Ethanol

Ethanol can be made from non-food feedstock such as switchgrass or algae, which have high yields and do not exacerbate food scarcity.

Another thing, which is one of the main problems with Ethanol is it's corrosive due to solubility in water. Magellan Midstream Partners - a company that pipes gasoline - is planning on constructing a $3 billion ethanol pipeline. "The line would bring ethanol from production facilities in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and South Dakota to terminals in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and the New York harbor."

If done, this would greatly benefit the net energy of ethanol as the current use of trucks and trains for transportation are inefficient - both economically and environmentally.

Coincidentally, Brazil's Petrobras today announced that it plans on building the world's first ethanol-only pipeline. Petrobras says the "pipeline will carry ethanol that is mainly destined for exports to countries such as Japan."

Investors will be pleased to hear that President Bush renewed his support for ethanol today at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference. Below is what he had to say:

"The vast majority of [our] ethanol is coming from corn, and that's good. That's good if you're a corn-grower. And it's good if you're worried about national security...Corn ethanol holds a lot of promise, but there's a lot of challenges. If you're a hog-raiser in the United States, you're beginning to worry about the cost of corn to feed your animals. I'm beginning to hear complaints from our cattlemen about the high price of corn. The high price of corn is beginning to affect the price of food...I look forward to the day when people in the parts of our country that have got a lot of forests are able to convert wood chips into fuel...The job of the federal government is to expedite [this] arrival."

Futhermore, the House approved an $18 billion tax package today that would repeal a tax break for the country's five largest oil companies. The money, which would be collected over 10 years, would be used to provide tax breaks for alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, and cellulosic ethanol. But, as President Bush is against the bill, there are some problems that need to be resolved.

Formula One racing, usually referred to as F1, may be shopping around for a possible switch to ethanol, former double world champion Emerson Fittipaldi told the Web site, F1Live.com. Fittipaldi, the winner of 14 Grand Prix events, reportedly said that F1 Chief Executive Officer Bernard C. “Bernie” Ecclestone last year contacted an ethanol group in Brazil, the country whose sugar-cane-based ethanol program is viewed by many as a model to follow. Ethanol is already being used in the open-wheeled IndyCar racing series in the United States, and Fittipaldi told azcentral.com that he was “sure a lot of other categories in the world are going to follow Indianapolis. Bernie last year contacted the number one group for ethanol in Brazil.”

1. FREEDOM FROM FOREIGN OIL: Ethanol could free America from its reluctant dependence on foreign oil. This is not a pipedream, conjured up by some pro-U.S. idealists. Not at all. Brazil has turned that vision into reality, where 70% of the vehicles in that country are sustained on ethanol. Brazil's ethanol plan has successfully replaced imported oil worth an estimated $120 billion. To put it into perspective, this would translate to a savings of about $2 trillion for an economy equivalent in size to the U.S.

2. INCREASED INCOME TO U.S. FARMERS: In terms of economics, there is no clearer choice for the American public. It would mean higher farm incomes and we would see a steep increase in rural employment.

3. THE TECHNOLOGY'S IN PLACE NOW: The technology to run cars on ethanol already exists. General Motors alone has built more than 1.5 million ethanol-compliant vehicles.

4. IT'S RIDING THE "GREEN WAVE": And let's not ignore the fact that ethanol is believed to be much more environmentally friendly than our current petroleum. Many experts agree that a switch from gasoline to ethanol could significantly reduce our carbon dioxide emissions, some say by as much as 80%.