Dispatches from the green side

Now comes mounting evidence that ethanol production consumes a lot of freshwater. The American Coalition for Ethanol, an industry group, acknowledges that ethanol facilities typically use some three gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol. And some of that water cannot be cleansed for re-use. Petroleum refineries, by contrast, use considerably less water to produce a gallon of gasoline.

[From How green is our corn? -- chicagotribune.com]