With the recent spiraling energy costs even international governments are now showing increased interest in ethanol fuel as an alternative energy supply.  Ethanol is a type of alcohol that can be produced naturally by a fermentation process similar to the way in which beer is produced.

One of the major benefits of ethanol is that existing vehicles are able to use ethanol as a fuel additive without modification. There are also special vehicles produced by some of the major car manufacturers that run solely on ethanol.

Ethanol fuel has major advantages over fossil fuels. For a start ethanol is produced from the sugars and starches in renewable crops such as corn and grains. Also because of it’s chemical make up it actually burns cleaner that petroleum based fuels, which is great for the environment in terms of reduced exhaust emissions.

Based on 2002 statistics only 1% of US gasoline needs were substituted with ethanol. Uptake is increasing especially  the use of blended ethanol fuel (E10) in the US  and other parts of the world such as Denmark and Brazil. In some cases use is mandated by local governments e. g. currently ethanol is required to be used as a blend in all fuel sold in the state of Minnesota. See the Minnesota Ethanol  Program.



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