Energy 'must read'.

• Author: Johnson, Stephen I.
• Position: READERS FORUM: VIEWS ... COMMENTS ... SUGGESTIONS - Letter to the editor

Your January 2009 article, "Mileage Standards and Biofuels Aren't Silver Bullets," should be required reading for every adult, and especially every legislator in the country. It should be taught in every science class in this country. It points out the "inconvenient truths" of our energy problem.

Electricity is what separates our society from the stone age. Continuity and adequacy of electrical power have to be a top priority for government and industry.

The first and second laws of thermodynamics are not "subject to judicial review." Doing an energy balance on our society quickly shows that fossil fuels will be with us for a long time, and nuclear is the only energy source that has the potential to expand adequately to replace fossil fuels in the near term.

Just because we want "carbon neutral" biofuels to work doesn't mean they will. Only in equatorial regions do biofuels reach adequately positive energy returns, and then only at huge environmental impacts that dwarf greenhouse gas issues. Only in the United States would we provide a profit incentive (tax credit) to an energy-negative technology.

Just because we want greater energy efficiency in transportation systems doesn't mean we can achieve them. And even when we do achieve greater efficiencies (e.g...