Our fearless leaders here in the United States have perfected the art of passing off old ideas as new and improved solutions to the country’s problems. This holds especially true when it comes to energy policy.

Take ethanol, for instance. It was the choice fuel for some of the first combustion engines. In the 1820s, Samuel Morey used an ethanol blend in his experimental internal combustion engine. Due to the rise of steam power, ethanol remained an obscure fuel until 40 years later, when the internal combustion engine took off thanks to a more efficient design by German inventor Nikolaus Otto.

But also around that time, America discovered a cheap, domestic oil supply, which would compete with ethanol and later become our preferred fuel despite ethanol’s early success. Even Henry Ford thought ethanol would withstand the test of time. He designed his Model T to run on ethanol, going so far as to call it “the fuel of the future.”

Now, 100 years after the first Model T took to the roads, our leaders are spouting the same tired slogans. Our reliance on oil has not been clipped. Instead, we are faced with new debates over ethanol’s true energy output and its overall effectiveness as a cheap, efficient alternative to gasoline.

Another political football was once gas was the method of fuel because it was cheaper than ethanol the oil companies had to add lead to it to help the knocking in the engine. So they charged more for that.
Then lead became a no no and they charged more to take it out until today there is hardly anymore leaded gasoline.
So what will happen next?