Fruit for fuel

We all know that Mitch Daniels has thrust Indiana into ethanol. We now all know how much that will cost us at the grocery. What we do not know is the cost for our overwhelming emphasis on corn for ethanol. Once, again, Daniel's boldness appears as nothing more than a blind and noisy jumping on a bandwagon.

Anyone reading this blog ought to know I favor biofuels. What I do not favor is Indiana - again - putting all of its eggs in one basket. We ought to promote all sorts of renewable fuels whether wind, soy diesel, or recycling grease into diesel. I suggest that any lack of deviation from the corn ethanol will be a disaster for the state. Production and demand and the costs to the food supply already provide a picture of corn ethanol's limitations. Continuing to place the emphasis of this State only on corn ethanol makes me think Hoosiers now are as heedless as they were during the Gas Boom.

The BBC has an article here about the use of fruit for fuel production. You can find the article here. Here is the interesting bits:

Now scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say that a simple sugar called fructose can be converted into a fuel that has many advantages over ethanol.

It is called dimethylfuran - it can store 40% more energy than ethanol, and does not evaporate as easily.

The scientists say that fructose can be obtained directly from fruits and plants or made from glucose - but more work needs to be done to assess the environmental impact of this new fuel.

In Britain, researchers say that the technology now exists to create diesel fuel not just from palm oil but from a range of materials including wood, weeds and even plastic bags.

(The same news got picked up by The Scientific American here.)

So what is Indiana doing about all this? That question needs asked of Mitch Daniels and our potential Democratic nominees.