Driving on Starch?

[blacksan]

Originally Posted by tk-421

Although you make a point, you can still grow potatoes pretty much anywhere for pennies on the dollar (there would be pretty much no way to control this). I'm sure a technology such as this would be beneficial as soon as it's adopted in the marketplace.

Now let's just hope that one of the big oil companies buys the patent for this and then just crams it in a drawer somewhere, never to be seen again (it's happened before, ya know!)

Would the Federal Government allow fuel tax that is used to maintain the Interstate Highway inferstructure to be lost do to alternative fuel sources? I work for the man and am here to tell you that would never happen. You might not pay more for potatoes themselves, but tax for the privilege to use that alternative fuel source, or some such nonsense. Research the trend in corn prices since the advent of Ethanol. I really wished that I was off base, but the cost of doing business has risen and we as a nation are no longer self perpetuating and now reliant on global competition. We are end the end of an era. The ability to drill of the West Coast and the North Shore along with oil refinery blocked expansion over the years have most likely accelerated our position to what we are experiencing today.

[tk-421]

Originally Posted by blacksan

Would the Federal Government allow fuel tax that is used to maintain the Interstate Highway inferstructure to be lost do to alternative fuel sources? I work for the man and am here to tell you that would never happen.

You certainly have a point there. Our governments aren't exactly well-known to make timely changes when opportunities to help the environment (and ultimately ourselves) arise. Does this however mean that things have never changed in this respect? Hardly.

We have arrived at a juncture where things must change. We may not be killing the planet per say, but we sure are killing ourselves. Are we so screwed up as a race that we will do nothing to save our own, even when we're given a new opportunity on cleaning up our act? And regain our fuel independence at the same time? And for cheap? I sure hope not.

[brickhardmeat]

Nuclear Power kicks all other powers ass