Alternative Fuels
I am not an engineer - I do not fully comprehend the battle over using fuels other than oil - but I can read. From what I gather, hydrogen will one day be the energy source of choice, but currently it takes more energy to produce hydrogen than we can get from the hydrogen that is produced.
From what I've read, producing ethanol from corn suffers from the same problem - more energy to produce than energy released.
Apparently there is some hope for ethanol produced from switch grass or sugar cane, but I've read less about these even though there is a South American country that is meeting about 90% of their energy needs by producing ethanol from sugar cane.
What I do not understand is why there is not a massive infusion of federal money into research and development on alternative fuels such as ethanol. We could easily fund the program with a stiff tax on gasoline.
But then, I'm just a simple sort of guy.
Read an interesting article on oil as the real reason for Bush & Co.'s push for war in the middle east at Political Affairs...
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