Kicking The
Fossil Fuel Habit

A special report by Nature’s Wisdom Editor, Jo Lynne Valerie

While both methanol and ethanol have been considered by scientists as a replacement for fossil fuel, ethanol is getting a lot of attention right now. Both fuels can be obtained from either petroleum or natural gas but ethanol can also be obtained from agricultural produce. Grains such as corn, soybeans, sugarcane or lactose can yield ethanol, providing a renewable source as compared to the finite amount of fossil fuel that can be sucked out of the earth. Perhaps best yet, since it occurs in nature whenever yeast finds a sugar solution (such as overripe fruit), most organisms have evolved some tolerance to ethanol. And it’s emissions are naturally low in toxins. But the good news goes beyond the facts that these new fuels are cleaner and thus better for the planet, or that they could be manufactured in the USA. Agriculturally derived ethanol fuel requires the growth and harvest of a sufficient amount of produce, and all aspects of processing and production. Should the U.S. name ethanol our new fuel source, an untold number of jobs would be created, giving our economy a major boost.

VEGGIE OIL FUEL, ANYONE?
Brazil and Columbia are already using it. Currently, Brazil is the largest producer of Ethanol fuel in the world, having developed an extensive ethanol fuel industry in the 1980s. Columbia’s first sugarcane-ethanol plant began production in 2005. The $20 million plant, Ingenio del Cauca, owned and financed by businessman Carlos Ardila, outputs 300,000 liters a day. The plant is the first of five; with a total $100 million invested, the rest should be operational in the coming months.

Charris Ford, an alternative fuels advocate in Telluride, Colorado, drives a modified biodiesel fuel truck fueled by vegetable oil that he collects from restaurants. He says, simply: “It’s time to start getting sane about how we produce energy and how we use energy.” Ford is a leader in what he hopes will grow into a revolution of sorts, he believes that vegetable fuels can and should do more than fuel vehicles; he sees them as a viable lubricant for industrial applications such as the operation of heavy machinery. Ford stars in French Fries To Go, reminiscent of the wildly controversial but popular Supersize Me. French Fries To Go is an independent film on the use of vegetable oil in lieu of petroleum and spends his days promoting the potential for vegetable oil fuels.

Many folks are asking the question - shouldn’t this be a nobrainer? Ah, not so fast. Conversely, vegetable oil fuels currently comprise less than one percent of the North American market share, according to recent statistics. And, the unreliability of vegetable fuel at both high and low temperatures, stands in the way of mass market appeal. When they get too hot, they oxidize and break apart; when they get too cold, they solidify. Researchers at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) in Peoria, Illinois are working on that. Meanwhile, Charris Ford isn’t the only Ford interested in vegetable fuels. A U.S. motor company giant has gotten into the game, and others have followed.

REV ‘EM UP
It’s right on the Ford Motor Company web site: a bright red heading that reads “Ethanol Vehicles.” Close by are listed the benefits of their new line of ethanol vehicles, and information about this agriculturally produced fuel. Ford Motor Company’s ethanol vehicles use a combination of ethanol (85%) and gasoline (15%), which, they say, makes them flexible - they can run on ethanol, gasoline or a combination of both fuels in the same tank. Manufacturers such as Toyota and GM are following suit, currently offering their own versions of hybrid vehicles.

WHY THE HESITATION?
Hard to say. We know that ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline, with far fewer standard regulated pollutants (such as carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons). We know that U.S. produced agriculture based ethanol fuel would boost the economy and decrease greenhouse gasses. We know ethanol would release us from dependency on foreign fuels. For some, the concern is that an agriculture-based fuel economy would increase the need for the government to subsidize farming. Others argue that densely populated countries such as Europe would be unable to produce this fuel. Still others point out the high cost of converting gas pumps at stations nationwide and the resultant pile-up of gasoline vehicles. Still, the future seems clear. With President Bush granting additional funds to produce greater quantities of ethanol in the coming years and giants like Ford, Toyota and GM designing entire lines of vehicles, it seems the United States will soon be growing, rather than importing, it’s fuel.