ethanol blended fuel is sometimes hailed as a potentially great replacement for the emission-heavy fuels we use today: it burns far more cleanly while still yielding relatively high energy efficiency. but what are the drawbacks that we're not told about?

ethanol isn't created naturally on any scale that would be useful in creating a fuel industry. instead, it's proposed that we simply farm corn and other grains and then process them to create fuel-grade ethanol. what's being ignored here, though, is the environmental implication of growing that much corn and grain for the purposes of using it as fuel. the human race is already undergoing a population transition that is pushing the earth's ability to sustain it. arable land is being used up, and contrary to the belief of the over-educated and under-critical economists who have a voice in the news media, there simply isn't enough land left to use. in destroying natural habitat to create farming space, we're leaching the earth of its nutrients, irreversibly changing the ecosystems which we're invariably and inevitably a part of, and destroying a veritable wealth of scientific discovery before it has the chance to be made.

secondly, that much farming requires a massive amount of fresh water which, globally, is also quickly becoming a scarce resource. the united states is racing to deal with a water shortage in california, china has been flirting with a water-shortage disaster for decades, and in some middle eastern countries refining saltwater is already the primary source of fresh water. so even if there were enough land to support an ethanol-based fuel industry (which there certainly isn't, as any properly trained and aware biologist or ecologist will be able to tell you), there wouldn't be enough fresh water available to support it. at present, there's barely enough fresh water to sustain the global human population as is, and in some places, there simply isn't enough; over two-thirds of the world's population are living in areas of insufficient water supply, and the death rate due to this is climbing steadily.

at the same time, however, it's not terribly surprising that ethanol-"blended" fuels are being pushed on us as the next most reasonable, affordable, and sustainable type of fuel. most of us have heard it before, and it has the ring of conspiracy theorizing to it, but government and the automotive industry have a large part to play in the suppression of viable, sustainable, and efficient alternative fuel sources, as long as they still stand to gain from keeping such things out of the public mind. the simple fact the hybrid cars aren't built with plug-in capability is testament to the fact that automotive companies want us to continue to use petroleum-based fuels for as long as possible. (consider that after-market plug-in conversions are not only safe, but readily available for virtually all hybrid cars on the market today, and often offer better battery capability than the factory does; yet, none of the major car manufacturers offer plug-in hybrids at present.)

the bottom line is that even when car manufacturers and fuel companies seem to be offering something "better", "cleaner", or "more efficient", the chance is, unfortunately, that it's still nowhere near the best that they can do.

let's hope and pray that someone with both brains and a sense of charity discovers a truly efficient fuel and puts that knowledge in the public domain before the government and the auto manufacturers get their greedy hands on it.