Would you be willing to pay more at the gas pump for energy independence from foreign oil?
I am asking that question(maybe a better worded question) tomorrow on one of my forums that I belong to.
And I need your help with some short and simple way to explain how bio-fuel? works.
Or any other kind of fuel you think I should mention.....cost difference also would be helpful.
Mind you these are mainly stay-at-home dear sweet young moms that I'm posting these topics for and they are very open to learning basic facts.

Here's one they may like. There are a lot of links out there on how to make your own fuel from old cooking oil. Of course if everybody did it, there wouldn't be enough fuel unless we all started to eat nothing but deep fried junk food.

Fuel less than a buck per gallon

Thank you for the link Eino!

FYI - see Veg Powered Systems
http://www.vegpoweredsystems.com/index.htm
Owner is Joel Woolf

Yes I would be. But a lot of people with SUVs' might not. Told em' so when they bought em' (freinds) but nooo... gotta sit up high and kick ass on the freeway. Damn, I can't see around those big a** things!

Using gasoline that's 10% ethanol is wonderful. Ethanol will always end up costing less than $1.75/gallon at the pump, it's a renewable resource, it reduces pollution, and after one fill-up, it has the exact same performance as regular gasoline.

Same with E-85, if your car supports it. If a hybrid doesn't work for you, buy a Ford Taurus. You won't get 60 miles/gallon, but if you want to make sure you never have to pay more than an inflation-adjusted $2.00/gallon for gas, E-85 is a great choice.

And all of it's made from corn grown in the U.S.- which helps farmers.

(Something you don't have to tell them, but something I'm concerned about: The EROI on the production of ethanol is kinda dubious. Conservatives and pessimists are saying it's below 1:1. It would be nice to see some numbers from pro-Ethanol folks. Even if the EROI is below one, it's important to note that much of the energy getting counted is less useful for running cars- like electricity from coal or
nuclear)

I would have said no a few months ago...I think I have changed my mind. The reason I would have said no was because I didn't think it would really make that much difference from a world-wide perspective because all of the factories would have to be re-tooled, and because we rarely consider just how much is actually made from petroleum. India, Russia and China are going to be competing with us for oil, and that will mean we have to compete for it too...therefore it will not really change the "terrorists regimes" too much anyway.

Yet, I changed my mind because that would be one of the best ways for the US to have innovative, cutting edge, and adaptive technology again and give us a competetive advantage. If the money went toward R&D and not into the oil man's pocket, it could spur a lot of offshoots from the technology rejected or the know-how gained. It could be another "send a man to the moon" project. The US must have one of these if we are going to stay in business. That's as good of a thing as any I can think of besides making the whole US wireless (another lofty goal, but likely more market driven).

Besides, if we don't invent it, the Chinese, Indians or someone else will and then what?

I just don't want to see it impact the economy, or keep elderly and poor people from being able to heat or go to work.

Thank you for some wonderful insights and links

Congratulations, you've made it to the point Gore was at five years ago when he made all of these arguments. See below.

Agriculture to make ethanol uses a lot of oil. As high oil prices work their way through the economy, the price of ethanol will increase.

Try offering this link:
www.AmericanEnergyIndependence.com/peroxide.html
Stay-at-home moms might identify with proxide

This next one is easy to understand... its about sugar
www.AmericanEnergyIndependence.com/sugar.html

And, if the stay-at-home mom has a teenage boy or girl that they would rather not send off to war, I recommend they read this one:
www.AmericanEnergyIndependence.com/biodiesel.html

One way to solve this problem, would be to legislate that all farm equipment use ethanol or biodiesel. Kind of like requiring that all farm produce be grown from seeds that the produce produced...

Another solution, would be to require 100% renewable fertilizer be used when growing energy crops. Renewable Fertilizer

In other words, let's stop using oil for agriculture production. Let's start using alternatives to produce our alternatives...