Abstract
This paper argues that the large-scale diversion of food-crops towards bio-fuels is an ill-advised move that could have catastrophic consequences against little gain. The paper reveals that the large-scale diversion of food crops such as corn for producing ethanol has resulted in sky-rocketing food prices around the world. The paper also discusses the indirect effects of producing ethanol that arguably results in greater emission of carbon-dioxide as large forested areas, particularly in the Amazon, are cleared for growing crops. The paper argues further that corn-based ethanol is an unviable proposition, mainly because the ethanol would anyway only fulfill a minuscule amount of the total gasoline requirement in the country. The paper therefore concludes that producing corn-based ethanol is simply not worth the human suffering and environmental damage it can cause.

Outline:
Rising Grain and Food Prices
Effect on the Amazon
Corn-based Ethanol is Unviable
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Barely a couple of years ago bio ethanol fuel was the undisputed 'darling' of environmentalists and government policy makers alike. It was being touted as a clean and renewable alternative to fossil fuels that would tame the galloping oil prices, cure the United State's 'addiction' to imported oil, and control the on-going global warming threatening the world's environment. The overenthusiastic proponents of bio-fuels had obviously not catered for the unintended consequences of an untried policy. The large-scale diversion of food crops such as corn for producing ethanol has resulted in sky-rocketing food prices around the world, and precipitated the worst food crisis in decades."

Tags:grain, food, prices, agriculture, Amazon, environment, energy

Abstract
In this paper, the writer examines how environmentally friendly ethanol consumption really is and whether it can practically reduce the cost and foreign dependence on oil. The writer looks at the research to determine the extent to which the U.S. has the resources available to produce ethanol and sustain further fuel independence in the country. The writer reveals that it is highly improbable that the U.S. can sustain a conversion of fuel usage which supports the country's staggering amount of people and processes on a daily basis. The writer contends that just because everyone is desperate to find a solution to our foreign oil dependence, and eager to find a 'savior' of the American economy and the environment, it does not mean that this solution of ethanol is necessarily going to work.

Outline:
Introduction
Body
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Ethanol is a popular new alternative to fuel. The question is, how much of an alternative is it really? Further, does this new option really offer any alternative to gas, and does it truly offer a cost benefit and environmentally friendly to gas? The real key to fuel is the ability to get us to stop depending on foreign gas, and the real economic triumph of any fossil fuel. How possible this truly is must be gathered from current research. The skeptical approach further reveals whether there is a potential for ethanol to be economical, cost efficient, and environmentally friendly fuel alternative."

Tags:biofuels, oil, dependence, combustion, crops

Abstract
This paper explores the possibility of using ethanol as a fuel made from renewable crops. In particular, the paper looks at cellulosic ethanol, which can be produced from agricultural, municipal and forestry waste, corn stalks, sawdust, and waste paper. The author provides a short write up on the chemical qualities and characteristics of ethanol and mentions other countries such as Brazil that have been using ethanol as fuel. The paper advocates the environmental advantages of using ethanol as a renewable alternative fuel and suggests that there should be more support for research on ethanol to be used as fuel on a wide scale.

From the Paper
"Rumplestiltskin, a well-known fairy tale, tells about a poor miller's daughter who must spin straw into gold or die. Magic only can help her. Today, with rapidly rising gasoline prices, many Americans hope alternative fuels will soon be developed--and are hoping for some similar kind of magic. Bio-fuels could offer the solution to the problem, particularly ethanol. The challenge is to find cost-effective ways to make ethanol out of such renewable resources as corn, soybeans, sugarcane, the stems and leaves of plants, forest cuttings, wood chips, and all the non-food parts of crops that currently are burned or buried."

Tags:renewable fuel, recycling

Abstract
This paper provides a discussion of the use of corn to make ethanol fuel. The issues related to using billions of bushels of corn for fuel instead of food are discussed on the domestic and international level, along with other issues related to government policies required for the successful production of ethanol and protection of food sovereignty.

From the Paper
"Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol, is defined as an alcohol obtained from the fermentation of sugars and starches or bychemical synthesis. Ethanol is the intoxicating ingredient in alcoholic drinks and is also used as a solvent in explosives and as an additive to or replacement for petroleum-based fuels. Ethanol has been used for thousands of years by human beings as an intoxicant in beverages. One historian notes that dried residues discovered on year-old pottery in Northern China implies..."

Tags:fossil fuels, environment, hunger, commodities, prices, supermarket, groceries, energy, poverty

Abstract
This paper explores the progress of ethanol as a fuel derived from renewable crops. It particularly focuses on cellulosic ethanol, which can be produced from agricultural, municipal and forestry waste, corn stalks, sawdust and waste paper. The paper discusses all of these options, as well as the viability of being able to produce enough to significantly reduce the United States dependence on foreign oil.

Table of Contents:
History of Ethanol
Current Uses of Ethanol
Arguments For and Against Ethanol as a Major Alternative Fuel
Retooling for Ethanol
Conclusion

From the Paper
"United States would require an "area of energy crops as large as the current area of food crops grown in the United States. Additional land use of this magnitude would be staggering and contentious" (p. 18). According to Haroon S. Kheshgi, an engineer for EXXonMobil Research, nothing will replace petroleum because to run an average U. S. car with corn-derived ethanol for a year would require 14 acres of cropland--about nine times more land than is needed to feed one person the same length of time. Aside from the fact that Kheshgi is invested in the oil industry, this argument, does not consider the use of agricultural waste products as the source or use of the by-products of distilling ethanol. If the land were still used to grow food, and the wastes were used for ethanol, benefits to the environment would be great. Also, if hydrogen power is the ultimate goal, ethanol could be "part of a transition strategy for shifting from today's internal combustion engine technology to tomorrow's hydrogen-based engines" (Issues in Science & Technology, 2002, p. 17)."

Tags:cellulosic, alcohol, agriculture

Abstract
Discusses benefits of ethanol as a renewable fuel & valuable resource. Fuel Cell technology. Internal combustion engine & exhaust problems of air pollution. Expansion of ethanol use. "Flex-fuel" vehicles. How fuel cells work. Effect on environment. Need to use ethanol as a fuel resource, not as a waste product.

From the Paper
"Ethanol, once considered a hazardous waste product of many industrial processes is no longer viewed in that light. Now, it is a valuable resource, much sought after, particular in fuel cell technology (Ethanol as a renewable fuel, 2000). The internal combustion engine gains its energy from the heat released during the combustion of the non-reacted working fluids, the oxidizer-fuel mixer (Britannica, 2000). The process occurs within the engine, and is a part of the thermodynamic cycle of the device. Useful work generated by the internal combustion engine results from the hot, gaseous products of combustion acting on moving surfaces of the engine, such as the face of a piston, a turbine blade, or a nozzle.


The most common example of the internal combustion engine, the intermittent combustion engine, is characterized by periodic..."

Abstract
This paper discusses the production of bio-ethanol fuel as an alternative to fossil fuels, in Brazil. The paper begins by giving a summary of the political and economic background of Brazil and goes on to describe why the production of bio-ethanol has been so successful in Brazil. The paper presents the pros and cons of bio-ethanol production and concludes that, at this stage, the advantages of producing ethanol for fuel use appear to outweigh the disadvantages.

From the Paper
"Overall, the advantages of producing ethanol for fuel use appear to outweigh the disadvantages, which at this stage, are believed to be manageable. The first benefit is the decrease of the net output of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, since the amount of carbon dioxide released in the manufacture would be cyclically absorbed in the production of the new fuel crops (Wikipedia 2006). The burning of fossil fuels brings up massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere without creating damage. But this advantage can be derived only from agricultural ethanol, not petroleum ethanol. It is also assumed that production processes, like distillation and fertilizer production, would not exact large amounts of energy and done without using fossil fuels (Wikipedia)."

Tags:fossil, butanol, contamination

Abstract
A look at the invention of ethanol- actually by a German in 1860- so it is not a new fuel souorce, but research is showing that tyhe cost of converting corn to ethanol is far too costly to make it an efficient fuel source, and the rising costs for feed and huiman consumption are an off-setting problem in figuring whether ethanol is truly worth it...more research and other alternatives are needed.

From the Paper
ETHANOL As Gas prices continue to soar- as of today, wholesale prices have shot up over $100/barrel, and as Americans continue to drive gas guzzlers, efforts are increasing to find alternative sources of fuel. Ethanol, distilled from corn, is one such potential. We will examine why there are problems with both cost of manufacture and public acceptance, and whether this can be the single most effective alternative fuel to be considered as THE petroleum substitute. Currently, ethanol production requirements have changed the face of corn production in many agricultural states: "The U.S. ethanol industry

Tags:fossil fuels, corn, ethanol

Abstract
This paper discusses the concept of corn as fuel and how humanity and human lifestyle changes must be affected in order to support this type of conceptual shift. The apper explains that the conceptual shift is the move from perceiving corn as food to viewing it as a reliable and sustainable form of fuel. Additionally, the paper asserts that corn as fuel, which is ethanol, must also be accepted within the economic framework as well as the infrastructural mechanisms such as the automotive industry in order to be effective at reducing human dependence on petroleum fuel sources. The paper argues that the processing of corn into fuel results in ethanol as well as biodiesel within certain processes and these are all important developments that require humanity to redefine how it perceives itself.

From the Paper
"This document discusses the concept of corn as fuel and how humanity and human lifestyle changes must be affected in order to support this type of conceptual shift. The conceptual shift is the move from perceiving corn as food to viewing it as a reliable and sustainable form of fuel. Additionally, corn as fuel, which is ethanol, must also be accepted within the economic framework as well as the infrastructural mechanisms such as the automotive industry in order to be effective at reducing human dependence on petroleum fuel sources. The processing of corn into fuel..."

Tags:corn, fuel, ethanol

Abstract
The paper discusses the hunt for an alternative fuel source that does not harm the environment and looks at how Brazil has already paved the way for a shift away from a gasoline-dependent fuel to a more sugar-derived ethanol dependent fuel. However, the paper discusses ethanol's limitations and describes how scientists are actively working on producing other kinds of energy-efficient fuel from sugar derived from biomass. The paper notes the various degrees of success that have been achieved by several teams working towards this goal, and concludes that progress in the field of developing new fuels from sugars and other biomass derivatives has been steady.

Outline:
Introduction
Discussion
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Now, ethanol has several drawbacks in that it becomes easily contaminated by absorbing water from the atmosphere, evaporates easily, requires a high energy consuming distillation process and has a low energy density. In 2006, a team of scientists led by Prof. James Dumesic at the University of Wisconsin-Madison reported the development of a new method of converting the sugar present in fruits or fructose into fuel. This process converts fructose into DMF or 2, 5- dimethylfuran. This liquid fuel possesses almost as much energy as petrol and 40% more energy than ethanol. This is a two-stage process wherein fructose is first converted to hydroxymethylfurfural -- HMF in water in the presence of a solvent with low-boiling-point with the aid of an acid catalyst."

Tags:energy, biomass, ethanol, gasoline, hydrogen