I am now, have been and will be wrong

Economist had an article on why ethanol was not the green solution people want it to be.

It is accurate in one issue behind ethanol. It ignores the food or fuel issue, and targets the shorter carbon chain problem (less energy dense).

There is also the issue to recognize that people don't care what we put in our gas tanks. Ethanol, butenol, gasoline, magic beans, it doesn't matter to us. As long as the vehicle moves, when and how we want it to. As long as it is cheap enough to not cause issues, people will use fuel.

Here's the other secret, the folks selling gasoline don't care what they sell, as long as they are the ones selling it. The distribution system, extraction, refinery, etc. All that can be replaced when necessary. Market conditions will make it necessary in the future, but as long as it is profitable.

I'm still of the opinion that electrical vehicles provide the cheapest fuel, how this helps the gas sellers, I'm not sure. But the marginal costs of electric vehicles is cheap enough to be interesting.