One More Reason Ethanol Is A Sham
Corn should not give us gas.
More proof that ethanol is a phony solution to our energy needs. From Slate:
… ethanol is doing absolutely nothing to reduce overall U.S. oil consumption or imports because refiners have to buy the same amount of crude (or more) in order to meet the demand for products other than gasoline—that is, jet fuel, diesel fuel, fuel oil, asphalt, etc.
As the Slate article explains, refiners use the same barrel of oil to make both gasoline and oil, and diesel is by far the more coveted product. Much of Europe’s automobiles run on diesel. And around the world, diesel powers major transportation fleets like trucks and rail. In fact, according to the Slate piece, diesel is such a booming market right now, gasoline is being dumped on the market as a mere byproduct of diesel refining.
Ethanol (even cellulosic or futuristic mushroom-based ethanol) cannot make diesel or jet fuel–and demand for those fuels is growing way faster than demand for regular old gasoline. That means, no matter how many millions in subsidies our lawmakers throw at ethanol and no matter how much corn farmers divert from the food market to use for this already inefficient, inadequate biofuel, refiners will keep right on importing good old fashioned crude oil by the tankerful, from wherever they can get it.
Michigan’s congressional representatives are now being blamed for enabling the implosion of the domestic automakers by shielding them for decades from things higher fuel standards. Let’s hope officials from Midwest corn-growing states who keep pushing ethanol start to get the same kinds of criticism.
UPDATE: Apparently, our hope that corn-belt officials will be held responsible for perpetrating the ethanol boondoggle is not going to be fulfilled anytime soon. Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack looks like he might pay for his decades of subsidy-hoarding ethanol-boosterism with … an appointment to become our new Secretary of Agriculture. Ezra Klein reacts:
The fact that Obama is already signaling that his chief agricultural appointment will hail from the land of corn, and whose agricultural experience will mainly have been keeping powerful corn interests happy with him, is not a good sign.
Once again, we see Washington’s culture of reverse-accountability at work.
There is no logical reason to produce ethanol in America. Biowaste from cities and rural areas should be used to manufacture gasoline, methanol, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and dimethy ether. Combined with hydrogen from nuclear power, urban and rural biowaste could supply at least 30% of our transportation fuel needs.
Ethanol is a bridge to nowhere!