Why Ethanol is not the answer to the Climate Crisis

I consider myself an environmentally friendly advocate. I am not going to change all of my habits to become carbon neutral, but I will continue to take steps to lower my footprint. With this point aside, I find it hard to understand why there is such a huge push for ethanol recently. Although technically a carbon neutral fuel, it is not economically or even environmentally practical. In general ethanol is not a logical substitute for oil.

All things considered, ethanol is not carbon neutral. When you consider the whole production process, more CO2 is released then in the burning of gasoline. Consider the amount of fertilizer, fuel for tractors, and extensive amounts of energy it takes to produce. Ethanol production is highly inefficient, and the fuel itself is much less efficient than gasoline. On top of that, it is causing food prices to skyrocket, further complicating the already weak and probably recessive economy. The other problem with ethanol is it requires huge amounts of water. This is troublesome since many agriculture areas already have been facing record droughts over the past decade. This is not a feasible system and will eventually cause more problems for the "energy movement" than are worth.

I think the most feasible long term solution to gasoline is pure electric. Tesla is about to release a pure electric car that has similar speeds as a Porsche and if you convert the energy costs comes to about 2 cents per equivalent gallon of gas. Electricity is being increasingly made by renewable energy sources. Batteries are continually getting more efficient and more powerful while require less for charge times, and the vast majority of drivers do the vast majority of their driving over short distances.

I say we ditch the ethanol bs, continue to improve hybrids and electrics, and work at improving the hydrogen fuel cell systems. Although this will take longer, it is more sustainable and has a higher likelihood for overall success. But then again, I only know what I read in the news, and we all know that news outlets are hardly a source for reliable and accurate information.