Starting tomorrow, the IndyCar series plans to run its entire 17-race 2007 season, using ethanol, making it the first series in motor sports to compete on a renewable fuel. Its high-tech and high-speed Honda Indy V-8 engines will be powered by 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol.
A sponsor of the race is an ethanol producer, helping to make that possible.
I am not a big fan of an ethanol fuel infrastructure in the United States, as it tends to tax our food supply since its produced mainly from corn at this point. The farmers in Iowa love it, the politicians in the bread belt love it, but the average American will pay more for their food of which artificial corn-based sweeteners are derived from.
At the very least, one race series of a gas guzzling sport is consuming domestic corn instead of bolstering the profits of Middle Eastern kingdoms.
NASCAR has just figured out how not to spew lead on their fans with a replacement that doesn’t blow up engines, so don’t look for a renewable fuel there this year.
I agree that we shouldn't be depending too much on CORN-based ethanol as it is tied to a very important, edible crop. We should be looking into alternative such as cellulosic ethanol. I have written about the viability of cellulosic ethanol in my blog,
Energy Spin: Alternative Energy Blog For Investors Served Daily.
On another note, we should not be eating any type of artificial corn sweeteners to begin with. High Fructose Corn Syrup is one of the most unhealthy artificial sweeteners we can put in our bodies. Its low cost as compared to sugar makes it easy to find its way into basically any type of prepared foods.
Cheers,
Francesco DeParis
I was just reading the profile of your blog.
"If China is able to enter the “clean-tech”/”green-tech” energy space , it will become a model for emerging markets around the globe."
What is the motivation for China to do this? Considering their desire for growth, as the United States sought such growth in the late 19th century. It would seem the only motivation would be if it became economically trendy, or of people just stopped buying from China because they didn't their practices.
But look at Wal-Mart, consumers don't care where it comes from as long as it's cheap.