There is a very interesting article about Biofuels in todays Opinion section of The Wall Street Joural. To sum it up, the Biofuel explosion is exacebates the very things it wished to prevent. One of those was an increase in greenhouse emissions. Even environmentalists have agreed.
Studies are now coming out that shows that "fossil fuel production is up to 10,000 times as efficient as biofuel, measured by energy produced per unit of land...corn based ethanol, instead of producing a 20% savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years" Another surprising stat "To create one gallon of fuel, ethanol slurps up 1,700 gallons of water, according Cornell's David Pimentel, and 51 cents of tax credits" (Wall Street Journal).
Corn prices are rising with the increased demand for ethanol. More farmers are clearing land/forests to plant more corn and sell it for fuel. An additional side effect is the increase in food prices. If more corn is being used for fuel, less corn is used for food (human and animal feed consumption). Switchgrass or any "cellulosic ethanol biofuel require countless acres of fuel if it is ever going to replace oil." (Wall Street Journal).
I don't think anyone saw this coming. However, it's this type of analysis that will separate the good alternative energy industries from the bad and allow us to find the one(s) that's best suited for planet Earth. Maybe that's Fuel Cell Technology.