In spite of diminishing reserves and increasing costs of petroleum, the energy future will continue to be dominated by fossil fuels, particularly oil and gas. However, for a sustained growth scenario, renewable energies have started penetrating the market with a share ranging from 10-15%. The use of food crops as feed stocks for producing ethanol and other fuels have led to an undesirable competition for these commodities, which in turn places tremendous pressure on the world's crop lands. Therefore, the development of arid-adapted crops for fuels would ease or eliminate the competition, thereby allowing an agricultural economic base to be maintained in arid and semi-arid regions without the destructive effects of intensive irrigated agriculture. The potential of arid/semi-arid land plants such as Jojoba, Jatropha curcas, Karanja, Salvadora, etc. for obtaining liquid fuels, semi-synthetic lubricants, additives and value addition of byproducts for energy and non-energy applications will be discussed. The presentation will also highlight a data base of synthetic oils & their formulations for various applications. This seminar will be broadcast live on the ISTC website www.istc.illinois.edu and also archived there for later viewing.