Toyota executive takes on bio-fuels

On the World Wide Automotive Report on Friday, January 12 they played an interesting clip of a speech given by Bill Reinert of Toyota a few days ago on biofuels. Reinert is the National Alternative Fuel Vehicle Manager at Toyota. He acknowledged that while biofuels are an important bridge technology, there are also a lot of issues with them. He mentioned that there is a huge 1,400 square mile dead zone at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico caused by all the fertilizer and pesticide run-off coming down the Mississippi River. He also warned not to confuse farm policy with energy policy. Although he said he was a fan of ethanol, he thinks it has to be done using sustainable farming methods. There are also issues with the water use that would be required for the amount of corn farming required for mass ethanol production. Reinert goes on to talk about biodiesel and rain forest destruction as well. Go give it a listen at the Read link (which in this case should be marked as an MP3 link).
[Source: World Wide Automotive Report]