to-liquid fuels per day will require the permitting and construction of tens to hundreds of conversion plants and the associated fuel transport and delivery infrastructure. It will take more than a decade for these alternative fuels to penetrate the U.S. market. In addition, investments in alternative fuels have to be protected against crude-oil price fluctuations.

Integrated geologic CO₂ storage is key to producing liquid fuels from coal with greenhouse gas life-cycle emissions comparable to those of gasoline. Commercial demonstrations of coal-to-liquid and coal-and-biomass-to-liquid fuel conversion technologies with integrated geologic CO₂ storage should proceed immediately if the goal is to deploy commercial plants by 2020. Detailed scenarios for market penetration of U.S. biofuels and coal-to-liquid fuels should be developed to clarify the hurdles and challenges facing full feedstock use and to establish the enduring policies required. Current government and industry programs should be evaluated to determine whether emerging biomass and coal conversion technologies can further reduce U.S. oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade.