Looks like inventors are focusing their energies in the right places these days. According to intellectual property law firm Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C., who publishes the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index every quarter, 274 clean energy patents were granted last quarter. This is 31 more than the previous quarter and 57 more than in the same quarter last year.

Another record high was in the biofuels sector. “Biofuel patents reached an all time quarterly high at 13 and were up 2 relative to the first quarter and up 8 over a year before,” according to the press release.

Geographically, Japan led with 75 new patents, California was second with 29, Michigan and Germany tied for third with 23 patents, and New York and Korea tied for fifth with a respectable 15 patents. In addition to Honda, the top companies were GM, Toyota, GE, Nissan, and Panasonic Corp.

Bentley just released a photo of it’s first foray into the world of eco-friendly cars with a biofuel luxury car that it promises will be the fastest, most powerful and clean car the company has ever built. The biofuel Bentley will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March as a testament toward the automaker’s goal of reducing the average CO2 emissions of its entire fleet.

The problem lies in the supposed benefits of biofuel. Switching to biodiesel on a large scale requires considerable use of our arable area. Even modest usages of biodiesel would consume almost all cropland in some countries in Europe. If the same thing was to happen globally, the impact on the world’s food supply could be a disastrous. Biodiesel also tends to reduce fuel economy, and is less suitable for use in low temperatures.