Ping for later reading.
First, although I don't use this product, since people are starting to use bicycles more, people might be interested in this autoshifting bicycle.
Autoshifting bicycleAlso, I'm keeping an eye on developments in biofuel production.
First, the bad news about ethanol. Ethanol fires are evidently harder to control than gasoline fires.
Ethanol fires hard to control 1Hopefully, ways will be developed to make controlling ethanol fires easier.
Ethanol fires hard to control 2
On the brighter side concerning ethanol, there's now evidence that people might get as much, or more, bang per buck for their gas dollars with gas / ethanol mixtures.
Gas-competitive gas / ethanol mixturesAlso, I was surprised by the introduction of a machine (popularly known as a still) for making home-made ethanol.
EFuel100In stark contrast to the 1700 gallons of water required to make one gallon of corn-based ethanol as indicated by the OP, the EFuel100 uses only 170 gallons of water to produce 35 gallons of ethanol In other words, the EFuel100 uses less than 1% ( about 0.2%) as much water as corn ethanol, under five gallons, to produce one gallon of ethanol (corrections welcome).
But watch out for fines for violating biofuel regulations.
Fines for violating biofuel regulationsAlso, progress is being made in the development of other non-corn ethanol production technologies as well.
Non-corn ethanolFinally, I've also been hearing good things about biodiesel production but need to find some links.
I can’t imagine ANYTHING more humiliating for our nation than begging the Saudis for more oil when we refuse to tap our own reserves for fear of discomfiting some critter or ruining the ocean view of some wealthy Hollywood star or lib politician. I never thought I’d think that our once-great country is washed up, but I’m sadly coming to this conclusion.