This is my second time doing this blog, so bear with me. Today I was thinking about ethanol, after reading an editorial in my local newspaper about it. I have mixed feelings about ethanol. I like the fact that it will help a lot of struggling farmers (or at least, it seems like that would logically follow), but there are quite a few kinks that need to be worked out at this time. The editorial mentioned just how much corn production will need to be increased to generate enough ethanol to meet current and future demands, as well as feed people. Will we end up growing corn at the expense of other crops, just to make ethanol? Also, how are we going to produce ethanol with the corn?? It sounds great when you see the commercials for a car manufacturer building cars that can run on ethanol, because it is cleaner and renewable. However, here in Indiana, I have read about coal-burning power plants as the proposed energy source for some ethanol plants. Another plant may burn tires as the energy source. Doesn't sound so clean anymore, unfortunately. Ethanol takes a lot of energy to produce. So, I think we need to focus on ways to make ethanol more efficiently and in a cleaner way, such that we are not causing more pollution in order to make a less polluting fuel. Further, how are we going to transport the ethanol to its destinations?? Are we going to use trucks that run on gasoline or diesel for fuel? Again, it seems counterproductive if the intent is to decrease our reliance on foreign oil and/or put out less pollutants into the air.

I really believe ethanol and other bio-fuels, like the use of soybeans, have lots of potential. Yet, before we get ahead of ourselves, let's try to work on some of the potential pitfalls.