Last week SAAFER attended an Energy Symposium hosted by the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech.  Overall, the theme of the symposium was solutions for energy balance at the intersection of of technology, policy, and economics.  The panelists/speakers of the event were industry leaders ranging from Ken Cohen, ExxonMobil's VP of Public Affairs, to Raefella Rossetto, a Researcher Agronomist from Sao Paulo State Department of Agriculture, Brazil.  In total 10 professionals gave presentations throughout the day.
What became appearent throughout the day, was that each person has their own reason for pursuing alternative energy.  And unfortunately, each person has their own obstacle in acheiving their goals.  One item each panelist did seem to echo was the fact that everyone is waiting for the government to make a move in one direction or the other.  But, that does not seem to be happening. 
As Raefello Rosetta presented Brazil's success story of cellulostic ethanol derived from sugar cane, I couldn't help but notice how effectively the Brazillian government intervened in their energy crisis of the 1970's.  OPEC's oil embargo affected more countries than just the United States, it affected the entire world.  Since the early 70's, Brazil has managed to become the world's leading producer of ethanol--producing almost 17 billion tons in 2007.  By taxing the "improper" useage of energy and rewarding the "proper" useage of energy, Brazil's gov't has effectively assured their country position atop a sought after pedastal for renewable energy useage.  
What struck me as "a bit odd" to say the least was Ford, GM's, Mercedes Benz, and Volkswagon's pivotal role in making ethanol a success in Brazil.  It seems we always hear about new technologies that will be available to the American public in the years to come.  However, in 2002 these same automobile manufacturers were able to mass produce flex-fuel automobiles for the Brazilian market.  The vehicles they produced were able to run off both petroleun blends as well as 100% ethanol fuel.  I realize in the US, distribution of ethanol is an issue, but it seems the public is presented the problem as if were a technological issue within the engine itself.  Obviously, this is not the case.  Since I don't exactly know the motives of US auto-manufacturers reasoning for not producing similar vehicles in the US, I'll leave that for your own assumption.