With the recent spike in gas prices, we see the acephalous poultry have come out to squawk about subsidizing Archer Daniels Midland by touting ethanol as the solution to our energy woes. It isn't.

This article in Business Week lays out the sordid history and real numbers behind ethanol. If you go over to the USS Clueless archives and run this search or this one you'll see another engineering view of "alternative fuels". The sad fact is, ethanol isn't all that.

My prediction - in 5 years, we will no longer be oxygenating gasoline, nor yet requiring the multitudinous mixes of gasoline for various localities that is the primary cause of regional gas shortages. (Gas brewed for much of the Midwest cannot be used in Chicago, for example.) This will be because we will not have enough ethanol to use to oxygenate gasoline, and because refinery capacity will continue to tighten.

What I would love to see is the federal tax credit for hybrids be expanded to cover any car capable of making 40 mpg, regardless of the technology used to achieve that goal (and corresponding tax credits for larger vehicles in proportion). Then maybe I'll be able to buy a diesel-powered vehicle. Diesels are much more fuel-efficient than gasoline engines, and cleaner per-mile as well. And modern diesel engines are much cleaner absolutely than they were a few years back.

The beauty of this approach (not mandating a particular technology, but a target fuel efficiency) is that the outside-the-box thinkers can go to town. You're not limited by what the government thinks is appropriate, but what you can design.

(HT: Instapundit on the original story)