Why Ethanol?

Question

Ethanol is supposto be as bad for the environment as Fossil Fuels ... so I beg to ask, why do we grow more corn, charge more for wheat, and starve the poorer families for no reason?

Answer 1

No basis, to rely on, but my own inductive reasoning.

I think it may have been pushed to decrease independence on foreign oil/fuel, and because, it is an easy transtition between gasoline and ethanol for carmakers, that is they could do it relatively quickly

Answer 2

Ethanol is renewable. If the cost of gasoline keeps going up then ethanol may become cost competitive.

Answer 3

First off, I'd like to correct the most glaring of the many bits of misinformation in previous answers: Ethanol production does use fossil fuels. Most of this is natural gas used for fertilizer production and coal for electricity. However, there is a 22% gain in energy with current corn ethanol processes, and the reduction in CO2 emissions is much greater because natural gas emits less CO2 than oil (by energy content) - so although inefficient, it is not as bad as using oil directly.

To address food prices; experts attribute the recent increases in staple foods mostly to increased demand for meat, and to a prevalence of drought. Eating meat is a very inefficient way to feed people, since it takes 10 times as many calories to feed livestock compared to the calories obtained from the meat. Rice and wheat prices are the most problematic right now, and this is because much of what is exported is usually produced in Australia, which has had a bad drought.

Answer 4

Corn-based ethanol is a bad idea (it doesn't have anything to do with wheat though).  However, there are potentially environmentally beneficial sources of ethanol which won't impact food prices.  For example, from switchgrass and algae.

http://greenhome.huddler.com/wiki/are-al...

But I agree that we shouldn't be using corn-based ethanol.  We should wait until we have these other types of ethanol available.

Answer 5

We do have a lot of untapped oil and gas reserves in the US and offshore, we're not even sure how much since in many places it's impossible to even drill a test well. There are as many as 1.4 Trillion barrels of oil locked up in tar sands and oil shale in the western US and we could liquefy coal to use as fuel as well.

Even with all of this, though, it's clear that at some point we need to stop using oil the way we do. It's a cheap source of energy but it takes a long time to produce more petroleum,  so it's not renewable in real terms. We can run nearly everything the modern world uses with electricity and we can produce electricity from many renewable sources. Solar is a very efficient means but wind, tidal, nuclear, hydro and geothermal are all good, too.

I think this qualifies as an emergency and it's downright stupid to put our entire economy in the hands of a few countries that would love to see us fail. We get most of our oil from Canada and Mexico but Venezuela and the Middle Eastern countries aren't exactly our biggest fans. Drill some test wells, drill in ANWR, drill offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. But also invest in renewable sources of energy, there's no reason to be blinded by dogma and politics into thinking there's only one solution and everything else has to be rejected.

Ethanol made from switchgrass is far more efficient than corn-ethanol. Corn yields 25% more energy than it takes to make it, at most. Switchgrass yields 540% more energy, doesn't require prime farmland to grow, doesn't require replanting between harvests and won't impact anyone's food supply but a few bugs. Ethanol isn't nearly as bad for the environment as gasoline, the emissions are far lower and it can be produced here in the US. Currently we export $750 Billion a year to buy fossil fuels and we don't get much of that money back. At some point other countries will consider us a bad debt risk and stop buying our national debt which will make it impossible to buy another drop of foreign oil. What then?

Answer 6

Why ethanol?  Because ethanol is clean, renewable, and made in America.  Gasoline is none of those things.  No one has yet to starve as a result of increased demand for corn.  People can and do eat other things.  And nothing is driving up the cost of food more than high priced oil, due to higher shipping costs.

Ethanol makes the price of food go up. This change is temporary and reversible until the supply of ethanol increases. Ethanol production has been increasing every year. Gasoline makes the price of EVERYTHING INCLUDING FOOD go up due to higher shipping costs. Economists agree that oil is BY FAR the number 1 cause of inflation. In addition, oil making everything more expensive is irreversible and permanent as the supply of oil decreases everyday.

Ethanol can be produced using no fossil fuels at all.

The big myth is that more fossil fuels are used to make ethanol than the energy it yields.  This is dead wrong.  Ethanol is now being made with almost an infinitely positive net yield via wind power and combustion of waste biomass from the beef industry.  Ethanol is being produced with ZERO fossil fuels used in the process.  Read that again---ZERO FOSSIL FUELS are being used to make ethanol.  Here are the links to prove it:

http://connectbiz.com/2005/11/keith-kor/

http://fairmontsentinel.com/page/content...

More Biofuel Myths

Myth: Biofuels provide less energy than it takes to make them.

One (and only one) obsolete study done over 20 years ago—in the 1980s—showed a negative energy balance, which the media sometimes quote. Since then, technology and crop yields have improved tremendously. Many studies prove that ethanol provides about 1.5 units of energy for every unit of energy used.

Biodiesel is even higher: 3.2 to 1. What oil companies don’t want you to know is that gasoline takes 20 percent more energy to make than it provides.

Myth: Biofuels drive up food prices.

Corn and soy bean prices have gone up—primarily because of speculators, not Biofuel producers, increasing the cost of a chicken sandwich by about 7 cents. However, high petroleum prices have driven up food prices far more! About 20% of America’s corn crop goes to produce ethanol, which accounts for about 5% of our motor fuel. After the liquid starch is extracted, the remaining product is still be used for feed and fiber. That’s why a third of all the corn grown in the U.S. is still exported! We can easily increase our ethanol production to 15% of our gasoline needs without threatening our food supply. Beyond that, we will need to develop new feedstocks, such as wood and fibrous plants. Research in these areas is well underway.

Myth: Biofuels get worse fuel mileage.

We have been using Biodiesel for over 6 years now. Nearly all of our distributors have seen a 1% to 5% improvementin fuel economy due to better lubricity, higher cetane levels and oxygen content.

Ethanol blends up to 10% have negligible effect on fuel mileage. While high blends of ethanol (such as E85, 85% ethanol) can reduce fuel mileage slightly, ethanol, at 110 octane, provides more power. With proper tuning, engines can reach comparable mileage. In fact in Europe, which has already adopted Biofuels, the same manufacturers sell models in Europe to run on ethanol that get the same mileage as those they sell to run on gasoline in the U.S.

Myth: Vehicle and heating systems must be modified to use Biofuels

Rudolph Diesel’s first diesel engine ran on vegetable oil. Any diesel can run on Biodiesel, although blends above B20 may not yet be supported by your manufacturer.

Any heating system can use Biodiesel, although you may need to replace your fuel pump and make minor modifications for blends over B20.

Henry Ford promoted ethanol. Any car can run on up to E24 (24% ethanol). Blends up to E85 can be used in Flex Fuel Vehicles. There are millions of these on the road today. By 2012, all GM vehicles will be Flex Fuel.

Myth: Biofuels must be subsidized to be affordable.

When you include the cost of our military protecting Mid East oil, environmental remediation, smog and other environmental damage, and numerous similar factors, the real cost of a gallon of gasoline is over $5! It’s already heavilysubsidized! Biofuels, on the other hand, are minimally-subsidized. The blending credit (51 cents/gallon for Ethanol) and ($1/gallon for Biodiesel), gets passed on to the consumer. Sometimes Biofuels cost less than petroleum. This will continue to occur with increasing frequency as the price of petroleum continues to rise, and the price of Biofuels continue to fall as production increases.

Reality:Biofuels are the only real alternatives to fossil fuels, which cost us far more than the price we pay at the pump. Petroleum fuels damage our environment. Every time we buy gasoline, most of the profits go to hostile foreign nations. Money spent on Biofuels stays right here in America, creating jobs and growing our economy!

Data sources: USDA and DOE