ETHANOL BUSINESS

Making Ethanol Of Corn Takes Far Too Much Water

May 1st, 2007 | Author: Mr Ethanol

Businesses all over California are racing to build plants to make ethanol, an additive or substitute for gasoline that might – or might not (depending on the study) – lower greenhouse gas emissions. There’s even a plan to build such a plant along Highway 99 in Keyes. Setting aside any objections about location or environmental impacts, we wonder if anyone has thought about what goes into making ethanol.

Namely, how much water it will take to grow all that corn.

Many crops can be distilled into ethanol, but most makers are choosing corn. And corn is the most water-intensive of all the possible ethanol crops. How much water? How much corn? The answers are startling.

First, many studies have suggested that corn-based ethanol isn’t the best solution to breaking our oil addiction. Corn-based ethanol is far less efficient as a fuel than sugar-cane ethanol. And diverting corn from other uses, such as feeding cows and chickens, likely will drive the costs of food and farming higher. Big companies who deal in growing and marketing corn would prefer we ignore such facts. But it’s harder to ignore the amount of water that using corn-based ethanol would require.

This is a back-of-the-napkin look at ethanol’s impact on California water. The conclusions are imprecise, because no energy, water or utility agency has gotten into this yet. Let’s start with two assumptions: Corn will remain the crop of choice, and California will have to grow its own corn because other states will be using their own corn for making fuel.

The Water Education Foundation says it takes about 118 gallons of water to grow a pound of corn. How many pounds of corn does it take to produce a gallon of ethanol? About 21 pounds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Doing the multiplication, each gallon of ethanol will take roughly 2,500 gallons of water.

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