The impact of crude oil prices nearly doubling in the last four months has occasioned a check on petrol consumption the world over. Americans, who account for 40 per cent of the world?s petrol consumption and who have thumbed their noses at conservation over the years, are moving from jumbo SUVs to more fuel-efficient ones. Increasingly, the nation?s roads seem like a moving laboratory, with all alternatives to gasoline combustion engines being tried out by Americans, albeit in small numbers. There are cars powered by natural gas, hydrogen fuel cells and, even, French-fry grease! There are electric cars and hybrid electric cars that can be plugged into the power grid.

In the mid-western states of the United States of America, car-owners can go in for a fuel cocktail called E85, which consists of grain alcohol, or corn-based ethanol, with a splash of gasoline. Many motorists are switching to the new fuel because, currently, it is about 40-50 cents cheaper than a gallon of regular petrol.

However, the stuff is hard to find. Of the roughly 180,000 petrol stations nationwide, less than 500 offer E85. Also, huge tracts of farmland would have to be converted to corn production to provide enough fuel for the American automobile fleet. No doubt, this would drive up food prices.

Power crunch

E85 is also less energy efficient than gasoline. Its current cost advantage is the result of a 43 cents-a-gallon subsidy, against a roughly 40 cent tax on gasoline. Studies indicate that ethanol reduces emissions of smog-forming pollutants and global warming gases by amounts depending on how it is produced. An emerging process of creating ?cellulose ethanol? from agricultural waste like cereal straw has the potential for far greater emission reductions although experts say, ?the technology has not arrived?.

Other countries too are not far behind in the production and use of ethanol. Rising oil prices in the Seventies led Brazil to introduce a programme to produce sugarcane-based ethanol for use in automobiles. Pure ethanol is used in about 40 per cent of the nation?s cars, with the rest using a blend of 24 per cent ethanol and 76 per cent petrol. Brazil, which consumes nearly 4 billion gallons of ethanol annually, is also the world?s largest producer and a sizeable exporter of ethanol.

In Sweden, a significant producer and user of ethanol, crude oil consumption has been cut by half since 1980. In France, ethanol is produced from grapes that are not good enough for wine production. Earlier this month, the government of Ontario, Canada, approved a plan mandating all gasoline sold in the state to contain 5 per cent ethanol by 2007 and 10 per cent by 2010.

Slow pick-up

In India, the petroleum ministry had drawn up a plan, in the first phase of which nine states and four Union territories would be supplied with petrol blended with 5 per cent ethanol in 2005. This would be extended to petrol pumps all over the country under the second phase towards the end of the year. In the third phase of the programme originally scheduled also for end-2005, the content of ethanol in the blend would be increased to 10 per cent. Though yet to be implemented, experts feel the plan is imminent as it is a tried and tested method to reduce the consumption of petroleum.

India is also well poised to be a major player in ethanol. The rising crude oil prices is already prompting sugarcane growers to sell more of the crop for distillation into ethanol. Some sugar companies have set up captive distilleries to diversify their range. With more sugarcane being converted into ethanol worldwide, it is not surprising that international sugar prices have reached their highest levels in seven years. Bad news for people with a sweet tooth.