Sometime in the 2000s, if not before, ethanol’s use as an alternative auto fuel became a hot topic. Its use in Brazil is famous; why not in the US?<\/p>\n
As I understand it, a couple of motivations spurred the use of ethanol:<\/p>\n
The first motivation, I believe, has come under serious question. For instance: some people mistook “renewable” to mean “reduced carbon footprint”; the two concepts aren’t necessarily related. Wood, for example, is a renewable fuel; yet, burning wood to meet America’s energy needs would probably not be ecologically sound.<\/p>\n
The second motivation is possibly more rational. However, to make a fair judgment, one must realize that ethanol has only two thirds the energy of gasoline; therefore, the price of ethanol needs to be less than two thirds the price of gasoline for ethanol to be viable. <\/p>\n
Today, the price of gasoline is $3.43\/gallon, according to fuelgaugereport.com<\/a>. The price of ethanol, at $2.17, (dtnprogressivefarmer.com<\/a>) is less than two thirds the price of gasoline. Therefore, today, ethanol makes economic sense as an alternative to gasoline – theoretically, anyway. However, the prices of both fuels are volatile.<\/p>\n In future posts I’ll be exploring the ecological dimension of ethanol as a gasoline alternative as well as its economic aspect.<\/p>\nMy children await their return to school; all the best to those trying to reach a settlement:)<\/h2>\n