Green doc needs more 'Fuel' to drive point home

The documentary "Fuel" probes sustainable energy, but with an approach that does not appear to be sustainable itself.

One of its first talking heads is none other than dismissed green czar Van Jones, who recently claimed he didn't know that a petition he'd signed extolled our government's involvement in 9/11.

Jones resigned anyway, thus demonstrating there is such a thing as Truther Consequences (I apologize for this obscure joke, as I realize anyone old enough to remember the origin of the pun has forgotten said origin).

Anyway, "Fuel" documentarian Josh Tickell says of 9/11: "We may never know what happened that day."

Oh, fudge. I was looking forward to a fun documentary about energy independence from an upbeat guy who drives around in a biodiesel van, which "Fuel" is for about two minutes, until it commences a long, dull rehash of "Fahrenheit 9-11," complete with powerful oil companies and subservient elected officials.

At one point, the baby-faced Tickell adopts a very solemn voice and asks, "Is our government for sale?"

I'm afraid so, Josh. I think you can get a congressman now on Craigslist for less than the price of a massage.

"Fuel" is about as plodding and stale as it can be for nearly an hour. Until it suddenly and miraculously becomes informative, leading to a lively second half.

This section begins with a quick bio of Franco-German genius Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the eponymous engine, a revolutionary machine that Rudolf saw as being powered by plant-based oils, freeing farmers to prosper independently.

Tickell reports that Henry Ford designed his early cars to run on ethanol, and abandoned the approach only after Prohibition banned all forms of alcohol production.

Flash forward to the modern, energy-efficient, low-emission diesel engine, and modern advances in biodiesel production. He covers the debates about food vs. fuel, and points to promising new advances in the field of algae-derived biodiesel and other sustainable alternatives to food-based sources.

"Fuel" has a talking-down didacticism, but it's also interesting - Tickell interviews pilot-project entrepreneurs figuring out ways to reuse waste, suck up carbon dioxide and produce energy in the bargain.

If I were filling the vacant green czar post, I'd start looking there.