Hmm. It appears that, after factoring in the energy it takes to fuel the whole process, one square mile of corn turned to ethanol with current processes will fuel ten cars as efficient as mine for a year. Soy biodiesel would fuel about 50 cars. Palm oil, the best biodiesel feedstock available at the moment, might fuel as many as 1,000 cars with one square mile of land. If algae biodiesel ever takes off, it may be able to power 10,000 cars with that much area. A square mile of boring old photovoltaic panels would power 50,000 cars.
Posted by mike at May 19, 2007 01:19 AM | Car