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" its time to open the spigot on our domestic oil supply, scrape the huge deposits of coal, and work on all forms of domestic energy be it wind, solar, water or nuclear. and i dont care if ted kennedy doesnt want to have a wind turbine near his house. "

" WHAT?!?! "

" Wow, there is so much misinformation in this story it's unbelievable. But it's more disappointing to read many of these posts that illustrate how our society is willing to buy whatever story the liberal and often biased press tells it. Please, people, before you spew your genious theories, actually research the issue. Don't just recite what you read in the paper, in National Geographic, Rolling Stone, etc.... because just because something appears in print doesn't mean it's true. "

" Greed is correct. Ethanol is a low energy content fuel. The fossil fuel energy that it takes to produce and deliver the ethanol is about 80% of the delivered energy, so it is about a 25% gain. All the water consumed is placing more and more stress on limited supplies. Don't worry about the oil companies funding research such as this article implies, the oil and chemical producers are all intertwined financially and the last thing they want is to reduce the fertilizer market. Since ethanol cannot be produced practically without use of enormous amounts of fossil fuels it really cannot be considered as offering a solution of any longstanding value. Now if the ethanol plant could use its own fuel to make the product plus deliver some they would have something. Sadly, from farm to manufacture to delivery none of the producing parties have a use for the product. That should give a hint of the problem right there. "

" How much oil money is donated for this type of research findings? "

" You are wrong on just about everything you said. Ethanol is energy positive (less energy required to make than it produces), farmers tractors do use diesel (just like over the road semis) for the torque that diesel engines can produce, and you can't blame ethanol for run off as the corn was being grown anyway, whether you use it for ethanol or not. I don't think that ethanol is the magic bullet for our future energy needs, but anything that moves us away from petroleum should be promoted and expanded. The big difference between ethanol and oil is that the guys that own the cornfields don't want to kill your kids in Iraq. "

" The truth about ethanol from corn is still a closely guarded secret. It requires substantially more energy to produce and distribute, than it contains. If worthwhile, you would see farmers using the stuff. (And please, don’t say their equipment requires diesel fuel. If the stuff were any good, manufacturers would install ethanol capable engines!) It is nothing but a boondoggle. Politicians fear the farm and manufacturers lobby for the stuff. Brazil makes it from sugar cane. Different story altogether. Much more efficient. Matter-of-fact our government imposes a stiff tariff (over 50 cents per gallon) on imported ethanol, to protect inefficient corn-made ethanol. On top of that, taxpayers fork over 54 cents per gallon to producers, which is equivalent to about a dollar a gallon for gasoline (Because takes almost 2 gallons of ethanol to equal 1 gallon of gasoline.). And now we have all of the pollution from farm runoff, not to mention the water usage. Sorry farmers, you guys know the truth already. Time to put a stop to this crap. "

" any of you city slickers want to hate American farmers any more, go see the new anit-american documentary "King Corn". It is an example of what children are being filled full of in todays universities. "

" ASbig box of cornflakes still only costs a quarter for the corn. Farmers are some of the largest buyers of tires and batteries and they don't buy it from the Chinese Emabassy. C'mon out , we've got plenty to do and it will help clear up some misunderstandings about economics. "

" Awesome. Not only are we competing with the Kings of Ethanol Handouts in our food prices, now they're hurting our water supply! "

" I know how the world works, it goes round and round and it does that while it goes round and round the sun, that goes round and round the galaxy that goes round and round the universe. And I'm not even from Illinois. "

" We can just tap into the melting polar ice caps. "

" The problem with Illinois is the majority have no clue on how the world really works. "

" I don't believe ethanol is a boondoggle - you've been reading too much of the reverse-propaganda. That said, I don't think the govt should mandate its use. Let the market decide - although that is a slippery slope because the govt so heavily subsidizes fossil fuels. As for trusting National Geographic to explain energy issues, I give that about as much validity as I'd give Kojack for explaining the best methods for hair care. P.S. I don't take National Geographic to read the articles - I just like to look at the pictures. "

" I agree with "That's why" Hemp oil can be used to run anything. it's cheaper and easier on the environment. Hemp for life "

" Until cellulosic ethanol is viable and has the capability for mass production, is a poor solution on numerous levels. As for Hemp seed, well, I think we can see where you're going with that... "

" Everything comes at a cost, and it is time people figured out that simple concept. Even using the water from the Great Lakes, there will be the cost of getting the water from point A to point B. The problem with Illinois is that the majority have no clue on how the world really works. Even if ethanol was the answer, it would result in less of other crops being planted, thus increasing the cost of those, which would increase the cost of living across the board. Since other sectors would have to increase wages to offset the increase in the cost of food for their workers, the result would be prices in those sectors increasing also. Everything has a cost. "

" we need to diversify our crops. Let us farm Hemp as we did up until 70+ years ago and let's see the economy turn around. Hemp Seed is THE alternative fuel option. "

" The Plains states are already depleting their aquifer, and obviously, we don't use Great Lakes water here either. Ethanol (at least corn based) is a boondoggle. Read the latest National Geographic "

" We're worried about a water supply for ethanol? Jeez, it's not like we don't have 6,000,000,000,000,000 (6 quadrillion) gallons of fresh water sitting in the Great Lakes. That's 20% of the world's supply of fresh water. I don't think we'll be ever worrying about running out of fresh water here in the Great Lakes region. "