The Lexus' whirligig is familiar from the Toyota Camry and Avalon hybrids: a lean-burning Atkinson-cycle, 2.5-liter in-line four-cylinder (156 hp) coupled with two electric motors, one a 141-hp traction motor, the other a starter-generator.

WSJ: 2013 Lexus ES 300h Review: A Smooth, Elegant Guilt-Eraser | Rumble Seat by Dan Neil

If you look at across the whole life cycle of growing corn, making ethanol and burning it in a car, and compare that to what happens when you find oil and make gasoline and burn it in a car, you only have about 15 percent less greenhouse gas going into the air from burning ethanol than you would if you're burning gasoline.

NPR: Biofuels and Food Prices