A.L+&+J.M+reaction

=__Ethanol__=

Savior of the new world's energy crisis or impeding disaster?


Ethanol is better known by Ethyl alcohol, drinking alcohol or grain alcohol. Its a colorless chemical compound and is the most common alcoholic additive in alcoholic beverages. Ethanol is usually refered to as just alcohol, the empirical formula is C2H6O. Ethanol has been argued to have been the earliest organic chemical reaction, an organic reaction being one that involves natural organic compounds. Ethanol is created by the fermentation of sugar since ancient times. Yes people have been drinking ethanol and experiencing its entoxicating affects for a long time. Now however Ethanol is more than just a way to get drunk, Ethanol is a byproduct of Petroleum refining. Petroleum being known under the more common name as gas, namely the gas we use to power cars, and heat homes. Ethanol producers slowly started using it for more uses after discovering the power of combustion.

Ethanol can be used as a solvent, scents, a flavoring, medicines, or coloring. But it has a bigger more impotant use, which is in engines. The internal combustion engine is probably the most famous and widely used piece of machinery/chemical reaction we have today. It is a piece of equipment which leaves options open for millions of people, offering them quick safe reliable meansof transportation. Ethanol because it is flamable, can be burned in these engines like propane and butane. Ethanol is widely used in cars in Brazil. Ethanol can be made from an easy process it is created throw common materials like sugar cane.

Ethanol is going to play a big part in the coming years. With global warming and green house gases on everyones minds, this may just become the star of the show. Regular fuel for engines creates alot of Co2, while Ethanol creates much less based on its properties and whats its derived from. This is important because Co2 is a very powerful greenhouse gas, so people might want to switch to ethanol to reduce the damage they are doing to the planet. However, pro-petrol people say that there a few problems with using Ethanol. First off it doesnt get the Mile per gallon that petrol does, and would only get close if they created ethanol only engines, which of course the petrol industry (the behemoth that it is) does not want to see. So obviously the gas companies are against Ethanol, and pro global warming.

The two largest producers of Ethanol are Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill, and while Ethanol is created from household products, it does have some problems. in order to create ethanol, you need energy. That energy comes from other things that produce green house gases. Companys like Cargill are in this buisness because they started as a coalition of farmers and became a hulking juggernaught of the food service industry, supplying medical and nutrition needs, adjusting their crops based on what organic chemicals the can make. Ethanol wasn't a stretch because it comes from sugar, and can be made from corn.

President Bush said that he wanted 25 billion gallons of ethanol by 2017. Congress passed a bill for 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022 shortly after.Unfortunatly ethanol takes a lot of corn to make it. so much in fact, that corn prices have soared. This is a big problem for the poor. If food prices go up, than people starve. Expecially Mexico, which requires corn because they use it in their national staple, tortillas. With a struggleing lower class already, this jump in corn prices will hit people hard. The price of corn has doubled its projected annual increase, and thats just the tip of the iceberg. Grocery prices have jumped almost 10% in the first half of 2007, people dont know how much thats attributed to corn, but it cant be coincidence.

But what about the enviorment? anyone who has studied or atleast talked about crops knows that you need to rotate your crops so that the land doesnt dry out. However with such high corn prices, who wouldn't plant corn year after year? The problem with planting corn is it makes the land dry very fast, which means people use a lot more fertilizer. All this fertillizer goes into the waterways and creates algae. algae blooms take oxygen and kill anything in their path. These algae field have come to be called "dead zones" and two are the size of Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island combined. The chemicals used in the fields also cause birth defects and a risk of cancer.

Ethanol could be the stalling tactic we need until we find a better renewable resource. However while we stall for time it will hurt the world. At what price do we pay to protect the planet, the easy times are coming to an end and the current generation is stalling for some miracle to happen. Hopefully this generation, that is my generation, can figure out a longterm solution rather than just add some more sand to the hourglass of our planet.

Bibliography