Ethanol occupies a special place in the hearts, minds and wallets of many Iowans. Pride is usually inspired when we look to our fields and see not only food for the world but also an energy source that has been touted as the potential successor of fossil fuels as the world’s standard of energy.

Sadly, that pride is misplaced.

Ethanol, more specifically corn ethanol, is undoubtedly a source of energy, but its viability as a stand-alone energy source is much more questionable. While there are conflicting accounts available on the overall efficiency for the ethanol products of today and tomorrow, it can be safely said that ethanol is not the miracle energy fountain hoped for decades ago.

That is not to say there have not been breakthroughs. The ethanol industry in the United States has come a long way in its short lifespan and likely will undergo further improvements in the coming years. There have been recent advances in cellulosic ethanol production, which uses a previously untapped plant material called cellulose to produce ethanol. This shows that the industry is still expanding.

Unfortunately for ethanol producers and the people of the United States, ethanol, no matter how advanced, is merely a bandage being applied to an ever-enlarging wound.

Ethanol itself is a fuel created by converting the sugars — and, increasingly, almost all parts — of plants into an alcohol, which is a relatively dense form of energy that can then be used to fuel the engines of both common cars and industrial machinery.

The problem with ethanol — which is the same problem that makes fossil fuels a nonrenewable energy source — is that it relies on a plant to be a temporary vessel for the sun’s energy. Despite what “The Matrix” might have you believe, we living beings are not very efficient at being glorified batteries.

Wind and solar power may get their energy from the same source as biofuels — the sun — but do not require that a potential food item be planted in fields now stretching from coast to coast, harvested from those fields, and processed at highly specialized factories.

Newer energy fields like wind and solar are not without their difficulties. One of the biggest problems we have with these forms of energy production is the very fact that we are by and large unable to effectively store the energy they produce — just the opposite of our problem with biofuels.

The difference is that this is exactly the kind of technical problem that can be overcome much more easily than the inherent problems energy sources based upon living beings face, like time-consuming growth cycles and the vast amount of prime real estate required.

Those of us in states like Iowa are all too ready to accept the billions in federal subsidies and research grants that come along with programs as large as the ethanol industry. A desire to see that funding continue is only aggravated by the heavy investments already made in ethanol production, which just so happen to provide much-needed jobs in states like Iowa.

Despite the ease with which we could accept the nation’s money, ethanol is simply not the energy source we hoped it would be. Regardless, we in the agricultural states have more to be proud of than ethanol.

Perhaps it is time to cut our losses and reinvest in more promising sources of clean energy.