The Oil Drum: Will biofuels always be hopeless?

I think most readers of TOD are persuaded that corn ethanol is a boondoggle right now. Robert Rapier made the case well again on Wednesday. Also, a little while back, Kyle argued pretty persuasively that cellulosic ethanol will not be much better in the near term.

Fair enough. I buy all that.

But, I think it’s very important to ask: do biofuels suck for deep fundamental unchangeable reasons? Or for contingent reasons that might be amenable to change over time with technological innovation? And I’m starting to think the answer might not be so obvious.

Much more after the jump to The Oil Drum.