There's an interesting article, Annie Nelson on the 'Fuel That Doesn't Kill Us' on Truthdig.org, plus the readers' debate on the actual environmental benefits of bio-diesel versus fossil fuels.

Annie Nelson, wife of the singer, Willie Nelson, claims that bio-diesel is safe, while the readers argue on the one hand, being a hydrocarbon, just like fossil fuels, its use would add carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas to the atmosphere, while others argue that the growing of crops used to produce it take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Others argue that, fertilising the soil in to grow bio-fuel crops will still require fertilisers made from oil, hence will not diminish the demand for oil. To this I say that since the fossil oil is not burned but turned to fertiliser, it does not add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, though other problems could arise from the nitrogen in the fertiliser.

Then there are others who suggest that weeds which don't need fertiliser, like hemp, it should be used as the raw material for bio diesel as argued by KA Cheah in the case of engineered algae .

Other readers of the Truthdig.org article argue for fuel cells and even nuclear power.

While readers here speak of unused, idle farmland in the United States being brought back into production of the input for bio-diesel, I wonder what if demand for the raw material gets so high and it become more lucrative that growers start cutting down the rainforest to make way for growing the raw material.

Thus the ecological benefits of bio-diesel are not guaranteed and while it may solve one problem, it could lead to causing others, though that said, I still believe it should be given a fair try.

However, the root of the problem is on the consumption side and the profiteering motive and if that cannot be reduced, I really don't think any alternative type of fuel or energy source will be a long-term solution. The same motives of greed which leads growers to burn forests in Indonesia, causing the annual haze we suffer, won't go away since where a buck is to be made, they will make it.