I had a short break over the weekend just and read this article in the Sydney Morning Heald and it made me sit up and think.  I had just driven about 200KM to an lovely beach side town north of Sydney called Shoal Bay at Port Stephens.  Just think if I had used ethanol in the car it would have taken 240 kilograms of corn to produce 100 liters of ethanol, enough for my weekend or away, or that 240 kiolgrams of corn could have feed a person for a year.   Interesting choice.   Fuel for the car or food in someone's mouth.

Shoal Bay about 200KM north of Sydney.  If I had used ethanol to travel here from Sydney and return the amout of crops needed to produce 100 L of ethanol could have feed someone for a year.

As we see the shift in the grain harvest, especially in North America into ethanol the line "we drive, they starve" is very scarey as is the title of this article "we fill our tanks while they carn't fill their stomachs."

I think the question needs to be asked.  Is biofuels the answer?  I think not.   Converting food crops to make fuel is a short term solution to a long term problem with massive global consquences especially for developing countries.  I think the solution has to be hybrid cars and electric cars.

Is biofuels the answer?