Ethanol was one of the many "green" hoaxes. It was sold as environment-friendly when it's not - produces more environmental pollutants than the oil that it replaces. Helped drive up food prices.
Ethanol is awesome in it's own right. The problem is politicians who, in their infinite wisdom, are trying to force a round peg into a square hole by mandating blends of ethanol with gasoline. Compounding this problem is the fact that they have chosen to use land based crops for the production of ethanol, leading to the food vs. fuel debate.
I designed an offshore platform that runs entirely on ethanol using gas turbines. Ethanol is perfectly suited as a fuel for turbines but definitely a poor choice of fuel for internal combustion engines. My offshore platform uses seaweed/kelp to produce ethanol, rather than corn, sugar, or other land crops.
Since 75% of the world is covered in water, and only 25% land (a fraction of which can sustain farming), using seaweed/kelp is an obvious choice for the mass production of ethanol. Unlike wind or solar, ethanol can be stored, making it the only logical renewable resource for the mass production of power generation.
My platform is designed to harvest 104,000 lbs of seaweed/kelp per day which becomes over 2400 gallons of ethanol. Based on a daily production of 2400 gallons of ethanol, turbines could potentially produce enough electricity to power between 937 and 2187 average American Residences. The math on those calculations:
2400 gallons of ethanol (LHV of 76,000 btu) burned in a turbine of 28% efficiency = +/- 60,000 kwh
2400 gallons of ethanol (LHV of 76,000 btu) burned in a turbine of 60% efficiency = +/- 140,000 kwh
Average monthly consumption of US Residence = 940 kwh (rounded up from 938)
Daily consumption of average US Residence (940 /30) = 32 (rounded up from 31.3)
Anyway... Ethanol is best used in turbines. Attempts to use it as a replacement for gasoline is insanity. Ethanol could easily make using large scale wind and solar farms (which take up huge space), as well as coal, natural gas, and other fuels used for large scale energy generation, obsolete.
While coal and natural gas would still have useful functions as fuels, the myth of wind and solar farms being a viable solution to our large scale energy requirements would finally be put to rest and we can stop wasting precious resources chasing that fairytale.