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[quote user="mudchicken"][quote user="tree68"] <p>From my local paper this morning, an AP story with the headline: [b]Biofuel drive may keep gas pricey[/b].</p><p>The gist of the story is that due to the push for biofuels, oil companies are cutting back on plans to expand refineries, which could keep gas prices high for years...</p><p>[/quote]</p><p>Saw that, and our local paper was blabbing-on about one of the two coal conversion plants here. <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6165392">http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_6165392</a></p><p>Like ethanol, might make more fuel , but won't make it cheaper <strong>or </strong>as combustably efficient</p><p>[/quote]</p><p>Coal-to-liquids beats biofuels hands down in terms of relative efficiency, but of course petroleum refinement is still the most efficient way to get motor fuels. It's funny, but that one guy who opined his comment at the bottom of the Denver Post story has it completely backward. With nuclear power commercially viable, we really don't need to combust coal for future electricity needs, but we do need to utilize our available domestic hydrocarbon sources (e.g. coal, oil shales, tar sands) for transportation fuels. It makes more sense to use coal for conversion to transportation fuels than it does to grow crops for transport fuel or to use coal for generating electricity.</p><p>Coal-to-liquids is akin to an "Extreme Hydrocarbon Makeover" (Ty Pennington, we are ye?), while oil to fuels is more like a modification to the hydrocarbon molecule. In that vein, biofuels is more akin to tearing down a fine house and sticking a trailer in the lot.<span class="smiley">[;)]</span></p><p>BTW - The reason the oil companies are cutting back on plans to build new refineries is due more to the pending loss of the Bush tax incentives than it is on biofuel poliferation. Building a new refinery has a huge up front cost as well as huge potential environmental liability, same as for coal to liquids, and both need tax incentives to mitigate these environmental regs. The Dems seem set on "sticking it to Big Oil" by eliminating the tax incentives for new exploration/drilling/production/refinement, and by raising the royalties for oil and gas from federal lands. Of course, we the consumers will end up paying for these feelgood regs coming down the pike, but I fear most will not realize that before the 2008 elections.</p><p>You know, we could just streamline the environmental regs into a more concise common sense set of rules and save the taxpayers some money, right? </p><p>Naaaaahhhh!<span class="smiley">[D)]</span></p>
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