The above ad is running on the Washington Post website. It’s sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association, which is the national trade association for the U.S. ethanol industry. I find it interesting because it is clearly an attempt to integrate ethanol into an all-American image. The ad could be called “Blonds, Babies, and Biofuels.” (Or, “Babes, Babes, and Biofuels.”) All it needs, in addition to the young mother and her smiling tot, is an apple pie cooling on the roof of the car and a flag waving in the background.
Ethanol is far from perfect, a fact we’ve been writing about for ages. But because it’s produced by hard-bitten farmers in places like Iowa, it’s probably the renewable energy source most likely to be integrated into our sense of national identity. And that’s a start. After ethanol, hopefully we can move onto the stuff that works.
