Etha-NO….
Crude hit $111.00 a barrel Sunday.
At some point during the day, you’ll probably hear some newscaster say “crude oil has reached another record high ” as you’re told the latest not so surprising news about the price of petroleum…
And, you’ll no doubt hear someone talk about the need to switch to alternative fuels—-like Ethanol.
…But, be careful about jumping on the Ethanol bandwagon—-lest you let the music obscure your hearing.
The more we find out about ethanol—the less likely it seems to be a cure for that pain in the pump.
A professor of agricultural sciences at Cornell University has done a study which indicates Ethanol’s disadvantages outweigh it’s advantages.
Professor David Pimentel’s research shows every gallon of ethanol produced creates 12 GALLONS of sewerage..
Plus, it takes a 8,310 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of Ethanol.
Here’s his math:
Ethanol water requirements: 371 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of corn.371 x 56 lbs per bushel = 20,776 gallons are needed per bushel of corn. One bushel of corn will provide approximately 2.5 gallons of ethanol, thus each gallon of ethanol requires 8,310 gallons. An additional 30 to 37 gallons of water are consumed to manufacture ethanol from corn per gallon of ethanol. Source: Corn Chemistry and Technology Handbook.
By contrast, he claims, it takes approximately 2.5 gallons of water to make an equivalent gallon of gasoline
You can read more here about how he claims Ethanol production will hurt agriculture and unleash all sort of other pollutants.
He doesn’t address the issue that Ethanol absorbs water—and thus could actually promote the rusting of engines from the inside..
Nor does his study look at food costs created by diverting corn to fuel production…
Right here in the Triangle, we’re about to lose 830 jobs because the Nationally based Pilgrim’s Pride is shutting down its chicken processing plant in Siler City.
You can read here that it’s just one of a half dozen closings it’s doing nationwide because Ethanol production has driven up the cost of feed beyond what the company can afford to spend and still make a profit.
Do we need alternative fuels? Yes.
Do we need Ethanol?
Only if we’re willing to go hungry, continue losing jobs, and further mess up our environment.
—Steve
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