Executive Summary Overview How is ethanol made? How is ethanol used? How much oil does the U.S. consume, and how much biofuel? How much does it cost to make ethanol? How does the ethanol subsidy work? What about subsidies for farmers? How efficient is ethanol at displacing oil? Does ethanol have a positive or negative “energy balance”? How is ethanol transported? What is cellulosic ethanol, and how is it made? What are the commercial prospects for cellulosic ethanol? What are the advantages of cellulose as a feedstock? What is switchgrass? What is biodiesel and how is it made? How is biodiesel used? How does biodiesel compare to conventional diesel? How much does it cost to make biodiesel, and how big is the market? Can renewable diesel be made from other sources? What is biobutanol? What is methanol? What is MTBE? What is ETBE? How are they different? Can I use ethanol or biodiesel in my car or truck? How will it run? What are flexible-fuel vehicles? Are they practical to manufacture? Is my car a Flexible-Fuel Vehicle (FFV)? Where can I find a station with biofuels? What happens if I can’t get there? Can I have my vehicle converted to an FFV? Can I use biofuels in a hybrid? How dependent is the U.S. on foreign oil? What does oil dependence have to do with national security? Could domestically produced biofuels replace imported oil? How big an industry could this be? What would that mean for the U.S. economy and jobs? How soon will this growth occur? What is 25x’25? What companies are involved in the biofuels industry? How much of the U.S. trade deficit is caused by oil imports? What does the price of oil mean to the economy? How would biofuels affect the price of oil? Will there be enough land left for food? Will the price of food go up? Will the use of biomass for energy worsen world hunger? Will there be enough water? Farm income, rural economic development Why do biofuels help prevent global warming? Are biofuels cleaner than gasoline and diesel? How can biofuels reduce toxic compounds in gasoline? What effect will the production of energy crops have on the land and water and wildlife? What is the biofuels potential globally? What does the biofuels opportunity mean for other countries? How is biomass used today? What role does oil play in developing countries? What are the implications of biofuels for economic development? What are the implications of biofuels for global trade? As the world’s population grows, won’t we need all our farmland for food production? Glossary Acknowledgements
