In truth, the Californian Sierra Nevada Brewing Company has teamed up with those E-Fuel guys we told you about. E-Fuel has developed a system/machine to turn simple sugar and yeast into alcohol and then ethanol. (Really, it’s not so different from brewing beer.)

Sierra Nevada is installing an EFuel100 MicroFueler in-house to turn 1.6 million gallons of otherwise discarded yeast for brewing (yearly) into the source ingredients of what we’re sure is a very, very tasty high grade ethanol gasoline. We can drink to that. (beer, not ethanol)

The ethanol engines use a plant-based fuel which burns cleanly with less air pollution, as opposed to the traditional methanol engines used by Indy cars. Yet they still manage to squeeze out the performance, with cars capable of hitting 160kph in less than three seconds.

Generally ethanol isn’t considered to be a suitable replacement for fossil fuels as it requires vast amounts of plant life to convert into fuel, and that can eat into the plants being used to feed us. However, last year Honda uncovered a tech that can just convert the inedible bits of food into fuel, kind of like Mr Fusion in the Back To The Future II DeLorean (or not).

Hopefully we’ll see this tech develop into the consumer (and time travel) space.

Honda Turns the Gold Coast Indy 300 Green
Honda is gearing up for the Australian debut of its 100 per cent ethanol-powered V8 engines at the Nikon Indy 300 on Queensland’s Gold Coast next month.

Honda is the exclusive supplier of engines for the Indy Car series, which traditionally run on methanol. Ethanol is a clean-burning, renewable fuel derived from plants that reduces air pollution. Ethanol fueled engines were first introduced to the series in the USA at the beginning of the 2007 season.

Honda Australia Managing Director, Yasuhide Mizuno said Honda was committed to finding new and innovative ways to be more sustainable. “We are proud to be contributing our technological advancements to the world of motor sport. The new ethanol powered engine demonstrates it is possible to have an environmentally-friendly fuel that delivers real racing performance”.

“Not only is ethanol better for the environment, but the 3.4 litre engines can accelerate the car from 0 to 161kph in less than three seconds.” said Mr. Mizuno.

Last year, Honda revealed technology to extract ethanol from the inedible stalks and leaves of plants, leaving the edible parts for human consumption. This initiative overcomes the competing needs of food and fuel sources and Honda has set up an
experimental production facility at its Wako, Japan, R&D campus to further study the market potential of this technology.

In addition to its commitment to the advancement of cleaner power, Honda remains dedicated to its range of environmentally-friendly vehicles, including the Honda Civic Hybrid, Australia’s most affordable hybrid at just $32,990*.

The Nikon Indy 300 will be held on the Gold Coast, Queensland from 23-26 October.

*Recommended retail price without on-road costs

However, they claim that the kit could be the first step towards replacing conventional batteries in portable devices like iPods or mobile phone chargers. I don’t know how practical a commercial application would be, or whether or not I would be willing to give up a single drop of my precious vodka, but you can pick up the kit now for US$99. [Horizonfuelcell]

Carbon haters would be happy that a gallon of the MicroFueler’s ethanol is supposed to produce just 12.5% of the carbon from a gallon of normal gasoline. Butterfield is also someone who people should listen to: In 1982 he won an award from the state of California for “best design of an ethanol still” says the Times. (I had NO idea I could enter my still in a competition!)

Naysayers predict that quality control would be a problem (and anyone who’s ever homebrewed beer can probably attest to the finicky nature of the process. Others charge that since sugar costs 20-cents per pound, and you need 10 to 14 pounds to make a gallon of ethanol, well, there goes your cost savings. But Butterfield and his Silicon Valley finance whiz/business partner Thomas J. Quinn swears you can buy “inedible sugar” from South of the Border for 2 to 3 cents per pound.

There’s also a small matter of 100% ethanol being illegal as an automotive fuel, but Quinn says that, too, will be resolved. [NYT]