Turey, I thought these may be of interest to you and others.
Bio fuel used for Virgin Atlantic from London to Amsterdam:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a_h18_i9kSvs&refer=news

and proposed Hondurian eco-residences:
http://oceanovillage.com/Environmental_Plan.pdf

Maybe some possibilities for those 3000 acres in Luana

Thanks hotb, hydrogen from bacteria etc is promising.

If plants can extract and store energy from the sun which can be extracted and used for fuel, why not extract and store energy from the sun directly.

Solar cells and solar heating are clean. Yes to produce the components do have polluting effects but long term these are cleaner than burning bio produced hydrocarbons including alcohols.

Land also has to be set aside and monoculture practices are a concern.

What would it take to convert idle sugar plantations to alcohol producers. It could be a step towards independence and sustainability.

Why are solar cells not made in Ja and sold at reasonable prices?

It seems there may be a problem making bio-fuel. Food prices are rapidly climbing as result of so much grain, particularly corn, being used to make it.

Every solution to the energy problem seems to have a dark side unfortunatly. Except try and use less fuel and really work on the solar source.

Janet, you're right that there's a big concern with using food crops to generate bio fuel.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060722/food.asp
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0128/p03s03-usec.html
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch=specialsections&sc=biofuels &id=18173&a=

But when you use sugar cane its not only easier/cheaper to convert into bio fuel, it also negates (or at least decreases) the increase of food prices.
http://aglaw.blogspot.com/2007/04/brazilian-ethanol-better-biofuel.html
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5587

Rum might get more dear, though... :-)
But isn't Jamaica's sugar cane industry in trouble anyway? I wonder if it would in fact effect sugar/rum/etc prices.

Of course, this skirts the whole issue of whether it helps the net carbon output or not.

I sense a lot of hesitation and passing of the buck.....internationally and with the great majority of us 6 or 7 billion.

Those that hoped the need for cleaning up our act was bad science or a conspiracy of some kind are either in deep denial or slowly peeping with one eye.

New technologies are evolving that can enable us to live well and sanely.

The excuse that the change is too costly, use the $ based accounting system exclusively.

Ones carbon footprint rating is inevitable.

Wealth of another sort is and will be more and more self generated power, water managment and soil/bioshphere enrichment contibutions.

What is a healthy bearing bombay mango tree worth? fruit yes but beauty, oxygen enrichment, species shelter etc too. And each seed gives a tree that properly engrafted produces another tree and so on. I knew old boys...and girls that retired on such projects.

What is the value of a pond fed with catchment water, circulated by solar powered pumps
cleaned by water plants and host to various fish and reptiles.

And I dream on........it's all doable too.

Check Cuban urban gardens on the computer.

Combine that possibility with clean tech help from outside.