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What would you rather do?

I'd rather set the politics aside and discuss the point on its basis in science while keeping an open mind.

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This is what I have read as well. The reduction in milage has been well proven. My 1973 charger with it's 318 gets less milage burning ethanol by quite a bit. It doesn't seem to have the power either it had when it was running on the old fuel with out ethanol.

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Don't believe this is really true. You can't get more energy than exists in the fuel to start with. Lower energy means you will have to burn more fuel to do the same work. If you can do some magical thing to an engine to optimize its power output for one fuel you can do it for another. It all boils down to the fact that you can't get something for nothing. People have been trying to do that for a long time with no success. Brings to mind the hydrogen generators hooked to the electrical system of a car. That doesn't work either. The truth of that one is the milage goes down as well.

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This is a quote from the fuel economy report sited by Eric. I'm not surprised at who the sponsors were. Of corse they will say this. What would you expect?

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For John Q. Pubic the ultimate problem with ANY "alternative" fuels/power sources is the cost and INconvenience of constant change. Change that comes too fast and too frequently.

Such constant and frequent change exists only as an attempt by Big Money to obsolesce what we have already bought and are responsible for.

I want to drive and maintane a car. NOT constantly change it's design or constantly change maintenance schedules.

The problem here is not environmental, political or even technical. The problem here is what is all of this fuel change/alternatives fuels going to COST ME!!!!!

LEts get with SOMETHING and stay with it!!!!

burning a gallon of ethanol releases less energy than burning a gallon of gasoline - that's the thermodynamics, it has nothing to do with the design of the engine.

Owen and bkazmer are correct. Based on my less than professional and certainly amatuer experience, an alcohol only engine will run about 40% less fuel mileage than gasoline only. Alcohol was widely used in racing at one time.

Another albeit minor safety problem with alcohol is that when it burns it is an INVISIBLE flame.

I'm not for nor against using alcohol as a fuel. Lets just get something and STAY WITH IT!!!

The idea is to reach some level of a fuel source STABILITY and standard that is adhered to LONG TERM. Stability and standard is something the US has simply not had for 10 years now andis the root source of many of our wide sweeping problems.