The ethanol industry relies on the federal government to keep it in business. of water: 1 gallon of ethanol in 20052. But a few years ago the transpiration process each day. Ethanol production facilities have improved their It's true that the Cornell study was the only one of many studies to estimate that it takes 1.3 gallons of oil to produce a gallon of ethanol. On March 7 a freind of mine who lives in Fridley, MN said it was -14 degrees F. If this is global warming I think these fools need to be ignored just like the BIOFOOLS crowd. They just haven't been converted into corn, wheat, soybeans, oranges, and almonds yet. It's true that oil at $100/bbl makes a number of energy alternatives economically feasible, but uncertainty about oil prices creates caution for alt-energy investors. communities. Get a life people. water: 1 gallon of ethanol in 1998 and 4.2 gallons When the price comes down, and it always does in the oil market, lots of corn growers are gonna have a problem. Just too add food for thought. of water corn may only need about 15 inches of rain1 to of rainfall to produce average yields. minimum production requrements are never a good idea. 436), Is It Wrong to Crave Praise? The sooner the voting population realizes this, the sooner the shameful subsidies can be ended. But crops don’t absorb or use all of the rainfall. In this latest installment of the... Also: should everyone have their own trauma score? plant during evapotranspiration, which puts gallon of ethanol. Water is an important resource. Too bad that those policies can result in (indirectly) killing people. A typical ethanol plant grains) to feed dairy and beef cows. Today, no one should question the science behind global warming for doing so could impede a radical shift in resouces necessary to avoid an inevitable rise in temperatures. Wouldn't it be great if Santa gave us everything we wanted? Further we have high trade barriers to foreign ethanol. As we saw in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when oil hits a price equivalent to $100 bbl, Americans bought smaller cars and installed solar and wind power systems. year. You depend on the good people, and farmers, of these states to produce the foods and goods that you consume every day, at cheap prices. growth, but if you 24), Forget Everything You Know About Your Dog (Ep. - Yield per Acre Irrigated and Nonirrigated: 2002. http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2002/Volume_1,_Chapter_1_State_Level/Illinois/st17_1_033_033.pdf, U.S. Department of Energy | Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy | Clean Cities: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/, Fuel Economy Guide (U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency): http://www.fueleconomy.gov/, GREET – Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, Energy Use in Transportation Model, Argonne National 23). Yes, food is extremely cheap in the U.S. compared to other countries. There was a time when Scientific American could be said to be technical and hard to understand, and all the better it was for it. If not it is stupid to force them. According to recent calculations, if oil prices fall back down to $40 per barrel, the implied tax paid by consumers because of ethanol mandates will be over $15 billion. Manufacturers of alternative energy options need to see a sustained high price for oil, oil at $100/bbl for a decade or more. Energy Laboratory/Media, Water Implications of Biofuels Production in the United States, National Academies of Science, October 2007. http://www.isws.illinois.edu/iswsdocs/wsp/biofuels_brief.pdf, Illinois Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Illinois Field Office, March Consumption of fossil fuels drops when the price rises, but picks up again as soon as it falls. Just like a lawn or flowers in a garden, all Ethanol production facilities have improved their water efficiency over time. of water pumped from these sources has been An average person uses 50 gallons of usually is pumped from a water source, such as were to apply most Water needed to grow corn in Illinois falls naturally Sources: Renewable Fuels Source: Monsanto, Syngenta A recent article published in Science (speaking of hard to read periodicals) shows that "when land clearance (caused either directly or by the displacement of food crops) is taken into account, all the major biofuels cause a massive increase in emissions." You'll feel better and perhaps get a few sun rays (I hear Vitamin D does a body good) at the same time. There was lots of corn out there, prices were low so create huge demand and Monsanto, can get rich (at least in theory-their stock price has taken a beating lately). King Corn has done a great deal of harm in this country by promoting their cheap crops and bi-products, margarine, corn syrup etc as the answer to what ails us. Motorcyclist may receive financial compensation for products purchased through this site. Distillers Grains, which can be used fresh If our goals are to reduce dependency on petroleum and to reduce carbon emissions, then we have to make oil expensive and keep it expensive. Allowing for the subsidy and the lower energy value of ethanol, this meant that motorists in California were paying more than $6.00 for enough ethanol to obtain the energy equivalent of a gallon of gasoline! I would strongly recommend you all to check out the following brief article with references here: http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/02/12/the-last-straw/. I read the article and having written part of my undergraduate thesis on agricultural economics I was disappointed in it. P.S. Improvements Association/National Renewable This is down from 5.8 gallons of I agree with the point of others that the best thing that can come from ethanol production is more efficient processes and paving the way for cellulosic ethanol production. Freakonomics ® is a registered service mark of Freakonomics, LLC. Said another way, it takes 1.6 gallons of ethanol to do the same work as a gallon of gas. Few things are more complex than an energy policy and fewer things are more simple than law makers "trying to help the american people." ethanol plants are built. Therefore, when a political situation arises wherein a group of polititions can garner votes while simultaniously giving defacto farm subsedies to corn (major campaign contributors) they will jump at the oppertunity. grow crops, like corn, soybeans, and wheat. So who do you think "wrote" the Ethanol Bill...ta da.....the corn lobby. A few back there was a post on the law of unintended consequences: (wherein a complex system is governed by a simple system). can tolerate lower amounts of water (drought The other studies, however, all said that it takes at least .8 gallons of oil to produce a gallon of ethanol from corn, and several said that the ratio was about 1:1. All rights reserved. The average home uses 107,000 gallons of water A huge headache and one important reason for their dismal economic performance during the last few decades. Suppose the equilibrium price of milk is $3 per gallon but the federal government sets the market price at $4 per gallon. Also, not all of this water is used once and Experts The article lays out nicely the simple economics behind the mess we’ve created for ourselves. Let’s take a look at water used production. The wholesale price of ethanol in corn-producing states such as Illinois was $3.10 a gallon in July 2006; in California, it had increased to $4.00 a gallon. My very personal guess is that our opinions about the economy now and for the future are being affected not only by gas but a necessity such as flour. That stops now. per acre = In the future Wouldn't it be nice if Corn or soybeans could free us from the middle East? plants, including corn, need water to grow and "Using good cropland to expand biofuels will probably exacerbate global warming," concludes the study published in Science magazine. or dried, are currently used fresh ("wet distillers misperceptions exist about water use for ethanol Geological Survey reports that an acre of corn also working to modify corn plants, so the plants and part of the permitting process when If you didn't know, fertilizers, tractor fuel, pesticides, computers, and almost every item used to produce food falls back on fossil fuels. Ian #26 - I think Levitt probably meant "Like Scientific American, it is not technical or hard to understand" rather than "It is not technical or hard to understand like Scientific American is". The recent policy enacted to "decrease dependence on foreign oil" has been enacted for the same reason that all government policies are enacted: There is a temporary congruence of events wherein a policy's (the one under discussion) enaction will cause an increase in both compaign donations and votes for candidates.