FYI about ethanol

David Pimental, a leading Cornell University agricultural expert, calculated that powering the average U.S. automobile for one year on ethanol (blended with gasoline) derived from corn would require 11 acres of farmland, the same space needed to grow a year’s supply of food for seven people.  Adding up the energy costs of corn production and its conversion into ethanol, 131,000 BTUs are needed to make one gallon of ethanol.  One gallon of ethanol has an energy value of only 77,000 BTUs.  Thus 70% more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy that is actually in it.  Every time you make one gallon of ethanol, there is a net energy loss of 54,000 BTUs.  Professor Pimental adds that “abusing our precious croplands to grow corn for an energy-inefficient process that yields low-grade automobile fuels amounts to unsustainable subsidized food burning”.

Something to think about . . . .