Ethanol Usage
Ethanol used as a fuel is quite widespread today and the industry has been growing at a record rate this decade. The usage of ethanol as a fuel however, has a long history. Currently, one is most likely to find ethanol at the gas pump in a 10% formulation in which 10% of the gasoline is ethanol. In the United States, close to where corn is grown, one can find E85 ethanol, a formulation of automobile fuel composed of 85% ethanol. Costs for the long-distance transport of ethanol are prohibitly high however, and the infrastructure has not been established.
The country famous for its use of ethanol as an automobile is Brazil, where ethanol is produced from sugarcane. The majority of cars in Brazil are flex-fuel vehicles, capable of using both alcohol and gasoline. The cheap price of ethanol compared to gasoline means that the majority of Brazilians use ethanol fuel in their cars.
Sources (for all pages in this section}
Siegel, Robert. "For Ethanol, the Future Is Now." NPR. 14 Feb 2007. National Public Radio. 6 Jan 2008 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7426827.
"Ethanol Timeline." EIA. Nov 2005. Energy Information Administration. 6 Jan 2008 http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/history/timelines/ethanol.html.
"Industry Statistics." Renewable Fuels Association. 2006. RFA. 6 Jan 2008 http://www.ethanolrfa.org/industry/statistics/#E.
Pernick , Ron. "The Clean Tech Revolution." Clean Edge. 12 Jun 2007. Clean Edge Inc. 6 Jan 2008 http://www.cleanedge.com/book/Introduction_The_Clean_Tech_Revolution.pdf.