation that raises the price of carbon, it will be difficult to overcome the price gap.

Not too long ago, I nearly quit writing, because I was losing control of my free time. I came to a compromise solution that has worked out well for me: I have continued to write, but I have reduced time dedicated to debates, correspondence, and addressing questions or criticisms about my essays. It is now apparent that it was not the writing, but instead the peripheral stuff that was really eating up all my time.

However, as a result of the change, some comments and questions that are directed at me go unanswered. Sometimes someone will make a criticism or comment that I would like to address, but I know it will lead to several more responses. In order to "catch up" with some of this without once again getting involved in protracted exchanges, on my way out of town for a business trip I put up a brief post inviting readers to ask questions or make comments. I hadn't originally intended to post it here, but there were quite a few topics that have been discussed at length here at TOD. So, I went through, picked out some of the questions, and took a stab at answering them.

There are questions on biobutanol, gasoline inventories, refinery margins, debunking, ethanol, investing, the future of the oil industry, where to live to ride out Peak Oil, and whether I have now lost hope. I sometimes excerpted the questions, but I linked to the originals so you can see them in complete context.