Originally published July 29 2005
Editorial says ethanol won't reduce the nation's fossil fuel dependence
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
An editorial published in the St. Petersburg Times says that a Congressional push to support ethanol makes no sense because the corn-based fuel stands to actually increase the nation's dependency on fossil fuels, and alternative energy sources are supposed to do the opposite.
The goal of developing alternative energy sources should be to decrease our dependence on foreign oil and polluting fossil fuels rather than increase our reliance on them.
That's why the push in Congress for more ethanol production makes no sense.
A new study reveals that the production of ethanol made from corn consumes 29 percent more fossil energy than it produces.
Alternative fuels from other crops are even more inefficient, according to the study done by a Cornell University agriculture professor and an engineering professor at the University of California-Berkeley.
For example, when sunflower plants are turned into biodiesel fuel - which is blended with petroleum-based diesel - the process uses 118 percent more fossil energy than is produced.
That's like getting 46 cents in change for a $1 bill.
So why would the Senate subsidize production of 8-billion gallons of ethanol (5-billion in the House energy bill) and other so-called renewable fuels?
One answer is that Congress has to do something with the excess crops it pays farmers to overproduce.
Corn subsidies totalled $37-billion over the past eight years, with sunflower growers getting $400-million in corporate welfare.
"Ethanol production requires large fossil energy input, and therefore it is contributing to oil and natural gas imports and U.S. deficits," Pimentel said.
Instead of wasting $3-billion a year on ethanol subsidies, Congress should promote alternative energy sources that show real promise in alleviating our dependence on fossil fuels, such as generating electricity from solar and wind power and converting hydrogen into a usable fuel, the professors said.
But ethanol is a feel-good fuel, one that brings environmentalists and politicians together around a campfire to sing Kumbaya.
It's a pleasant dream that only distracts us from the real challenge ahead.
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