Producer Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Asian governments are caught between an ever-increasing demand for cheap energy to fuel development and an unabating rise in global oil prices. A few South-east Asian governments are feeling the financial pain of costly fuel subsidies and are looking elsewhere for energy sources. The hunt for alternative energy sources has led Asian nations to explore biofuel technology, among others.

Ethanol and other biofuels allow us to use solar energy (collected by plants or even salvaged from trash) instead of fossil fuels just by mixing them with the gasoline and diesel we already use. There is a lot to be said for them, and the government (U.S.) is right to encourage their use.

The business of biofuels is booming. Rarely has a product of agriculture seen its market expand by double-digit growth rates year in and year out. But that is exactly what is happening as a result of the phenomenal demand for alternatives to petroleum-derived gasoline and diesel: respectively, bio-ethanol and biodiesel.