Ethanol Craze Cools as Doubts Multiply

The AIADA newsletter reported that a little over a year ago, ethanol backers were promising greater U.S. energy independence and fewer greenhouse gases.

Today, critics of ethanol blame it for pushing up food prices, question its environmental bona fides, and dispute how much it really helps reduce the need for oil.

So which of them can look into their bathroom vanities and feel like they are telling everyone the truth?

A study coauthored by Nobel-prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen said corn ethanol might exacerbate climate change as the added fertilizer used to grow corn raised emissions of nitrous oxide. In additions, the Agriculture Department projects that by 2010, less than 8% of the U.S. gasoline supply will come from corn-based ethanol - and 30% of the corn crop will be used to make it. more