Problems with Ethanol

Stores of natural gas, oil, and coal that we once thought would allow us to heat our homes and fuel our cars forever are now nearing the end of their supply, and as a result countries with the last remaining deposits are becoming more selective about who they sell it to. Even if there were a never ending supply of these fuels, however, there would still be questions about whether extracting and using these energy sources is really a good practice for human and environmental health. Many people have pointed to ethanol as a solution for our energy needs, but there are some serious problems with ethanol that people need to be aware of.

In case you�re unfamiliar with the discussion about the problems with ethanol, you should know that it is a corn based fuel that can be used as a source of energy for powering cars and trucks. Many people originally thought that ethanol was both the domestically available and cleaner fuel that we have been searching for, as it has been shown that ethanol does release less toxic emissions into the air through vehicle exhaust. However, there are other questions about the viability of ethanol that we have to think about.

First of all, one of the most compelling problems with ethanol is that it requires you to raise an edible crop for production into a non-edible substance. Yes, there are many people in the world that need a greener, more sustainable fuel for their cars. However, there are even more people in the world that are starving every day because they don�t have enough food to eat. Is it really right to encourage farmers to grow corn and ship it off to be made into ethanol when it could be used to make bread and other foods?

Another one of the most important problems with ethanol that we have to consider is that it takes a lot of money and energy to process the corn into a state where it can be used as a fuel. These processes typically come with their own set of environmental concerns, making some people wonder if we�re just defeating the purpose anyway. You also have to consider the fact that there aren�t that cars that can run on ethanol tooling around the highways yet. This means that many people will have to think about buying a new car just to use this fuel.