So the Wall Street Journal has a story today, “Ethanol Craze Cools As Doubts Multiply.”

In the span of one growing season, ethanol has gone from panacea to pariah in the eyes of some. The critics, which include industries hurt when the price of corn rises, blame ethanol for pushing up food prices, question its environmental bona fides and dispute how much it really helps reduce the need for oil.

Interesting. Even more so because I said many of these things in USA Today back in 2004. Did anyone listen?

Ethanol is a Bad Thing. It costs too much, environmentally, to produce (in terms of fertilizer and water, for starters). There’s not nearly enough arable land to grow the corn or sugar beets or whatever else would need to replace fossil fuels. And trying to grow a lot has jacked up the price of everything from tacos (hurting the Mexican economy and driving more people here) to beer, as the price of corn rises and pushes up the price of other crops. After all, why plant wheat if corn gets you more money?

I said once that electric cars weren’t a solution to our oil woes because of the dirty means of producing that electricity (coal, for the most part). I was wrong, at least partially.

If we’re going to get ourselves off oil, the way to do it is to move toward electric cars, but to produce that electricity using solar, wind, hydro, geothermal (perhaps my favorite), or some other clean way.

Gasoline was — is — great because it’s so portable; you can get energy into a moving vehicle simply. But we need to get our thinking out of the 19th century, where the only way to power a vehicle is via a liquid fuel in a tank. Those liquid fuels are becoming too costly in terms of cash and the environment.

Electricity is great because there are so many ways to produce it. If we can get ourselves away from burning coal to produce it, we can power our cars cleanly, end to end.