Talk about a firestorm brewing, one of the mainstays of the environmental movement, which are bio fuels, are now under attack by…these same environmentalists who advocated its use in the first place! What? How can this be? Aren’t bio fuels supposed to be one of the answers for getting rid of pollution and CO2 in our atmosphere? Let’s get down to the nitty gritty, shall we?

One of the climate initiatives the current administration is wanting to develop is the implementation of bio fuels, in particular ethanol, to start replacing fossil fuels that we burn in our autos and trucks. The transition to do this and do it as fast as possible, is a serious priority, and supposedly a well meaning priority as well.

Now, no one is going to argue that ethanol being burned in a car or a truck produces less emissions than gasoline. So many studies show that ethanol burns cleaner that it has become an obvious fact. However, that isn’t the sticking point to ethanol production and usage. The big debate now centers over the way it’s made, the cost it takes to make it, and the pollutants released during production, which in scientific terms are called, indirect emissions.

These include things like cultivating the land to grow crops for ethanol production, harvesting those crops, transportation of those crops, and even land usage overall was taken into consideration. The point of that argument is that yes, ethanol burns cleaner than gas, but overall, no, it is just as polluting.

Well all you Mind Petal readers, there is or should I say was some actual proof that broke down the ethanol to gasoline energy rating, and yes it was in fact a win for gasoline production and emissions over ethanol production and emissions. As late as 2006 and possibly beyond, it was calculated that ethanol cost more in energy to make then what was left in fuel energy.

But, guess what? A brand new study released just this past January 30th by University of Nebraska, Iowa State, Michigan State, and the University of Wisconsin, found out that ethanol produces twice as much energy as it consumes. So why was this study so much different than all the others done so far? Because of new data which includes less water needed to make ethanol because of better production standards, new corn hybrids create more corn with less fertilizer, and the scraps from corn and any other plant can be turned into ethanol as well.

And then think about this for the future. Fossil fuel emissions are going to go down in the harvesting and planting of crops since eventually, all those vehicles will be burning ethanol too!

But for the Green Guy here, this is the bottom line. Even if there is a one to one ration with ethanol pollutants and gasoline pollutants, regardless of all of that, forget about anything else except one other thing, ethanol production is sustainable. Get it? We don’t have to go digging in some foreign country for our fuel, we can grow it all right here, every last drop! Not to mention, and ethanol additive to gasoline like say E-85, is already less expensive than petroleum, and ethanol will always be cheaper, which makes it automatically better for the economy.

Let’s face it, bio fuels win. I’d much rather be addicted to a fuel made in the heartland of America, keeping American dollars in this country, as opposed to paying some foreign marketplace for gas and making those foreign producers rich from American dollars.

I mean, wouldn’t you?