Ethanol From Waste Straw

> > "NREL's research showed that one quad (ten billion gallons) of
biodiesel
> > could be produced from 200,000 hectares of desert land

Err, this is nonsense.

You can grow precisely nothing on desert land, that is why it is
called "desert".

To convert desert land into arable land is a massive undertaking,
involving major infrastructure investments, e.g. irrigation and
transportation.

The cost of this project would be comparable to the cost of
building a constellation of solar power satellites.

BTW, in Saudia Arabia they have created some arable land out of
desert because they do not wish to be reliant on western sources of
food. They are willing to pay a premium for very expensive wheat
grown domestically, rather than import it at a much lower cost. And
they have the money to pay for it.