Reply #6: Methanol, like ethanol is toxic to aquatic systems.

[hunter]

Spills are bad, in some circumstances worse than diesel spills.

A closely related synthetic fuel is dimethyl ether (DME). It's a "bottled gas" like propane or butane. It's easily synthesized from methanol, or directly from the same sources methanol might be made from, and it's a good fuel for diesel engines, combined cycle power plants, cooking stoves, etc.; better in fact than methanol.

http://www.aboutdme.org

The only way methanol might win out over DME is if it truly is better in some sort of fuel cell, especially a reversible sort of fuel cell that could take an electric current and efficiently make methanol from carbon dioxide and water.