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Ethanol Magic?
By Mr Ethanol | May 19, 2008
The Keene Sentinel:
Ethanol has been credited with lots of magical properties during the past few years. Unfortunately, the claims may be exaggerated.
First it was touted as an air purifier in the 1990s, after Congress mandated the use in gasoline of MTBE, which is a suspected carcinogen that nonetheless reduced air pollution. MBTE began to seep into water supplies on both coasts, including here in southwestern New Hampshire. Eventually, Midwestern politicians agreed to eliminate the mandate if Congress would replace MBTE with corn-based ethanol, a more expensive product best known for its ability to enrich Midwestern corn growers and politicians. Better that than cancer.
Then came the idea that we should burn even larger quantities of ethanol in our cars to replace imported oil. That sounded like a great idea - paying American farmers to take care of our energy needs, rather than letting our gasoline dollars fuel Islamic terrorists.
So in 2005 Congress got rid of the MTBE mandate and passed a law requiring a five-fold increase in U.S. ethanol production by 2022.
But doubts were heard among the hosannas. For one thing, it isn’t altogether sure how much energy ethanol actually produces.
Growing corn takes energy. Corn farmers use a lot of fertilizer that comes in part from fossil fuels, and their machinery generally runs on gasoline or diesel. The plants where ethanol is produced also use huge amounts of energy. And then the final product has to be shipped around the country, using still more fuel.
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