Do ethanol subsidies contribute to global warming?

Question

What exactly is ethanol?

- Does it help / harm the earth?

What exactly is an ethanol subsidy?

- Is it useful / popular in the US?

Answer 1

Ethanol is an alcohol fuel made from various plants; in Brazil sugar cane is the primary product used, and in the U.S. corn is.  There are limitations to ethanol; while it is less harmful to the environment than gasoline in terms of emissions at the tailpipe, I understand that at best we could only produce enough ethanol in the U.S. to meet 20% of our present consumption.  Also, ethanol produced from sugar cane yields something like 8 times the energy that corn does at present, although research is continuing.  So it is useful and popular for a number of reasons, but alternatives such as biomass (corn stalks, etc) and other products like grass will ultimately be better choices when it comes to ethanol production.  While growing corn is energy-intensive, requiring petroleum-based fertilizers and fuel to plant and harvest, ethanol produced from byproducts/biomass could be a real bonanza.

Ethanol subsidies are monies paid to various entities by the government to underwrite costs such as investment in infrastructure.  As I understand it, the most costly subsidy being paid recently was something like 50 cents per gallon paid to the big oil companies for distributing it.  I believe there is also a subsidy paid to companies and cooperatives  that build ethanol production plants, but I don't know the details there.  Finally, there are various subsidies paid to the producers-the farmers-that are both directly and indirectly related to corn production.

Do the subsidies contribute to global warming?  Well, I suppose that argument could be made, but basically producing and burning just about any kind of fuel will put pollutants into the air, I guess the question would be how much relative to gasoline, etc.  I don't have the answer to that.

I think the way to look at ethanol is not as the solution to the problem of energy independence, but a step in that direction that will be long-term as we develop other alternative sources of energy.  We're working on the infrastructure now, and as the technology improves so will the viability of ethanol based fuels.  For example, I recently read that a hybrid gas-electric vehicle in development doesn't actually use the 'gas' (or ethanol) powered engine to turn the wheels-it is used to recharge the batteries when needed on the highway.  They're saying that the combination has a potential to yield 600 miles of travel without recharging or refueling; since the power of the gas engine isn't used to propel the vehicle, it doesn't have to be very big.  Imagine one of those cars in your garage plugged into a wind generator mounted up on your roof and driving 600 miles on a charge and a small tank of ehtanol.  Byebye dependence on foreign oil and the pollution generated by electrical plants.

Answer 2

Burning ethanol does not hurt the enviroment as much but it does hurt to make.

Answer 3

Ethanol is a clean, biodegradable fuel that is better to use in cars. It is cleaner for the environment.

It helps the EArth.

It is very use and popular.

Answer 4

it is the alcohol that people normally drink. it is a flammable liquid and when pure enough it can be used to power cars.

it is supposedly a green fuel because it is renewable and "carbon neutral". in reality it requires large amounts of oil to make.