Ethanol as an Alternative Car Fuel
Ethanol is an alcohol, which is produced by the process of fermentation, and is usually made from corn. It can be used as a fuel in vehicles, either mixed with gasoline, or in some cases alone, although no vehicles sold in North America currently run on 100% ethanol. Ethanol is becoming more commonly used in present day automobiles, and many new vehicles that are sold are able to run on between 0% and 85% ethanol fuel (E85), with the remainder being gasoline. These vehicles are commonly called "flex-fuel" vehicles. Even non flex-fuel vehicles today are able to run on up to 10% ethanol, which regular gasoline commonly contains. The ease of transition from gasoline to ethanol could make it the next big fuel used to power our cars as gasoline becomes more and more expensive to produce.
Ethanol is clean burning, relatively easy and cheap to produce, but it does have a few downsides. Ethanol produces less power per volume than gasoline does, so a tank of E85 will take you less distance than a tank of pure gasoline would. This makes ethanol more expensive to use as a fuel right now, but as it becomes more common, the price should come down. Another downside is that if ethanol is widely used, it will drive up the price of corn, and this could make food more expensive. Overall, ethanol promises to be an acceptable replacement for gasoline.