It seemed like a really good idea at the time. It was way back in 1978, and the Arab oil embargo had us lining up to fill up our Fords and Toyotas. Our country wanted to achieve ‘energy independence.’ Chemists had already figured out how we could convert corn…we grow lots of corn, into gasoline. All we had to do was combine the two and our petroleum supply would automatically be increased. What could possibly go wrong?
Oh, there were voices warning us of our naivete, and other voices warning of the impact on the worldwide price of corn but this was Iowa and another Presidential election year. Every candidate from both parties praised the ethanol gospel dating back to Ronald Reagan, both Bushes, Obama, Newt Gingrich, ad nauseum. Hillary Clinton voted against ethanol’s $6 billion subsidies 17 times until she was a candidate, then she was for it. John McCain called ethanol a ‘political boondoggle’ until he was a candidate, then he became a believer. Iowa has only 3 million people and less than 1% vote in their caucuses, yet their influence in national politics is mighty.
The American Midwest accounts for nearly half of all domestic corn production. Finding another use for their product would guarantee higher prices. But two issues existed. The cost of producing ethanol wasn’t cheap. Its embedded energy cost exceeded its value. Second, much of the world’s food supply depended on stable prices for yellow corn, which has considerably more food value than white corn. When yellow corn is taken off the market, the world price rises, and 3rd world countries cannot afford it. Malnutrition and food riots have been the result.
A recent study by Cornell’s Dept. of Agriculture revealed that an acre yields about 7,000 pounds of corn that converts into 328 gallons of ethanol. But planting, growing, and harvesting that corn requires considerable water as well as 140 gallons of gasoline. Put another way, it requires 70% more energy to produce ethanol than is actually in ethanol.
The Cornell study also concluded that ethanol costs about $1.74 per gallon to produce, compared with about 95 cents to produce a gallon of gasoline. In addition, there is substantial environmental damage. The greater soil erosion and excessive use of groundwater is estimated to add another $. 23 per gallon.
Converting food into energy does nothing to help the world feed itself. The use of 40% of American corn for ethanol has caused the world price to rise 2-3%. A Time magazine article said: “By diverting grain from dinner plates to fuel tanks, biofuels are jacking up world food prices and endangering the hungry. The grain it takes to fill an SUV tank with ethanol could feed a person for a year. Harvests are being plucked to fuel our cars instead of ourselves.”
And Federal subsidies now exceed $18 billion…$.51/gallon to produce 36 billion gallons of ethanol. Still there is no indication any of this will end soon, especially with gas at its current levels. Which reminds me, I’ll need to borrow some money, my tank is nearly empty.