By Peter Sachs
Q: I keep hearing all this talk about "alternative fuels," stuff like corn stalks and sugar beets and grass to power my car. Is that even possible? And how long would that take, anyway? My wallet is hurting enough from filling up just to drive around town. -Anonymous, Iowa
A: The fine nation of Brazil has the U.S. beaten not only on goals in the 2006 World Cup (the U.S. did not even make it to the second round after losing Thursday), but in achieving that much-talked-about goal of "energy independence."
Sometime this year, the South American nation may announce that it no longer needs oil from other countries to meet all of its needs. How did this country of 188 million people pull it off?
Oil wells and sugar cane. Lots of sugar cane.
Using a complicated process of grinding, steaming, mashing, fermenting and filtering, the Brazilians have made extreme rum. It's 200-proof, or pure alcohol, called ethanol.
Sound familiar? We have the same stuff here, but while the U.S. is only getting 3 percent of its automotive fuel from ethanol, the Brazilians have it up to a whopping 40 percent -- and all from their own sugar cane farms.
A growing number of scientists here think we can do the same thing, but with things like cornstalks, tree clippings, sugar beets, certain kinds of grass and who-knows-what else.
Of course, that change will take time. There are already some states where you can buy "E85"-that's gasoline that is made almost entirely from corn kernels. And you may even be able to put that gas in the car you have right now . . . but you need to check with your dealer to see if your exact model can handle the corn.
The Kwik Stop Key West Conoco at the corner of Highway 52 and Highway 61 in Dubuque, Iowa has only sold E85 gas for about two weeks, at 25 cents less per gallon than the regular stuff. A woman named Gwen who answered the phone there said E85 is catching on, as people find out about it, and realize that it works in their cars.
A glimpse of the future? Maybe, and if you live near the 39 ethanol gas stations in Iowa, the future is now.