Energy/Carbon Balance

I don’t know what the site cited says, but the University of Minnesota found that biodiesel is at least 93% net energy positive, and 43% carbon negative using soybeans as the feedstock. There are a lot of better feedstocks, with the best being algae, which could produce enough biodiesel on 2% of US land (any area, not farm land) according to the National Renewable Energy Lab’s report on the DOE’s "Aquatic Species ":http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/biodiesel_from_algae.pdf program. Of course, this assumes all engines go over to diesel to run it.

I’m betting on a mix of electric cars for commuting, and biodiesel for long hauls with cellulostic ethanol spackeling the gaps.