Binghamton, NY -- This Country is Obsessed with Corn
It's been awhile and I just need somewhere to rant so bear with me. I'm really pissed off about our energy policy. Sure switching to some biofuel is a good idea if it is used as a transition off of oil, but corn ethanol is a terrible idea. Congress is subsidizing farmers to the tune of $0.59 per gallon of ethanol produced. Not surprisingly 20% of the corn grown in this country now goes to ethanol production (it had been 3% before the subsidy). However, the process of conversion creates much more pollution than petroleum refinement. Furthermore, in order for us to get completely energy independent we would need to convert roughly 110% of our current corn crop into ethanol. So that means we'd have to reduce wheat production almost to zero in order to increase corn production to the level at which we can have corn as both a food and fuel source.What does that mean for consumers?
A) A tank of ethanol-gas will be very expensive. Even with the subsidy, ethanol is not profitable at prices below $3 per gallon. And knowing the fuel companies, they're not going to want to break even, so let's assume that they'll want $1 of profit per gallon. So gas goes up to $4 per gallon.
B) With corn-as-food becoming more scarce, the price of corn will likely rise (from the 6-ears-for-a-dollar of the 1990s, to the 3-ears-for-a-dollar of the 2000s) to approximately $1 for an ear of corn. So you may say to yourself, big deal, I'll eat other veggies. But it's not so simple. You see the government forces US food companies to use corn as an ingredient in everything. Check the label of your favorite packaged food. I guarantee that there will be corn or a corn-derivative in it. So that means all of your food will become more expensive as well. Want some evidence? Check this link out.
C) Corn derivatives are also used to make some plastic and rubber goods. So those goods will also become more expensive.
D) If we do switch over to ethanol you can be sure that the auto makers won't bother investing in hydrogen and other alternative fuel vehicles because there won't be a need for it. Of course since ethanol burns less effectively than gasoline, we'll be using more of it and creating more pollution.
So I say boo corn!
What we need to do is start switching our coal plants to nuclear plants. New technology has enabled part of nuclear byproducts to be converted into hydrogen fuel. We'd be able to power our homes and our vehicles cleaner and cheaper. At this stage with an impending global warming disaster, it's the only viable alternative until we find something better.
posted by Ari @ 6:35 PM Trackback Link
1 comments
links to this post
