With the rising costs of fossil fuel, I understand that there is free information available regarding safe methods for home based production of the alternative fuel, ethanol.  I am looking for trustworthy resources and would appreciate good leads.
136927
Beware the revenuers!  They will catch you if you have a still at your home.  This stuff smells to the high heaven!\n\nHow do I know, you ask?  An uncle of mine had one.  Used corn "likker" for everything from fuel for the car to draino to starting engines to getting toasted at backyard fish frys :)  His get-togethers were always the highlight of river rat festivities during the summer.\n\nHIGHLY regulated and your neighbors will think you have a meth lab, such is the smell.
200372
We give away soy to foreign governments in the form of aid despite the fact we could run our vehicles on it.  Smart, eh?\n\nI would switch as long as it was feasable.  Facilities that dispense alternative fuels are nowhere to be found near me and I don't have the technical skills to mix the stuff myself or else I would in a second.  I deleted the emails but I was in contact with a guy in CA last year that convinced the local government on one of the Hawiian Islands to convert their recycling truck fleet to soy power.  He had some good ideas.  He also takes a soy powered VW Wagon on tour around the country to advertise the benefits of biodiesel.  \n\nGood luck if you choose to convert.  I haven't yet but maybe a few semesters at the vocational institute would pay off in the end.
417157
Check out www.fundingdocuments.com  They did some nice research on my import/export corn oil business plan.  Good company.
607491
Interesting...many studies have been conducted regarding Ethanol.  Keep in mind that ethanol is produced from corn.  If every single farm in America grew corn we'd be able to replace about 8% of our oil imports...not really enough to make a significant impact.  Also keep in mind that if for any reason the crop of corn was destroyed, be that storm or drout, we would have no product to convert into ethanol and no fuel.  Before you read on please keep in mind that I'm a registered independent...Under the Bush administration quite a bit of effort was put into the creation of a new agency within the DOE (Department of Energy) called the Energy Efficiency and Renewables Dept....within that department the Hydrogen Infrastructure and Technologies Program was established.  Why Hydrogen?  Because it can't be politicized, don't have to worry about drouts or damaged crops and hydrogen comprises 80+% of the mass in our universe (not something we're likely to run out of anytime soon).  http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/   According to the "Posture Plan" our economy will be carbon free by 2060 with hydrogen as the likely successor.  Also check out Canada's FCC (Fuel Cell Canada) for their plan to globally commercialize fuel cells.\n\nOur current president has done great things when it come to decreasing our dependence on foreign oil.  Just gotta know where to look.  Try this        http://thomas.loc.gov/      and under "search bill text" type the word hydrogen and you'll see every piece of legislation dealing with hydrogen as an alternative fuel.
16664
The argument is that if the price of oil is high enough we will turn to alternative energy sources, one of which is ethanol, made from agricultural products, primarily grain. This demand for high-priced fuel will raise the price of grain, which is also used for making bread.
605736
Sorry, look around gas stations or something, maybe you'll find some, wish I could help more.
362530
Make a small scale ethanol still.  Lots of instructions on the net.  Kind of a hot topic with all the discussion of alternative fuels.
79498
To answer your primary question, it just needs to be less expensive than fossil fuels...oil in particular.\n\n1.  Very few "direct" renewable sources are available non-stop.  A few would be tidal power, geothermal power and hydroelectric power.  There are many "indirect" sources, such as biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel, methane) which are the process of extracting energy from materials.\n\n2. Nothing is really practical (at this point) to compete.  Oil is still too cheap.\n\n3. Storage either in liquid fuel form or conversion to electricity offers the two easiest ways to move large amounts of energy.\n\n4. There's many viable technologies available today, but they are under continuous refinement to make them better, more efficient, less costy, and ultimately, more competitive\n\n5. This one is always fun.  Wind and hydroelectric don't pollute, but one is blamed for killing migratory birds and the other is hated for destroying habitats surrounding rivers.  Both offer the most promise as the next best source of energy compared to fossil fuels.\n\n6. Well, this depends on whether the consumer is in an energy rich or energy poor area.  If you live in an area where there's ample sun, good wind, and/or rivers you can dam up, then you're living close to where you can produce it.  If you can't produce enough energy from the sources immediately available to you, then you will either need to conserve more or import it.\n\n7. Politicians are likely only going to back solutions that prove to be overwhelmingly beneficial to their constituents.  You will get corn belt pols that back ethanol for the obvious positive economic impact that it will have on their areas.   Likewise, wind in areas that it could prove beneficial.\n\nThere is no one magic bullet for every energy need, that needs to be understood.  Some sources will win over others, based on the application and its availability.  But until oil gets more expensive (like over $100 per barrel) then most alternative sources just simply can't economically compete with today's renewable harnessing technology.
253823
i wouldn't expect anyone in the oil business to do anything to change the industry (although bush HAS passed a law stating that government vehicles must be equipped to use ethanol as an alternate fuel). it is really up to americans to change what they use, because the oil industry is entrenched and will not check themselves -- business just doesn't work that way. republicans hate to have government make the people do anything, so the likelihood of us passing laws such as those in Brazil are slim to none. I am personally just going to buy a flex car and run it on ethanol. No more petroleum fuel for me. E85 is produced without the use of petro-products, is home-grown, and is cleaner and better for the car anyway and the same price and soon to be less.
575098
This site may lead you to the information you seek.\n\nhttp://www.petrochemistry.net/index.asp
597278
It is a real concern, but whenever someone makes a prediction about when a country of the world will reach peak oil output, they do so with what then is considered a researve.  As the cost of a barrel of oil increases, sources for oil that were once not considered a researve then become on because at that cost it is economically viable to recover it.  With the recent spike in oil prices, North America can now clasify the tar sands in Canada and the oil shales in Colorado oil researves, and that being the case, it is estimated that in the US alone, we now have more economically recoverable oil then Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest exporter.  As the price continues to increase, other marginal sources will become economically viable.  Sooner or later, we will reach a point where there simply isn't enough oil available for any price, but that is still a ways off yet.  I believe that before we reach that point, oil will be more expensive then alternate fuel sources.  Through simple economics, I believe that people will begin using these alternate fuels simply because they are less expensive.  I believe that the high cost of oil will spawn invention and inovation into the energy sector, and I believe that has already begun.  We are working on increasing production of biodiesels and ethenol, and there is increased research into fuel cells and electric autos.  I think the future lies in hydrogen burning technology personally.  We already have engines that burn Hydrogen, but we're still working on the fuel tank dilema.  So, for a long answer, I believe that there is and will be time. I'm looking foward to being put out of buisiness.
66560
Ethanol is not the answer for raising gas prices. They produce it as a cleaner burning fuel. It all deals with the theory of global warming. I don't buy it, but that is the reasoning they use for it.
628611
Hardly. Methane, ethanol (not yet for cars but already viable for power plants), vegetable oil etc.  If we really had to stop burning fossil fuel, the current service stations could distribute the new fuel.  One of the problems with bringing out alternate fuels is that in order to 'compete' with gasoline, it has to be reasonably available to people driving across the country.  Distribution is a tough issue for some of the products.
669218
The engines are designed to run on gasoline which burns a little differently and much dirtier than ethanol. ETOH burns to only CO2 and H2O, very clean. Ethanol can be made easily from any organic material. Corn stalks, wood, petroleum, potatoes, sugar, whatever you have mostly. Crack the large molecles to 2 carbons with an OH attachesd and you have ethanol. Fermentations with yeast are usually the easiest way.
191623
Alternate energy sources are our next step to stabilize our economy and lessen the dependence on other countries to provide us that need. However, they are extremely costly and hard to come by. Wind mills are a disaster in terms of the amount of space it needs to operate. Solar panels are not effecient everywhere, say Seattle or Alaska. Nuclear fission is the next step but since it is potentially dangerous as nuclear bombs, it's being closely monitored thus dampening the research process. I guess we are still depended on oil is because it is so universal and exremely easy to use and harness everywhere. I agree with you, if I had enough money to fund researches like these, I'd do it in a heartbeat!
73479
I've got one for you. Changing World Technologies has a process that turns turkey guts into oil (see attached link). That would be a very interesting and useful topic.
428275
Good question.\n\nThere seem to be many other sources of energy but they seem to be expensive to obtain or to require large amounts of land to be dedicated to crop growth or for collectors.  This is in itself a type of inefficiency. \n\nIn the long term prices may come down but energy such as crop based gasoline alternatives don't seem to me like they would cut it with a growing demand for gas their will be a growing demand for the amount of land that must be dedicated to its production. not to mention the population is growing and its not going to stop.\n\nIf we move toward becoming almost entirely dependent upon alternative energy we must move towards harnessing different kinds of power and not just search for one solution.\n\nA lot of money would be lost from a lot of big companies.\n\nFor instance there is a windmill type device you can purchase for your home needs right now for around $10,000 it is highly efficient\nand supposedly super quiet.  It is said to be able to generate between 30% to all of a homes energy needs depending on where you live. If too much energy is generated the excess may be sold back to the electrical company.  \n\nIf you could purchase three of these at the hefty price of $30,000 you could theoretically not ever have to pay a power bill again in some places or pay almost no bill at all. The electrical companies services could be utilized as a form of backup power.  \n\nIf everyone had these wind collectors this would certainly shrink the electrical power industry.\n\nThere is no information available to me about how much it can cost to repair these items or how well they can withstand the event of a hurricane or tornado. \n\nBut I dont think think alternative energy is a pipe dream it is just something that is going to take a large investment to start up and develop towards higher levels of performance and efficiency. \n\nThe engineering of rugged devices will have to play a large role and does currently, however, a lot of trial and error needs to occur to see what works where and why and what got destroyed by random acts of god and the forces of nature and how that can be prevented.\n\nShould things begin to look rather good for alternative energy... and it seems things look better day by day... energy companies would have to begin facing downsizing and new business models and perhaps invest themselves into the production of alternative energy or alternative energy generating devices for sale to the public.  Either way at some point they wont be the economic giants they have been to this point and thats probably gonna keep them from helping.\n\nAlternative energy will only be a pipe dream if people are afraid to nurture it and harness the energies available. This is something that is and will be heavily influenced by politics.\n\nOn another note, I think that nuclear power seems to be an "easy way out" but I don't believe that it is a good or secure solution.  There have been so many nuclear mishaps you dont hear about and so much waste that you cant prevent or do anything about. Aside from alternative energy being developed for fear of a lack of oil I also thought a large part of it was moving towards a cleaner earth. Moving towards nuclear power and nuclear waste is dangerous for everyone.  Radiation does not simply go away it is corruption of matter and it is "contagious".  Sure we could maybe launch it off into space, but should something go wrong on the way out of here we would face yet another type of radiological disaster.