To meet the 2022 mandate of 35 billion gallons of biofuels using corn-based ethanol, crop land dedicated to corn will have to increase from 88 million acres to 233 million acres.
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As a bonus, switchgrass ethanol emits significantly fewer greenhouse gases than corn-based ethanol.
Right now cellulosic ethanol is potentially eight times more energy-efficient than corn-based ethanol, because you eliminate the middle step of converting it into sugar before you convert it into ethanol.
Such fibers are abundant and could supply 130 million gallons a year of ethanol that would replace gasoline, although it is still expensive when compared to corn-based ethanol and some early trials have ended in disappointment.
Even Al Gore now admits that corn-based ethanol produces more carbon dioxide than it saves.
Due to large government subsidies, the growth of corn-based ethanol has been nothing short of meteoric.
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Of this amount, 21 billion gallons must come from biofuels other than corn-based ethanol.
He cited the U.S. subsidies for corn-based ethanol and tariffs on sugar cane-based ethanol from Brazil.
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From 2000 to 2010, U.S. corn-based ethanol production increased from 1.6 to 13.2 billion gallons per year.
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We massively subsidize corn-based ethanol, even though sugar-based ethanol appears to be far more efficient and less costly.
The energy needed to produce a gallon of corn-based ethanol can exceed the energy generated by the ethanol itself.
Clearly corn-based ethanol is not a sustainable solution for the U.S. energy needs.
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The U.S. leads biofuel innovation likely due to the U.S. abundance of agricultural resources and a history of subsidizing corn-based ethanol.
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For example, how many gallons of water and fossil fuel does it take to produce and transport one gallon of corn-based ethanol?
These promises are nebulous, unclear on what those new sources are, other than the thoroughly discredited without massive government subsidies corn-based ethanol.
Subsidised corn-based ethanol is therefore a nifty way of meeting America's mandatory fuel-economy requirements without having to invest billions in new technology.
Ostensibly to reduce carbon emissions, governments in both places have introduced policies to encourage biofuels (corn-based ethanol in America and biodiesel in Europe).
Given all the problems Obama will be facing, don't expect him to do too much to cut back on the massive subsidies for corn-based ethanol.
Anointed by the U.S. government and in receipt of political support from both sides of the political spectrum, corn-based ethanol has emerged as the biofuel of choice.
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Massive subsidies for corn-based ethanol, which means higher food prices.
Made from corn stalks, switchgrass and other plant waste, it has the advantage of not competing with the food supply and also boasts a superior energy balance than corn-based ethanol.
While he admits that the worsening Midwest drought will cause a sharp hike in crop prices, he maintains there is yet no need to seek a reduction in corn-based ethanol production.
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David Pimentel of Cornell and Tad W. Patzek of Berkeley reported, just in time for Congress to enshrine this atrocity in the energy bill, that corn-based ethanol consumes more energy than it yields.
But regular corn-based ethanol is unlikely to be the fuel choice of American motorists anytime soon--not least because only so much farmland can be devoted to growing corn for ethanol without denting food production.
But much of the cynicism is centered on corn-based ethanol that some consider not just an inefficient fuel source but also one that also creates food shortages, driving up the cost of feed for livestock producers.
Insofar as renewables have desirable environmental attributes (and some notably corn-based ethanol may not), the preferable approach is to price these attributes and let the market choose the technologies that produce the best balance between environmental and non-environmental considerations.
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While much media attention focused on the Bush administration's attempt to lift the ban on offshore drilling, his signature energy policy will surely be seen by history in terms of scope and scale, the billions directed at corn-based ethanol.
Last week, the Obama Administration said its new calculations showed that grain-based biofuels like corn ethanol and soy-based biodiesel displaced more carbon dioxide than originally thought.
This massive market reallocation in such a short time has led to drastic price increases in all corn-based goods, from cereals to ethanol itself.
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