It is somewhat inconvenient right now to burn ethanol because we have this huge global infrastructure evolved around the burning of petroleum based fuels. But unfortunately, we will eventually run out of oil. Not in our lifetimes, certainly. And probably not even in our grandchildrens', but some day.
If 150 years ago the first engine designers had started out with the idea of burning alcohol fuels then the vehicles and fuel distribution systems would have evolved to suit them instead. I'm pretty sure an alcohol burning motorcycle could be just as much fun as a gasoline burning one (think nitro-methane here)
The carbon footprint of renewable fuels isn't necessarily a bad one, like in the case of burning fossil fuels. The growing bio-mass absorbs (and stores) CO2 and emits oxygen into the atmosphere. The consumption of a biomass fuel does emit carbon, but it is the same carbon that was absorbed during its growth phase. A good argument can be made that the release of carbon from fossil fuels also came from the environment (eons ago) and is just being re-released. In which case none of the carbon neutrality **** matters in the least.
We are doing our part up here in the northeast this year, more as a reaction to local economics than any particular "green-ness" on our part. Last year during the 6 month heating season we refilled the heating oil tank about every 2 weeks at a cost of a bit over $400 per fill (we seldom let it get much below 1/2 on the 270 gallon tank). This year we bought a small wood pellet stove to supplement the oil fired FHW central heating system. As it turns out we can heat the majority of our 2800 sq.ft house (my office over the garage is excluded) quite easily on the little 30k BTU pellet stove, with it running at its lowest heat output pretty much all of the time. The pellets are a locally harvested and produced renewable resource, create very little in the way of ash to dispose of or air pollutants, and the cost is well less than half for the same amount of heat. It is, however, less convenient as you do have to fill the stove twice a day and clean it every other day.
I can envision people installing central heating systems in their homes in the near future that are wood pellet fired. The fuel trucks would have to fill a little "silo" storage tank of some kind and the heater would have to be gravity/auger fed from the bulk storage. The burners would have to be engineered to automatically self clean, but then it could be almost as convenient as burning oil is now, just twist the thermostat and sit back.
PS - Don't tell anyone, but gasoline is already
somewhat conductive.
Alcohol is only slightly moreso.
