Ethanol is a colorless flammable liquid that has had great economic value for thousands of years. Well before the industrial age it was fermented from available resources and used for various purposes. It has long been used to raise the spirits by way of a tipple, but also has significant utility as a source of fuel, light and medication, among other things.

Ethanol can be made from the sugars that are present in various plants such as corn, sugarcane and timber. Even grass can be used. Whatever crop is used involves different economic factors because the costs of production are different in each case.

The use of biofuels instead of fossil fuels would have substantial benefits for the environment. Carbon emissions would be reduced and since these are a significant cause of the pollution that is said to contribute to global warming it would appear to be the obvious course of action to follow. In the 1950s ethanol was commonly used to supplement petrol but for some reason the technology that would make biofuels more viable has been slow to develop.

Obstacles in the way of switching from fossil fuels to biofuels are largely economic. Fossil fuels were once forests of vegetable matter but were converted to coal and oil over eons of time. They simply have to be pumped from underground lakes and refined for use as petrol. Biofuels need to go through extra steps. The sun’s energy is captured by crops that have to be planted, grown and harvested before the fermentation process begins.

The shape of the industrial world has been determined by this reality. It is a misshapen world with huge excesses of wealth bulging in desert areas above oil lakes and poverty in areas where hard work, stable government and endeavor do not count sufficiently. A shift from fossil to biofuels is underway but progress is slow due to market forces.

Currently there is an anomalous discrepancy between the need to use biofuels and the practical capacity to so do. There are too many cars and not enough production capacity to supply the biofuels that would be needed to fuel them with ethanol. This means that the oil industry has won, even if the victory must be short lived as non-renewable resources diminish.

Despite the acknowledgments that change in the motor industry is inevitable the transition process is very slow. The status quo is more comfortable than change. Wealth continues to flows into the bank accounts of oil moguls who probably fund research into alternative fuel technology. The small man keeps driving his oil driven car because that is what he can afford. This impedes research into the use of ethanol and also the massive crop production that will be necessary. However, the inevitability of change remains.

More and more people are wanting to know about Ethanol for various reasons. One reason is because bio ethanol could run certain vehicles.