Here's an important point: there are already off-the-shelf substitutes for
fossil fuels. You could run your car on renewable methane tomorrow
afternoon if you wanted to. Here's the problem... it's more expensive. So
are all the current or forseeable alternatives.


Maxprop wrote:
Why is ethanol completely ignored?

I don't know.

... We can grow corn til the cows come home
(provided they don't take a shortcut through the cornfield). It's the most
practical renewable resource today, and would benefit one of the most
beleagured segments of society: farmers. Our local ethanol plant can
produce a gallon of ethanol for less than 25 cents.

Hmm..

Ethanol produces far less energy per unit burned, but not 85% less. So
if this plant can really sell ethanol at 25c /gallon then it should be
doing a booming business.


... Auto engines can be
made to run on pure or slightly modified ethanol for less cost than to
convert them to run on methane, and for a tiny fraction of the cost of
hydrogen fuel cell technology.


Agreed, the current approved mix is %15 ethanol by volume but for some
reason pitch a fit about it.



Yeah, but once the species livng there are wiped out, they're gone. Kaput.
How are you going to "clean up" extinct species?


You don't. They become the oil for the next generation of higher beings,
say, 20 billion years hence. g


You mean, when cockroaches finally replace us?

Now here I disagree. Prince William Sound has still not recovered fully
from the Exxon Valdez spill.


Some say it never will recover completely. Dig down into the beach sand and
you'll find crude a few thousand years from now. Same with the bottom of
the sound.

An "ethanol spill" would have less than 10% the net deleterious effect of a
crude spill, and the long-term effects would be negligible.


2 points- ethanol evaporates quickly, so it's more likely to cause air
pollution than water pollution; and since it's produced int eh
cornfields we wouldn't be transporting it in huge ships anyway... well
maybe to Japan


So why is ethanol ignored? Simple: big oil wants it ignored. Far from
perfect, alcohol possesses almost none of the negative environmental impact
issues of petroleum.


Agreed. Why don't you send Cheney a memo on that. He won't return my calls.

DSK