Tyler,

If there is any individualized motor transportation it will undoubtedly be electric. It is becoming abundantly clear that biofuels will actually lead to greater green house gas emissions and not fewer. The Dutch and the rest of Europe are already finding this out. This also fails to take into account the loss of top soil and the implications on food production because of the use of corn based ethanol. This is unlikely to be mitigated in the near term because no capacity exists to produce ethanol from cellulosic sources and Archer Daniels Midland, the largest producer of corn based ethanol, is unlikely to change this.

Meanwhile here in the States our Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratories released a study, back on December 13th, which stated that 82 percent of the commuting car fleet could be converted to electric and we could meet the power needs of this car fleet with the spare capacity on the electric grid at night without building a single new power plant. There’s plenty of potential in that area.

Detroit will have to be led kicking and screaming into the future. It’s either that or we’ll have to start riding bicycles.