Ethanol

<a href="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=7308" >Ethanol Makes Gasoline Costlier, Dirtier</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>In his State of the Union address, President Bush spoke a lot about energy independence and alternative energy sources such as ethanol. According to the president, ethanol is the magical elixir that will solve virtually every economic, environmental, and foreign policy problem on the horizon. In reality, it's enormously expensive and wasteful.<br />n<br />nUntruths and misconceptions about ethanol include:<br />n<br />nEthanol will lead to energy independence. If all the corn produced in America last year were dedicated to ethanol production (14.3 percent of it was), U.S. gasoline consumption would drop by 12 percent. For corn ethanol to completely displace gasoline consumption in this country, we would need to appropriate all U.S. cropland, turn it completely over to corn-ethanol production, and then find 20 percent more land for cultivation on top of that.<br />n<br />nThe U.S. Energy Information Administration believes that the practical limit for domestic ethanol production is about 700,000 barrels per day, a figure they don't think is realistic until 2030. That translates to about 6 percent of the U.S. transportation fuels market in 2030. </blockquote><br />n<br />nThere is quite a few more interesting tidbits about ethanol in the article if you are interested. I'm not opposed to ethanol and I never have been, I just don't believe it's the answer to our oil problems. Therefore I tend to highlight the negative. Call it my failing but I think these contrarian things about ethanol need brought to light, it affects us all.<br />n<br />n<strong>The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star. Henry David Thoreau </strong>