Is ethanol such a good idea? ( from corn )?

Question

I just listened to my friend and he said that the united states is making a big mistake by urging farmers to plant more corn. He told me this

1.) other food prices will go up ( tomatoes, lettuce, ect. )

2.) Corn growth damages the land ( is this true? )

3.) Sugar cane is cheaper and more efficient than corn

4.) The only place to plant sugar cane is the mid-west, where there is nothing, so might as well plant sugar cane.

Brazil is currently using sugar cane. And If we do use sugar cane, it costs $.90 a gallon

Corn ethanol costs $1.25

My questions are:

1.) Are the facts my friend told me true?

2.) Will barrels be $200 by the end of the year?

3.) Is corn ethanol a bad idea realistically?

4.) What is our economy going to be like in a couple of years....?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

1) Using corn for ethanol will more directly affect meat and dairy prices since most of it is used to feed livestock and is grown in the midwest, whereas lettuce and tomatoes are grown in (e.g) California.

2) Corn is very harmful to soil because the frequent tillage required promotes erosion. Also, it requires much more fertilizers and pesticides than other crops.

3) This is true, but the only places in the US that you can grow sugar cane are parts of Louisiana and Mississippi (and it doesn't do as well there as in Brazil)

4) There is not "nothing" in the midwest! Have you flown over it? Do you see any prairie left? It's mostly crisscrossed with rural roads framing fields that are in use already. Plus, sugarcane won't grow there.

Switchgrass, Miscanthus, and Sorghum are the best options for US energy crops, but the process for converting them to fuel needs to be optimized before it will happen on a large scale. The are better than corn because they are fast growing perennials and require low fertilizer input. Even though corn ethanol isn't very efficient, it was important to develop the industry as a first-step toward cellulosic ethanol and next-generation biofuels. Many of the plants being built are designed to be able to be converted to a cellulosic process in the future.  Now is the time though, to stop subsidizing corn ethanol, and put the money toward cellulosic and infrastructure.

Current oil prices are driven largely by speculation in the futures market, caused partly by investors shifting money from the stock market in the wake of the housing crisis. I predict a decline (but still relatively high) in oil prices after the summer season, or whenever the stock market strengthens. The other part of the high prices is world demand though, and don't expect that to go away.

Answer 2

1) Other food prices will go up if food crops are displaced to produce corn.  However, the reason we're using corn in the first place is because we already have an overabundance of it, so it isn't increasing food costs as much as some make it seem (although it does a little bit).

2) No more so than any other crop, the biggest problem is pollution from fertilizer and pesticides.

3) Yes, sugar cane is cheaper and more efficient, but it doesn't grow well in the US.  A better alternative would be a plant called switchgrass, which grows extremely quickly, has a very high energy content per acre, and grows well in almost any climate.

Ethanol is a great idea, using corn to make that ethanol is not such a great idea.

Answer 3

Your friend is basicly right about corn.  Corn ethanol is basicly a sceme to drive up corn prices.  There are much better plants to produce it from.  You actualy require a lot of enegery and oil based fertilizer to grow corn and even more to make ethanol.  

I don't think sugar cane is a viable alternative in most of North America.  It grows great in the jungle and on tropical islands but there are probably better plants to use in the states.