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As we speak, pilot projects are underway to digest cellulose (i.e. vegetative waste) into fuels using genetically engineered microorganisms. If this scales successfully, we will have achieved a virtually closed loop solution to the energy needs of the foreseeable future. It will add no more CO2 to the atmosphere than the vegetation was able to take out of the atmosphere when it grew. Agriculture countries will be the big energy producers and we can ostracize former oil countries.

The problem with that idea is that when there is Global Cooling, agriculture is negatively affected, so the crops needed for the fuels, might not be as abundant.

We should have nuke plants, so at least there will be reliable sources of power for heating. Too bad the greenies are such weenies about nuclear power, since it doesn't create the CO2 that burning fossil fuels does.

The same closed loop system is provided with the algae-oil process. In fact, algae-oil production is enhanced when the CO2 discharge from a fossil fuel power plant is pumped into the system. A coal fired electric plant would maximize its energy production by putting its CO2 discharge into the growing of algae-oil, which becomes a transportable energy source.

Algae-oil also feeds off raw sewage from humans and animals. There is no special treatment. All you need is a pipe to the algae growing facility. The food we eat gets a second use after it is flushed down a toilet. Once that sewage becomes algae-oil you can use it to farm more food.

Algae-oil is very efficient. It requires less space and less energy than setting up a crop field, and then use the crops to feed a fermenter. With proper techniques, it is possible to grow 20,000 gallons of algae-oil per year per acre.

Algae-oil has more energy per unit than ethanol.

Algae-oil does not have the problems when transported through pipeline that ethanol does. Ethanol has the property of absorbing water. The water in ethanol can corrode the steel in pipelines. If the ethanol absorbs too much water in the pipeline system, it becomes unusable as a fuel.

A recent estimate using soy beans as a source of oil would require only 79,000 square miles under constant cultivation to service our needs. That's about the size of the state of Minnesota. Of course that ignores the volume of water necessary to grow and process that resource. It's not a scalable approach.