Farmers, businesses and state officials are investing millions of dollars in ethanol and biofuel plants as renewable energy sources, but a new study says the alternative fuels burn more energy than they produce.

Idiots. ALL energy processing will yield less than what it takes to produce. That's called physics. The points are:

1) Is the source sustainable, renewable, or non-destructive to the environment?
2) Is the yield sufficiently high enough to make it worthwhile, GIVEN #1 above is true.

Petroleum has been proven time and time again to be massively inefficient as a source of energy. It takes trillions invested to get it out of the ground, transport it, process it, distribute it, and then consume it. All the while, it is unsustainable, contributes mightily to the destruction of our environment, and is the second leading source of instability in the world (only to fundamentalist religion). Even if it was 2x more 'efficient' than other techniques, it would still SUCK ASS because of these attributes.

I predict the transition to renewable sources of energy will be mired in spin, FUD, and political stonewalling the likes of which we haven't seen even in the movie/music industry. Meanwhile, people, plants, and animals will suffer and die all in the name of circumventing progress.

Study Says Ethanol Not Worth the Energy