Originally Posted by
Daox
Increasing ethanol production is all about reducing dependence on foreign oil sources. Its really not a bad idea. However, the current way of making it with corn is pretty inefficient. But, cellulosic ethanol production is just starting to get going. It is a much more efficient production process and will drop ethanol prices. Using this method you can use almost any biomass to make ethanol... Just think, in towns they could collect your grass clippings and leaves in the fall to make gas for your car. IMO thats just awesome.
Ethanol itself as a fuel is actually pretty nice as it has some diesel like properties which allow high compression ratios to be used. If engines were designed for ethanol it could be a great fuel. However, we only have these flex fuel engines which make design compromises to run on both gas and ethanol.