Purposes for ethanol
April 28, 2008 | 04:35 PM

First let me say, I like ethanol, but not because it will do anything about the problems mentioned here.
I've come to many of the same conclusions about transportation in the future (I'm 24 and work in the transportation industry). Namely that we will need, for the most part, to be reliant on electric technologies for our transit systems. With that said, there will likely continue for a very long time be a need for internal combustion engines. Folks at first didn't expect the automobile to replace horses, but for 99.99% of applications they have. I think the same may be true of cars. But , there will be times that there is no better tool than internal combustion.
Also, besides transportation, there are far more people using horses for purposes of sport and enjoyment than commerce and industry. This may be the fate of the gasoline powered car as well, and in that respect ethanol is a superior fuel to most others.
For those of us out there who love our automobiles the right to drive and own a car is not totally dissimilar to the right to own a gun and hunt. Its fun, not necessity.
Oddly, for the record, though I work in transportation, I telecommute, so for me driving is very much recreational.

D White