Mo Preachin' With all my ranting and raving about the impending energy crisis and the kickass potential of biofuels, you might be wondering why the current alternative energy industry isn't climbing ahead of fossil fuels by leaps and bounds. President Bush announced major Federal investment in ethanol and photovoltaics, namely, in his State of The Union speech. You also might be asking why commercial biodiesel and ethanol are so freaking expensive when compared to conventional fuels.

I'll tell you why.

Along with Big Oil and Big Fast Food, there is also a Big Agriculture. The two biggest commercial producers of biodiesel and ethanol are Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). Ethanol is easy for them to make, as it takes old corn and sugarcane stalks and brews it directly into a fuel. Biodiesel is made from virgin soybeans, and after the oil is extracted from them using petroleum based solvents, the meal is sold as animal feed to third world countries. ADM has an abundance of soybeans and corn, and they have little concern of expanding their alternative energy industry, so the price of biodiesel is kept high.  ¶ Posted By Anonymous 5:46 PM