Ethanol - The Basics

• Biofuel/Sustainability Papers by UC-Berkeley's Dr. T. W. Patzek

• The True Cost of Agrofuels: Impacts on Food, Forests, People and Climate 2007.
  This report is one of the most complete analysis of the multiple aspects of Agrofuels covering issues of soil, corporate control and consolidation, water, plantations and pulp mills, fertilizer usage, Genetic Engineering, transportation, and climate change. The conclusion fleshes out pathways and solutions to meeting the challenges for which agrofuels are a false solution.

• Agrofuels: Towards a Reality Check in 9 Key Areas June, 2007.
  Report brought to you by the Transnational Institute, which includes several European groups. The Report asks 9 key questions and explores them with 30 pages of quality material with many references and an international scope.

• Fueling Disaster report by the Community Food Security Coalition

• Rush to Ethanol report by Food and Water Watch

• Biofuels: Is the Cure Worse Than the Disease September 12, 2007.
  Report brought to you by the OECD and the Round Table on Sustainable Development, co-authored by Richard Doornbosch and Ronald Steenblik. The 50 Page Report is technical and does an excellent job looking into the economics and government policies on biofuels. The report looks at the current state of biofuels as well as its ultimate technical potential, complete with charts, graphs and references to other studies.

• Getting Real About Biofuels by Rainforest Action Network

• Call for an Agrofuels Moratorium

• Ethanol-Industrial Complex

• Full Tanks at the Cost of Empty Stomachs
  A statement by the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST), February 28, 2007.
  "The current model of production of bioenergy is sustained by the same elements that have always caused the oppression of our peoples: appropriation of territory, of natural resources, and the labor force."

• The Ethanol Illusion [PDF] by Michael B. McElroy, Professor of Environmental Studies at Harvard, November 2006
  Can we move beyond an energy policy running on hype and hot air?

• Feeding the Beast by Tom Philpott, 13 Dec 2006
  It's time for a real "food vs. fuel" debate

• A Bridge to Somewhere? By Tom Philpott, 15 Dec 2006
  "If biofuels are used as a way to leverage conservation efforts, then we support them, with caveats; if they're a way to distract from conservation efforts, as currently seems the case, then we say the hell with 'em. Conserve!"

• Ethanol: A Costly Snake Oil and a Danger to America By Ray Wallace
  "In each American community that hosts or is being targeted by an ethanol factory, common sense, honesty, and citizens' physical and economic health are being needlessly trashed for others' profits...There's plain terrorism, and there's economic terrorism. And there's plain stupidity."

• Editorial: Green Plants, Fossil Fuels, and Now Biofuels by Tad Patzek, UC Berkeley, November 2006

• Ethanol Production Using Corn, Switchgrass, and Wood by Pimentel and Patzek January 2005
  Excellent comprehensive article, including the net energy debate, environmental impacts, and food vs. fuel.

• Drunk on Ethanol Audubon Magazine Aug 2004
  Excellent comprehensive article critical of ethanol

• Other ethanol studies From Earth Track

• Getting Real About Biofuels by Rainforest Action Network

http://www.energyjustice.net/ethanol/basics/