NEW YORK (Kyodo) Ethanol, a renewable fuel distilled from sugar cane, corn, wheat and other types of biomass, has recently drawn attention after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai to redouble Japan's efforts to boost its production.

Often dubbed the "green gasoline," ethanol does not add to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere because when it is burned, the amount of carbon dioxide produced is equal to the amount the plants used to make it absorbed during their growth.

But replacing a significant amount of gasoline with ethanol takes time, money and effort, and Japan has just begun exploring how to do it.