Ethanol has the potential to represent substantial energy resources worldwide but the most promising ethanol production strategies are unproven on a commercial scale, may not be economical for some time, and will certainly entail side effects and limitations not yet completely understood. We do know that large-scale ethanol production will require vast water resources, endanger areas reserved for conservation, spur deforestation, and decrease food security. The net greenhouse gas impact could be positive or negative depending on the type of feedstock plant materials, the process used to distill the biofuels, and the difference in reflected solar radiation between biofuel crops and the preexisting vegetation.

Alternately, if we focused our efforts on cutting energy consumption in half, which would still leave us with more energy per capita than numerous other nations with comparable standards of living, we wouldn’t need to find additional locations for ethanol facilities but could rather decide which existing fuel plants should be decommissioned first.

Ozzie Zehner

Ozzie Zehner is an energy consultant and the Executive Director of Imagitrends.com, a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit. His forthcoming book, The Alternative Energy Fetish: Better Alternatives to Alternative Energy, will be published in 2010.