Last year alone, the Standard diverted 40 percent of all U.S. corn towards ethanol production.
In Brazil, he will be talking about ethanol production from sugar cane and global trade talks.
However, it doesn't address fuel economy standards or include a mandate for ethanol production.
The United States, for its part, has several reasons to encourage ethanol production in Latin America.
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Others are engineering careers tied to research in renewable technologies like wind energy and ethanol production.
To the contrary, since the summer, ethanol production has actually risen by nearly 10%.
In 2005, total U.S. ethanol production was 3.9 billion gallons, or 2.9% of the total gasoline pool.
Over the last two decades, engineering and chemical breakthroughs have produced significant energy gains in ethanol production.
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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Many economic studies have cited ethanol production as the single most important driver of recent world food price increases.
Corn also comes under pressure because its use is mandatory in ethanol production.
Brazil, another large ethanol producer, uses sugar instead of corn for ethanol production.
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The issue is also fueling a rising debate over how much the rising prices can be blamed on ethanol production.
This year ethanol production will consume a whopping 42 % of the corn crop, says the US Department of Agriculture.
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Hundreds of filling stations in Bangkok offer gasohol made with ethanol from sugar cane, helped by Thai tax breaks for ethanol production.
The Indian government is subsidizing ethanol production from sugar in hopes of increasing ethanol use from 5% to 20% in a decade.
In 2008, the federal mandate for ethanol production was 9 billion gallons.
Last year, total ethanol production in the United States was about 5 billion gallons, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, an industry group.
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.
An immutable fact is now clear for all to see: Food prices track oil prices, regardless of how much corn is used for ethanol production.
Not only is the Brazilian real weakening, the long term commodity trend in the U.S. is for higher corn prices on account of ethanol production.
It will spark new ethanol production from corn and other crops.
The region has clearly been successful in rapidly boosting ethanol production.
Ethanol production in PADD 2 has grown from 1.6 billion gallons in 2000 to 3.9 billion gallons in 2005 to almost 12.5 billion gallons in 2010.
So I asked Joel Valesco, Chief Representative in North America for the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) about specific subsidies Brazil provides for their ethanol production.
Late Thursday night, the Senate voted 65-27 in favor of legislation to overhaul of the nation's fuel economy standards for autos and dramatically boost ethanol production.
Two years ago, for example, biofuels were favoured investments because of the Bush administration's drive for energy independence, and its provision of subsidies for ethanol production.
The study also points out that increases in ethanol production since 2007 have made little or no contribution to U.S. energy supplies or independence from foreign crude.
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The ethanol industry recently produced roughly 35 million metric tons of DDG a year, though the current Midwest drought is driving up corn prices and cutting ethanol production.
Since U.S. farmers provide about 70% of all global corn exports, even small diversions for ethanol production have produced high inflation levels in America and shortages abroad.
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