How can Ethanol solve our environmental problems?

Question

Ethanol certainly does burn cleaner, but doesn't its combustion produce a high amount of CO2, the granddaddy of greenhouse gases?

Answer 1

It can't. It does not burn cleaner. It makes just as much CO2 as burning oil and it makes just as much other pollution, as in smog.

The only reason to use ethanol is that the CO2 it makes when burnt is balanced by the CO2 taken out of the air by the plants that were grown to make it.

So burning ethanol makes the same amount of CO2 as burning oil. But making ethanol from plants takes CO2 out of the air while drilling for oil does not take any CO2 out of the air.

Answer 2

It can't, especially at present. It's an energy losing process, and the energy loss is often made up for by power plants which use fossil fuels.

Also, it also has the potential to create food shortages.

FYI CO2 makes up only a tiny percent of the total greenhouse gas, and human contribution is only a small fraction of that.