Experts clash over viability of biofuels, alternative energy

Pre-eminent UC Berkeley scholars clashed Saturday over whether biofuels will help solve the energy crisis – or whether biofuel supporters are duping themselves and everybody else with empty promises.

The university’s College of Natural Resources hosted a panel discussion called “The Future of Biofuels?” and it became clear early on why the question mark was tacked onto the title.

[…] Tad Patzek, an outspoken critic of the biofuels industry and a geo-engineering professor who’s leaving Cal to take a post at the University of Texas at Austin, said biofuels are vastly overhyped. He asked the members of the audience to imagine themselves as proponents of the notion that 2+2=22, rather than 4.

“That would make you biofuel enthusiasts,” he said to laughter. “You have money and media access, and now everybody believes that 2+2=22.”

San Francisco Chronicle