In the US Heartland, we are hearing about more and more ethanol plants. The nearby “big little” town of Enid, Oklahoma, is working on a second plant, even before completing the first. So you know that this is big and exploding.
But we are also hearing some contrarian voices, knocking ethanol as not all its promoted to be. So what’s the truth? Alex Halperin, writing in BusinessWeek, poses Ten questions — and answers — about the fuel that’s supposed to save the economy.
Some of the questions he answers are:
- What exactly is ethanol?
- Beyond high gas prices, why is everyone talking about ethanol?
- Are there any problems with ethanol?
- Doesn’t producing ethanol on a large scale use a great deal of energy?
- So where can I find ethanol?
- Is ethanol cheaper than gas?
- What companies stand to benefit from increased ethanol use?
- What can we expect to change in the future?