Solar, wind and hydro are the targets we should be aiming for.

The only difference between this civilization and the ones that existed 2000 years ago is that we burn more types of stuff and have more complex toys that are driven by said burnt stuff.

We need to stop burning stuff to get our energy. It's silly and wasteful. Too many steps between the original energy source and the produced outcome.

Eliminate burning as a source of energy.

We already have the capacity to fuel all of our needs [including transportation] with solar/ wind/ hydro electricity. People are already driving electric cars around and houses can be run on solar power now.

Larger buildings and machinery can be converted as well over the next few years, with a little ingenuity. Sterling engines could easily be adapted to run things like heavy equipment. And yacht batteries already store 24 hours of electricity without a hiccup.

Enough with the crazy oil companies and car companies that want us to stay stuck making payments to them- and are willing to murder hundreds of thousands to maintain their domination. Enough with the systems that still rely on burning stuff.

We don't need them- and they know it. All we have to do is eliminate them from the equation.

We should not scrap biofuel targets. Biofuels are vital in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and replace the dwindling supply of oil.

Mr. Aiyar is absolutely correct that food should not be taken from the mouths of starving poor people to produce biofuel. Fortunately, biofuel production does not require that.

The manner in which biofuel targets are met needs to be specified. In an article entitled, "The Answer is Biofuel", Michael Briggs states, "(The United States of America's) Office of Fuels Development, a division of the Department of Energy, funded a program from 1978 through 1996 under the National Renewable Energy Laboratory known as the "Aquatic Species Program". The focus of this program was to investigate high-oil algaes that could be grown specifically for the purpose of wide scale biodiesel production." The report outlined the viability of switching to biofuel.

Algaes can be grown in salt water. They do not threaten food supplies or fresh water supplies. We should keep all of our options on the table. We will probably need them.

There are lots of factors and this is a complicated process -

much more resources have to go into growing corn than any other grain (wheat, rice, etc) and corn depletes the soil much more so as well. In America, corn is used in over 90% of the food we consume.

We use corn grain to feed cattle and other animal food products in America. The yield isn't very good in comparison. It takes roughly 20 tons of corn grain to produce 1 ton of beef. So already with the booming meat industry in America we are getting less food from the actual amount we grow.

Meat is very expensive when compared with grain and so much of the world's poor eat mostly grain. But its been shown that as economies such as China emerge into the global economy, meat consumption rises also. China now eats twice the amount of meat than it did in the 80s. That means twice as much of the 20 tons to 1 ton of food conversion.

So the multi layered problem is:

-we start out by mass producing one of the least efficient grains

-significant portions of our grain supply go to feed cattle and chickens, meaning less food in the world

-and now, additional portions of our grain supply go to our cars, trucks, etc, meaning less food in the world

-and the population boom of the past half-century has drastically increased demand - but we've been farming roughly the same amount of land in that same amount of time

-and it isn't just about more people being born - thanks to modern medicines, people are staying alive longer (a significant portion of which are in wealthier economies and so will consume more meat products)

Basically, the easiest way to get started solving this issue is simple: CONSUME LESS!

I'm a non-urban non-suburban farm "hippie", Iowa Farm Girl, I'll gladly show you my chickens if you don't believe me.
I'm also someone who's studied the effects of GM crops on the environment and on the human food chain in university.
GM crops are prolific in the midwest not because they're superior producers [they're not] but because they've been subsidized by the government. Monsanto and Cargill have buddies in Washington, and as a result, Iowan farmers are owned by corporations. Ain't that a slap in the face? My grandfather grew up on an Iowan farm, he'd be appalled.
In my opinion Monsanto is just about the most evil, self-serving and destructive corporation on the planet, and the Bush family and friends are all tied up with them and Cargill and their profits. Bush has a huge ranch in Paraguay full of Roundup Ready soybeans waiting to be made into fuel in a harbor there.
There are myriad sources to check out the dirty associations if you just google Bush soybeans Paraguay.
What a big surprise... our food chain is compromised by greedy corporatist profiteers. But then again, so is our energy and our clothing and our housing and our information sources. We've been corralled by them, folks, and we're in deep dookie because of it.
Mussolini said that "fascism" should be called "corporatism".
Our grandparents fought against the fascists in World War II and here we are losing to them under cover of profiteering. And they snuck up on us gradually so we didn't see it coming.
It is important to remove ourselves from their grid- the food grid, the fuel grid, the money grid. Join a CSA, carpool, unsubscribe from cable, and learn to sew... all little things that will cut their web bit by bit. If our money and energy is unavailable to the corporations who've been systematically siderailing it, then they will be the ones to starve, not innocent kids, and the wealth of the earth will belong to people, not corporations.