In the United States, we are examining alternative energy to reduce our dependence on oil and help reduce our carbon footprint. One method the EPA supports is ethanol production. Ethanol is considered a green fuel because it recycles the carbon burned every time new crops are grown. In theory, ethanol is a good stepping stone between the use of gasoline and zero-emission energy sources. However, biofuels are still a young technology that presents many problems before it can be useful. The EPA fully supports biofuels and has mandated that 36 billion gallons of biofuels be produced in America by 2020. Currently, nearly all American biofuels come in the form of corn-derived ethanol, which is extremely inefficient and can cause sustainability issues. For this reason, only 15 billion gallons of mandatory biofuels can be made from corn-based ethanol. The rest of the biofuel must come from non-corn-based alternatives, such as cellulosic ethanol, which the EPA expects to create nearly all of the remaining 21 billion gallons of ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol uses cellulose found in all plants to create ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol is much more efficient than corn ethanol because the entire plant can be used and places no limits on the type of plant material that can be used. Although the EPA expects these numbers to be achievable, due to current failures and efficiencies, cellulosic ethanol will not be able to meet this production within the time constraints and a 2034 year goal would be more realistic in the long term . not be able to achieve the expected results because over the last four years, since demonstration and pilot sites started popping up, it has just started to...... middle of paper ...... considering recent trends in productions. Meeting the goal of 21 billion gallons of ethanol was not possible. However, even if 21 billion gallons of ethanol were produced by 2020, that would not be helpful because cars are not at the point where most of them can run on higher ethanol fuels, which would create a surplus not necessary. Instead, waiting 5 years to create higher demand, while giving start-up plants time to settle in and resolve underlying issues, will help achieve the goal in the future. So, by my calculations, in 15 years it would be reasonable to reach the goal of 21 billion gallons of ethanol from non-corn based crops. Even after waiting 20 years, this mandate is still important because alternative energy would not yet have taken over transportation and fuel would still be needed for all gasoline-powered cars..