Ethanol Fuel

The environmentally friendly Grist magazine has published an interesting post about the ethanol mania happening lately. Bill Gates is investing in ethanol, George Bush has been talking about ethanol, and car manufacturers like Ford and General Motors are turning towards Ethanol enabled vehicles.
Everyone is talking about the economic and environmental benefits of investing in ethanol fuels, but is ethanol really the answer to an addiction to oil?
Corn at the Right Time
"ethanol is often touted as a boon for the environment, the scientific and green communities have long been divided over its eco-benefits. Most ethanol is made from corn, and industrial corn production utilizes significant inputs of fossil-fuel-based products, from fertilizers to the gasoline used to run farm equipment. A number of scientists -- most prominent among them David Pimentel, a professor of agricultural sciences and insect ecology at Cornell University -- have argued that the fossil-fuel inputs required to grow corn actually exceed the amount of energy yielded by the resulting ethanol, a discrepancy known as a "negative energy balance." Grist
# Ethical Investing