The Ethanol Solution
Could Corn-Based Fuel Help End America's Dependence On Imported Oil?
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Play CBS Video Video The Ethanol Solution Can the fuel distilled from corn and other renewable materials one day take the place of the billions of barrels of oil the U.S. imports each year? Dan Rather reports.
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Video Ethanol: An Energy Solution? With pump prices soaring, there's a lot of talk about alternatives to imported oil, especially ethanol, which is made from corn grown in the United States. Wyatt Andrews has more.
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Video Brazil's Energy Solution Scientists in Brazil have succeeded in developing a cleaner, cheaper alternative to gasoline. As Trish Regan reports, sugarcane ethanol has some amazing benefits.
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(AP)
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Interactive Alternative Energy Learn about the types of renewable energy that are used in the U.S. and the regions of the country considered to be most suitable for each kind.
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"Why shouldn't I think, well, this is just a way for the oil companies to slow or snuff out the growth of ethanol, and other alternatives?" Rather asked.
"We think we've shown that we're strong supporters for ethanol where it's appropriate," Cavaney answered.
But what the oil industry considers "appropriate" is limiting ethanol to an additive and not moving quickly to something like E-85.
"What we don’t wanna do is over-promise to the American public what can be done with these alternative fuels, and then under-deliver," says Cavaney.
But some states, like California, are already moving to deliver E-85 to more gas stations by helping pay the cost of adding the E-85 pumps. Professor Kammen from Berkeley says the process would be a lot less expensive than the oil industry’s estimate of $200,000 per station, and wouldn’t take that long.
"The transition is pretty easy. It looks like its $30,000 to $40,000 per gas station to change over and have ethanol-dedicated pumps," he says.
"Are we talking three years? Five years? 20 years?" Rather asked.
"I think it's less than that, actually." Kammen replied. "I would bet that we will have enough ethanol stations within two to three years' time, at most. The reason is that the transition is so easy. That doing the retrofit to have ethanol pumps available can be done in a matter of weeks."
That just what the farmers in Steamboat Rock, Iowa, like Larry Meints, want to hear.
"It's a win-win thing for the nation, and for our local economy here to create jobs locally, rather than sending the money overseas, and sometimes to people that really don’t like us very well," he says.
Produced By Michael Rosenbaum
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