by John Gregory

Created on: August 06, 2009

Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol, does not threaten our economy. In fact, if ethanol production is properly implemented on a local scale it will enable any country to become energy independent, clean the air, and improve the economy by creating many new small-scale business opportunities to solve unemployment. Here's why:

Any country that has sunlight and land can produce ethanol from plants. Brazil only uses 1% of it's land to grow sugarcane to produce the ethanol to power half of it's cars.

Feedstock plants used to make ethanol take carbon dioxide out of the air and ingest it into the root system of the plant to vastly improve the fertility of the soil if the plants are grown in a permaculturally designed mixed-crop system. Studies have shown that in a permaculturally designed mixed-crop system, the amount of greenhouse gases removed from the air by the feedstock plants and then ingested into the soil through the root system can be 13 times what is emitted when you convert the plants to ethanol and then burn the ethanol in an automobile.

Oil is increasingly becoming a scarce commodity and when the world comes out of the current economic downturn and demand for oil increases, we will likely see $4.00/gallon gas again. Without no problems at all, I'm already burning up to 65% ethanol in a 2006 Toyota Camry with no modifications to the engine. Yes, fuel mileage has suffered somewhat, but it's teaching me to slow down and drive closer to the speed limit. I live in an area in the southeast where E85 pumps (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) are readily available and am considering getting a $350 alcohol conversion kit to be prepared to save money when gas prices begin to spike again. In addition, automobile engines that have been specially designed to burn ethanol have been shown to get at least 22% better fuel mileage than gas or diesel.

No new technological breakthroughs are needed to produce ethanol. All that's needed is for enough people to have the courage to invest in small production facilities. Before doing this they should find local farmers (preferably within 10 miles) that are willing to grow the most efficient feedstocks (and by the way, corn is not a very efficient plant from which to make ethanol from, it just happens to be plentiful), find local buyers willing to buy the ethanol, and do the business math to determine how much greater the price received from the buyer is than the cost of the feedstock and the production process.

The byproducts

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