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Biofuels are of course nonsense from energy efficiency standpoint. Biogas is produced for a different purpose: it results in storable energy, which is theoretically supposed to balance energy produced by intermittent sources. Overally, biofuels are not supposed to be energy-efficient or net energy positive. If we can one day produce oil from nothing spending 2x the energy the resulting oil will contain it will be a great achievement, even a holy grail of all renewable energy work: storable, high density renewable energy good for peak loads and for transport (worst case: airplanes).


My pet theory is the reason they are so popular is "biofuels" has the word "bio" in it, which excites the sorts of greenies that don't examine things too closely.

Supporting evidence: aggressive marketing of "probiotic" supplements




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