It makes sense: so much land, irrigation, and fuel for so little corn ethanol.
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Or the massive corn ethanol infrastructure resting on a mountain of subsidies temporarily shielded by protective tariffs?
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Problems with the use of corn ethanol, another energy- alternative favorite, are also becoming more widely recognized.
While next-generation biofuels, such as cellulosic ethanol, are struggling to come of age, corn ethanol is well-established.
Some environmentalists also question whether corn ethanol will ultimately help combat global warming.
U.S. renewable fuel standards (RFS) require the blending of 13.2 billion gallons of corn ethanol with gasoline this year.
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Another is to convert the waste material from corn ethanol plants into oil that can be used to make biodiesel.
It is also the metric that exposes the inherent weakness of sources like corn ethanol, wind energy and solar energy.
Corn ethanol's low power density is inherent in all biomass, which leads us to the second of the Four Imperatives.
Of course, those who get corn ethanol subsidies will tell you that corn ethanol subsidies are just great, should certainly be continued.
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Without sufficient technologies in place to make corn ethanol, increases in corn ethanol will drive up food prices, adding to inflationary pressures.
It might even turn corn ethanol critics into corn cob ethanol supporters.
Corn ethanol should not be maligned, argues Tom Buis of Growth Energy.
It is clear that corn ethanol has served as a stepping stone for cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels, mitigating risk and establishing a market.
That is mainly because the United States and Europe see ethanol as an agricultural commodity and protect their own producers (mainly of corn ethanol).
This type of ethanol refers to fuel made from waste, wood, plants and other products, as opposed to the now widely produced corn ethanol.
Certainly, the volume from demo and even commercial-scale advanced biofuels facilities is tiny when compared to petrofuels and much less than corn ethanol production.
Corn ethanol yields little more energy than is required to produce it, competes with food demand, and releases copious CO2 emissions (if you really care).
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Matching that power output with corn ethanol would require intensive farming on more than 21, 000 square miles, an area nearly the size of West Virginia.
However, most policymakers agree that the industry must move beyond corn ethanol, which is less efficient than the sugar-derived stuff and pushes food prices upwards.
"This unlocks the door to advanced corn ethanol producers, " she said.
That can be understood by comparing the land use needs of a nuclear plant with those of a wind energy project or a corn ethanol operation.
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.
Both sources are superior to corn ethanol (nearly everything is), but they are incurably intermittent, which makes them of marginal value in a world that demands always-available power.
This year the standard is 12.6 billion gallons of corn ethanol, which the industry expects to exceed, with other renewables to contribute a little more than 2 billion gallons.
The Federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) continues to force refiners to sell larger amounts of corn ethanol and other biofuels each year, regardless of weather, supply demand, or cost influences.
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This will most likely entail increasing the corn ethanol mix in petroleum, running up food costs, depleting water supplies, and causing environmental land damage while affording no net CO2 emission reduction.
Two well-known cynics, David Pimentel of Cornell and Tad Patzek of UC, Berkeley, calculate that producing a gallon of corn ethanol consumes 29% more fossil fuel energy than the ethanol displaces.
Choosing plants with no food value sidesteps one of the biggest criticisms of another synthetic fuel, corn ethanol, because critics say that corn should be used as food, not fuel.
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