I've read a lot of interesting view points in this thread, and even learned some things about ethanol production. I guess my thought with the original post was that too many people seem too comfortable with this country's energy consumption the way it is. That's scary to me. The other day on the Today show (IIRC) they had a piece about solar panels becoming standard on some new houses in So. California. Yeah, it costs about $18K more to build them like that, but average electric bills instead of being $200 to $300 a month are more like $50 to $100. That seems like $18K well spent when the lower environmental impact is factored in.

I didn't mean to give the impression that corn based ethanol was the end all be all solution for gas. I didn't really think about all the fossil fuels needed to produce it. But the fact that the government is talking about E85 being available at 25% of the gas pumps in this state within the next 20 years just seems like the legislation is not seeing a problem with energy consumption as it is now. Someone from my hometown is running for Congress and in a TV add says, "I think we need to increase our ethanol production so we can end our dependence on foreign oil". How misguided is that? The sad truth, at least in my state, is that I think most people would nod their heads in agreement with that statement, not realizing that it is only a partial solution to the problem. But I suppose the candidate that says publically, "I think we need to develop hydrogen engines for cars so we can cut out all this petroleum and corn based fuel crap" would not get elected in Iowa. Maybe if we could get the Green Party revitalized...

Again, it comes down to "my dollar is my vote". I buy ethanol, because it's the best option available for the car I drive. When I get a house, I'd like to put in solar panels and maybe even a wind turbine in the back yard. I can see it now, "But honey, it really does look cool!"

I just get nervous that I'll have to tell my grandchildren stories about what trees were like... <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />