Via DesMoinesRegister.com

By Jim Talent

As candidates for the presidency continue to spar over how best to address our country’s economic issues, the war in Iraq and health care, they must not ignore an equally critical question: How do we achieve energy independence?

The good news story on the energy front during the last few years has been biofuels. Renewable fuels can help solve a part of our energy problems and are already helping a lot today, an effect that will grow with time.

From the standpoint of raw economics, today’s high energy prices are the inevitable product of supply and demand. Economic prosperity has driven worldwide demand, especially in China and India, where growth rates have far exceeded predictions. At the same time, energy supply has remained constant, largely because environmental concerns and government red tape have prevented expansion of traditional forms of energy. Most of the next-generation sources, though promising in the longer term, are still technologically unfeasible.

Biofuel is one of the few bright spots in the picture. The production of biofuels worldwide is growing; in fact, biofuels account for nearly two-thirds of the total growth in energy production outside the OPEC countries this year, bringing global production of crop-based fuels to more than 1.5 million gallons per day. Read more…

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