Just what the heck is Ethanol ?

I don't know about others, but I sure did ask myself about what Ethanol is and how is it an alternative fuel ?

I am not exactly picky to find the chemical composition or the actual chem formula for Ethanol, coz, even if I knew or found out, I am more interested to find its applications, rather than the do-er as such.

Here is what I found out there on it to begin with:

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Ethanol, as in beer and wine, is an alcohol modified to utilize it as a fuel and making it undrinkable. Ethanol is produced by fermentation through a method similar to beer brewing of any biomass containing carbohydrates. At the present time, ethanol is derived from starches and sugars however there have been constant research to allow it to be produced from fibrous substance which consists the bulk of most plant matter - the cellulose and hemicellulose. Ethanol is widely used as a blending agent with gasoline to boost octane and at the same time reducing carbon monoxide and other toxic smog-causing emissions.

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More Reading @ http://www.prurgent.com/2009-03-29/pressrelease34337.htm

Does thinking and acting 'Green' save Climate ?

Most of us recycle, abstain and perform so many, the so called, "green" actions with the sole hope that we will be able to save 'Earth', by saving the climate, by polluting less and less.

Well, apart from these actions, there is a subtle notion that most miss - One has to implement a cultural revolution, backed by a political revamp.

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We all know in general that cars, trucks, coal and power plants, household heating and cooling, and manufacturing industries spew a majority of the greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and the oceans. But did you know that U.S. household use of fossil fuels (housing, transportation, and food) accounts for 67% of total energy consumption and 67% of GHG's emitted?

Heating, lighting, and cooling our poorly insulated and designed 113 million homes and apartments and running our electrical and gas appliances consumes 26.6% of total U.S. fossil fuels.

Cruising in our gas guzzling (averaging 22 miles per gallon) and underutilized cars (average 1.4 passengers per journey) burns up another 23.4% of energy.

Eating highly processed and packaged foods and animal products, produced on chemical and energy-intensive factory-style farms, transported over long distances, and throwing our waste foods into the garbage (rather than composting them) eats up another 17.3% of the nation's energy.

The average U.S. citizen generates 19.6 tons of climate destabilizing greenhouse gases every year, more than twice as much as the European Union and Japan (9.3 tons per capita), and 7.3 times as much as the developing world (2.7 tons per capita).

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Below is the article that referenced the above fact sheet, and provides a very descriptive study on what was tried @Copenhagen, and what else is causing the impact, through various sectors.

I do not expect anyone to sit through reading this snippet in one shot and digest everything...but I sincerely think one should make a conscious effort to get the gist of it.

Read on @ http://www.energybulletin.net/node/51558