Solution to the fuel crisis?

IPBiz got a real chuckle out of a July 6 article in the Irish Times (p. 15) entitled "Solution to the Fuel Crisis Closer Than We Think." Among other things, the article touted bio-ethanol from cellulose. Don't bet the ranch on this one, even though a Nobel Laureate was pushing it.

**UPDATE**

One reader wrote the following:

Bio-ethanol has an "appeal", in that it "recycles CO2" via solar: plants take in CO2, make cellulose, and then we convert the cellulose to EtOH,and burn to CO2.

HOWEVER, the energy input bio to EtOH is significant: shipping all that biomass to a processing plant, doing the breakdown of cellulose to sugar to EtOH, all has costs associated (gasoline for shipping, for heating, etc.).

NOW, if we could REALLY do all this, and pay for all the associated energy costs, biomass to EtOH is a great idea. Otherwise, in order to look "eco-good", we have to burn gasoline and natural gas, in order to get the EtOH. THAT, is not CO2 neutral!!!

So, my personal take on biomass to EtOH, is "bogus". It sounds good, just like having a car run on electric batteries, clean energy, etc. Except:

1) You need to make the electricity, at a plant either nuclear or coal or natural gas. In other words, your car is not clean, it is just not the origin of the pollution. your car looks clean, but the dirt has been moved elsewhere.

I heard an old story, about solar cells, about 1988: the amount of energy used to make a Si wafer for solar cells, is far greater than the total amount of energy that solar cell will ever make from the sun!! Looks clean and neat, but isn't!!!