1) I remember a few years, there was a writer on the University of Hawaii's newspaper (Ka Leo http://www.kaleo.org/ ) who several articles on the benefits of having cars run on vegetable oil.
I thought that if that could work, we wouldn't need any more petroleum.
However, the problem with having things run on vegetable oil, corn-based ethanol, or any energy source made from food is that it reduces the food supply available.
And the lessening amount of food supply had lead to higher prices of food.
Corn-based ethanol has led to increased price of corn. That has made tortillas more expensive, making many in Mexico very angry!
Also, some farmers have switched to crops more likely to be used for ethanol, which dwindled the supply of other plants like rice. Which caused rice prices to spike, leading to protests and riots in Haiti, Vietnam and the Phillipines.
Being that food is a priority for human life, I believe that crops ought to be used for food production first, before being used for other uses.
So, this ethanol trend has got to be reduced.
I'm one of those people who don't think banning things are a good idea, and than banning things make good rhetoric, but rarely lead to intended consequences.
However, the US governments need to stop subsidizing ethanol production. That might mean a few votes lost in farm states like Iowa or Wisconsin, which probably why Obama & McCain haven't talked much about cutting off ethanol subsidies.
Also, certain state governments need to stop requiring that cars, boats, etc run on ethanol.
2) What are our other energy options
Solar is fine if we have the sun all the time. Though I still remember March 2006 when it was raining nearly every day in Hawaii, and certain public housing projects that were reliant on solar heaters didn't have warm water!
Wind power sounds great if there's wind all the time. But we'll have to clear tons of land just to make enough windmills to power an urban area!
Nuclear energy, while it doesn't release tons of carbon dioxide like oil/coal/natural gas, produces radioactive waste that can be dangerous if not stored property.
While most nuclear reactors in the world never had the Chernobly meltdown, they are still vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Which is why I'm not so fond of having nuclear power plants in Hawaii!
So that leaves us with petroleum. While it is not ideal, it's the best energy source we got for now.
3) In 2001, President George W Bush proposed allowing some oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.
At the time, some said it would've taken 7 years until oil would come and be ready for consumer use.
It's 7 years, and still no oil drilling.
Some US environmental activists don't want offshore oil drilling!
Yet, it is done in Norway, Great Britain and other European nations without major pollution.
While the US gets most of the oil from Canada and Mexico, it is still too dependent on autocratic regimes in the Middle East and Venezuela for oil. It doesn't look good when President Bush has to beg Saudi Arabia's officials to pump more oil!
The demand for oil and food has increased partially due to the economic rise of China and India, the 2 most populated nations in the world!
The US needs to start drilling more in Alaska, as well as offshore of California, Texas, Louisiana and Florida! We need to drill for our own oil instead of depending on others!
And we need to reserve our crops for food instead of fuel!
4) This reminds, back in the early 1800's, a lot of the oil used for lights and lanterns came from dead whales.
However, the expanded use of petroleum meant lower demand for whale hunts. So petroleum probably saved the whales (though it might've killed some in oil spills)
Hopefully, we find a cleaner source that is as efficient as petroleum soon.
