Fill Your Tank With Sugar Beets?

In his State of the Union Address last month, President Bush said America is addicted to oil and announced a new initiative for researching ways to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. At the University of Maryland that research is long underway; and progress is already here.

In a College Park laboratory, Dr. Nam Sun Wang is literally making something out of practically nothing.

Taking pulp from the sugar beet, adding water and enzymes and what do you get? That's right, methanol from sugar beets. When added to gasoline, methanol not only helps cut down on the amount of gas you'll need, but it'll also cost a whole lot less to fill your tank.

But research at the University of Maryland doesn't stop with ways to cut back on crude oil use. Mechanical engineering professor Greg Jackson is researching fuel cells that work like generators or engines to create electricity without polluting the environment.

Jackson says the future is already here. But it may be a few years while before we see fuel cells or methanol in everyday use. Finding those alternatives to oil and electricity simply can't wait, though.

In the not too distant future, methanol will be used in place of batteries to power cell phones and other portable devices.