Ethyl alcohol – C2H5OH – CH3-CH2-OH:

I don’t think of ethanol as an alternative fuel; I think gasoline should be the alternative fuel that meets 10 to 20 percent of my needs. We definitely don’t need hydrogen. We don’t need new car engines, designs, or distribution. In less than five years, we can, with very little cost, make an irreversible change in our trajectory. With little cost to consumers, little cost to automakers, and no money from the government.

Biofuels: Think Outside The Barrel, Vinod Khosla, Google TechTalks, March 29, 2006

Khosla, a well-known venture capitalist, has been examining how Brazil did it, how they benefited including greatly reduced oil imports, and he presents a plan for how the U.S. can do it. He starts by pointing out that once you discount subsidies and taxes, the production costs of ethanol are only about $1.00/gallon vs. $1.60 for gasoline. Then he walks through why we should do this, and how to do it.