Cellulosic ethanol: A fuel for the future?

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Many are missing the larger point I believe

The practical and strategic importance of ethanol is greater than its environmental importance at the moment, in my opinion.

The United States must eliminate its dependency on any vital product or natural resource that is imported from the Middle-East due to the volatile political nature of that region.

With a fully-committed, moon-landing type program initiated in the USA regarding cellulosic ethanol production we could be producing a significant percentage of our vehicle fuel requirements within ten to fifteen years. That would greatly reduce our need to purchase natural resources, or much of anything really from the Middle East. They don't sell us much aside from an extraordinary amount of oil anyway so we could distance ourselves from the entire region economically and politically by switching to mass domestic production of ethanol. We would maintain diplomatic relations with the Middle Eastern countries of course but we wouldn't have life and death strategic interests in the region. That in turn would greatly reduce the need, or the excuse for the United States to interfere with and intervene in Middle Eastern squabbles and politics in general.

israel would either learn to live with its neighbors, or conquer them, or be conquered, or some variation on all those possibilities could occur. I am an American and I am concerned with America first. Middle Eastern politics and the arguments contries in the region have amongst themselves do not interest me nor should they concern any American. The Middle East is half-way round the world. I would not like to see the nations in the region go to war but if it's destined to happen then leave the United States out of it. An important and expedient step toward positioning the United States to stay out of any localized conflict would be to develop a domestic source of vehicle fuel. That, in conjunction with a mandatory fuel-efficiency improvement in American motor vehicles would drastically reduce the amount of petroleum consumption in the USA. In addition, Brasil is an huge producer and exporter of ethanol. Any shortfalls in American production could be made up with imports from Brasil, a far more friendly and less politically troubled and troublesome trading partner than are the Middle Eastern states.

Eventually the internal combustion engine probably will be phased out. But that is an enormous change in direction for the United States and the USA never changes direction quickly. So an intermediary step would be to make a concerted effort to maximize ethanol production in the USA, which greatly reduces Middle East oil imports. Ethanol is similar or superior to gasoline in most properties and we can produce it ourselves virtually forever. What we cannot produce ourselves we can buy from friendlier nations that require less courting and diplomatic attention than the Middle Eastern states. Ethanol would serve as a sort of "auxiliary power" source that is compatible with existing wheeled-vehicle infrastructure. It's a liquid fuel just like gasoline. To fuel and run cars with ethanol requires only minor engineering changes to existing automobile engine and fuel system design. Re-fueling facilities across the United States are built to receive and dispense liquid fuel so there would be little if any change required in the "gas station business" and motor fuel delivery sectors of the economy.

In my opinion the number one priority for the United States is to eliminate petroleum imports from the Middle East -- and the reasons for that are strategic and geopolitical. Mass ethanol production in the USA is a giant step toward motor vehicle fuel self-sufficency and substituting ethanol for gasoline would not involve major changes in the current wheeled-vehicle infrastructure. Since cellulosic ethanol production is a proven technology and I would strongly suggest that it should be pursued and improved with a space program type commitment.

Regards,

Jonny V

Posted by: Jonny Verdorben   Posted on: 10/28/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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