Renewable energy can augment dwindling resources

What will we do when petroleum fuel gets even more ridiculously expensive and hard to find?

That scenario may be more likely than you think.

“If we are lucky, and there are no sizeable collapses or wars, we probably have 10-12 years of a fairly broad peak in petroleum production in which to get our act together to start looking at the next plan down the road,” said Charles Woodward, who owns Natural Resource Co., Victor, ID.

Woodward spoke at an energy efficiency workshop at the Driggs City Center, sponsored by the Snake River Alliance.

New bill would classify ethanol derived from coal & natural gas as 'renewable resource'

Six members of the House of Representatives introduced a bill on Wednesday that would include ethanol produced by nontraditional means, such as coal- and gas-derived ethanol, in the federal renewable fuels mandate.

Ethanol derived from petroleum-based sources would be competing in a market currently dominated by corn-derived ethanol. Other biofuels have been slow to reach commercial viability, and some of the most promising next-generation fuels have yet to even leave the laboratory, so demand for new sources of ethanol has climbed higher and higher.