John & Angela wrote:
I have always wondered about the E85 thing for some of those same reasons. Like I say, I’m not an expert on this kind of things. It just goes against the grain to grow fuel on land that could feed people. And it is heaviliy subsidized. But again, there is probably more to the story than I see.
John.
I realize, on the surface in regards to those who have never really done the research, that it seems that food for humans is being jeopardized by taking corn and making motor fuel from it, but that perception is simply due to ignorance, which is usually not the fault of that person.
Of the entire U.S. corn production per year, only 20% of it is used for human consumption. Of the 80% that is left, about 40% of it is used for ethanol production. And of each bushel of corn that is used for ethanol production, 17-18 lb of food products, primarily for livestock, is still gleaned from the process. Mater of fact, that residual feed from ethanol production is more highly digestible by livestock and poultry than straight corn is, and it has a substantially higher protein percentage than base corn.
And there are many other byproducts of ethanol production. Various high quality polymer plastics are produced, and even insulators for common spark plugs are dependent on products produced from ethanol production.
And if food was an issue, then corn prices would be much higher. Compared to 1996 corn prices, if adjusted for inflation to today, corn prices would be roughly $4.50 a bushel. Instead, corn prices are in the $3.80 range. That reflects that there is more than enough corn to go around and the food supply has a more than an ample supply.
And corn prices are not subsidized, as there has not been any corn price supports paid out this century, and there has been no ethanol producer subsidies since 2011, when they were discontinued at the behest of the ethanol producers themselves. Ethanol is traded on the commodity exchanges just like any other fuel.
Granted, there has been some subsidies still for ethanol blender pump installation, but that is for retailers. Ethanol producers do not sell at the retail level. Also, there are government supported crop insurance programs, but those are not just for corn but for all crop producers, including the lettuce you eat in your salad. And it probably would be more efficient to use sugar cane and sugar beets as the major source products for ethanol production. But Government is the main road block to that idea.
As a side note: some argue that it wastes more water to produce ethanol. Well, it takes almost the same amount of water to produce petroleum fuels as it does ethanol.
All of this information is readily available.
