Not a bad idea. The USA ought to take a hint and the feds should mandate at least E5 in all service stations.

I'm curious what the energy return on cellulosic ethanol is. I'm not too hot on ethanol anyway, due to its much lower energy density. I'm hoping that Environmental Energy, Inc. can get more investment into their process. I was told by the company they can use cellulosic feedstocks as well, and butanol is nearly as energy dense as gasoline.

Actually, oxygenated fuels do have air quality beneifts in that they permit more complete combustion. On the other hand, evaporative losses can be higher if the fuel system isn't perfectly sealed. Range is reduced, but with an E5 blend you hardly notice. Mandating low blends also make more economic sense than setting up an entirely new infrastructure for e.g. E85.

By now, India is producing enough food to feed itself and then some, but agricultural policies in the EU and elsewhere are limiting the export potential. Converting the excess capacity to ethanol and biodiesel crops is one way for millions of extremely poor families in rural India to eek out a living. At current oil prices, almost everything makes more economic sense than importing energy.

India's agriculture is far less mechanized than that of the US, and fewer chemicals are used. There is also a lot more sunlight. Therefore, I would be surprised if US analyses regarding the net energy benefit of ethanol can be directly applied to India. The more pertinent comparision may be Brazil.

With Corn based Ethanol,
Input = 100 units, Output = 130 units
With Sugarcane based Ethanol
Output is much higher.

BTW, for gasolene, with the best known oil wells shrinking and now a days, it takes drilling of miles to get the oil (that too little).

The Input-Output ratio is shrinking with oil.

ethanol is not typically produced via synthesis gas derived from natural gas as that would be very expensive indeed.

He was refering to natural gas used to produce the heat energy to distill the ethanol, I think (as well as for making nitrogen fertilizer.) There's no reason in principle the heat energy couldn't come from some other source, such as coal.

Poor children in developing countries are suffering from malnourishment, but that is not due to a shortage of food in the world, or even a shortage in their home countries. In the modern world, hunger caused by simple famine or underproduction is the exception, not the rule. Rather the problem is usually with distribution.

In the most extreme cases, war and civil strife destroy local production and prevent imported foods from entering a region. In less visible cases, such as what is probably taking place in the Indian countryside, a lack of income and opportunity caused by economic imbalances makes large segments of the population unable to afford sufficient food.

Increased ethanol use in India might actually help these families. If increased demand results in more development, jobs and income for Indian laborers, more money will make it into the pockets of those who need it, rather than being sent abroad to pay for imported fuel. As long as Europe continues to subsidize its agriculture heavily, freeing up some foreign exchange that would otherwise go to Saudi Arabia will, at worst, allow India to buy extra food for cheap.

Palm oil biodiesel or SVO from palm trees mix in bio-ethanol/bio-butanol from sweet sorghum (~600-700 gallons per acre). Palm trees will yield ~600 gallons per acre. Plant crops that like the shadows for at least forage for milk or for substinance. This may lift many out of poverty or at least <$1 existance. Rotate in legume/nitro crops, and use biowaste composting.