If it's good enough for race cars....

• Position: Your Life - Brief article

Could a simple molecule known as methanol become a key energy source for the post-fossil fuel era? The 1994 Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry think so. George Olah and Surya Prakash say they have a promising alternative fuel concept, known as the "methanol economy."

"C[O.sub.2] and hydrogen can be combined to make a very simple molecule called methanol [and] it could be used in your internal combustion engine as a high-octane fuel. In fact, methanol is the fuel of choice for all race cars," explains Prakash, professor of chemistry and director of the University of Southern California Loker...