Limiting Ethanol Production

It is no secret that increased production of ethanol for fuel has driven up the price of food, and anything else made from corn, on a global level.  Today, almost a third of the corn crop in the United States is being used in ethanol production for fuel. What most consumers don’t realize is that one gallon of ethanol is about 65% as efficient as one gallon of gasoline. It also costs more to produce. Thus, the price of food is being driven up for the sake of less efficient, more expensive fuel. In fact, one recent study done by UC Berkeley geoengineering professor Tad W. Patzek found that ethanol is one of the worst renewable fuel solutions, and confirmed that a staggering six times more fossil energy is used to produce ethanol than is released by it.

If we rewind just three years, back to 2008, you will recall that the then new ethanol mandate was responsible for driving food prices up by as much as 50%, even leading to riots in several foreign countries. And now, just a short time afterward, the ethanol movement is still gaining momentum. In fact, 15% ethanol gasoline is being talked about right now and could very well become the new standard soon.  This can only lead to more corn being used to produce ethanol and the price of other good going up because of it. Last year alone, more than twenty percent of the United States’ corn crop was used for ethanol production, and it only offset one percent of the country’s oil use. Obviously, focusing efforts on new power technology and electric vehicles is a better way to go. In fact, almost any way is a better way to go! The answer to easing the current food price spike is to stop using all of our corn for ethanol, plain and simple.

last time modified: July 14, 2011, 5:10 p.m.