[Wonder Warthog]

"So the good news is that we could do it, the bad news is that we would all starve."

Ethanol from corn was a crackpot idea from the start. It was pushed to try to do something with all the surplus corn stacking up in Iowa.

The REAL alcohol of choice is methanol, which can be VERY easily produced from natural gas, agricultural waste, coal gasification, and a whole host of other carbon sources. It can be burned in today's IC engines with only minor modifications, and will also work directly in fuel cells (see "direct methanol fuel cell"). It is the REAL liquid fuel of choice.

[reg45]

It (methanol) can be burned in today's IC engines with only minor modifications.

Yes, the Indy 500 runs on methanol or possibly a methanol/gasoline mixture.