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Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:30:42 -0700
From: "GMWatch " <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: GMW: Cornell scientist - ethanol "subsidized food burning"
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NOTE: Why's Monsanto so keen to lobby for ethanol? Not only have Monsanto's=20=
corn seed prices been going through the roof courtesy of the ethanol boom, b=
ut up is the only way for sales to go...=20

EXTRACT: If all the automobiles in the United States were fueled with 100 pe=
rcent ethanol, a total of about 97 percent of U.S. land area would be needed=
 to grow the corn feedstock. Corn would cover nearly the total land area of=20=
the United States.
---
---
70 Percent More Energy Required to Make Ethanol than Actually is in Ethanol:=
 Cornell
By Roger Segelken=20
Cornell Chronicle, March 6, 2009=20
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17166.cfm

*CU scientist terms corn-based ethanol 'subsidized food burning'

Neither increases in government subsidies to corn-based ethanol fuel nor hik=
es in the price of petroleum can overcome what one Cornell agricultural scie=
ntist calls a fundamental input-yield problem: It takes more energy to make=20=
ethanol from grain than the combustion of ethanol produces.

At a time when ethanol-gasoline mixtures (gasohol) are touted as the America=
n answer to fossil fuel shortages by corn producers, food processors and som=
e lawmakers, Cornell's David Pimentel takes a longer range view.

"Abusing our precious croplands to grow corn for an energy-inefficient proce=
ss that yields low-grade automobile fuel amounts to unsustainable, subsidize=
d food burning," said the Cornell professor in the College of Agriculture an=
d Life Sciences. Pimentel, who chaired a U.S. Department of Energy panel tha=
t investigated the energetics, economics and environmental aspects of ethano=
l production several years ago, subsequently conducted a detailed analysis o=
f the corn-to-car fuel process. His findings will be published next month in=
 the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Physical Sciences and Technology.

Among his findings:

* An acre of U.S. corn yields about 7,110 pounds of corn for processing into=
 328 gallons of ethanol. But planting, growing and harvesting that much corn=
 requires about 140 gallons of fossil fuels and costs $347 per acre, accordi=
ng to Pimentel's analysis. Thus, even before corn is converted to ethanol, t=
he feedstock costs $1.05 per gallon of ethanol.

* The energy economics get worse at the processing plants, where the grain i=
s crushed and fermented. As many as three distillation steps are needed to s=
eparate the 8 percent ethanol from the 92 percent water. Additional treatmen=
t and energy are required to produce the 99.8 percent pure ethanol for mixin=
g with gasoline.

* Adding up the energy costs of corn production and its conversion to ethano=
l, 131,000 Btu are needed to make 1 gallon of ethanol. One gallon of ethanol=
 has an energy value of only 77,000 Btu. "Put another way," Pimentel said, "=
about 70 percent more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy=20=
that actually is in ethanol. Every time you make 1 gallon of ethanol, there=20=
is a net energy loss of 54,000 Btu."

* Ethanol from corn costs about $1.74 per gallon to produce, compared with a=
bout 95 cents to produce a gallon of gasoline. "That helps explain why fossi=
l fuels -- not ethanol -- are used to produce ethanol," Pimentel said. "The=20=
growers and processors can't afford to burn ethanol to make ethanol. U.S. dr=
ivers couldn't afford it either, if it weren't for government subsidies to a=
rtificially lower the price."

* Most economic analyses of corn-to-ethanol production overlook the costs of=
 environmental damages, which Pimentel says should add another 23 cents per=20=
gallon. "Corn production in the U.S. erodes soil about 12 times faster than=20=
the soil can be reformed, and irrigating corn mines groundwater 25 percent f=
aster than the natural recharge rate of ground water. The environmental syst=
em in which corn is being produced is being rapidly degraded. Corn should no=
t be considered a renewable resource for ethanol energy production, especial=
ly when human food is being converted into ethanol," Pimentel said.

* The approximately $1 billion a year in current federal and state subsidies=
 (mainly to large corporations) for ethanol production are not the only cost=
s to consumers, the Cornell scientist observes. Subsidized corn results in h=
igher prices for meat, milk and eggs because about 70 percent of corn grain=20=
is fed to livestock and poultry in the United States. Increasing ethanol pro=
duction would further inflate corn prices, Pimentel said, noting: "In additi=
on to paying tax dollars for ethanol subsidies, consumers would be paying si=
gnificantly higher food prices in the marketplace."

Nickels and dimes aside, some drivers still would rather see their cars fuel=
ed by farms in the Midwest than by oil wells in the Middle East, Pimentel ac=
knowledges, so he calculated the amount of corn needed to power an automobil=
e:

* The average U.S. automobile, traveling 10,000 miles a year on pure ethanol=
 (not a gasoline-ethanol mix), would need about 852 gallons of the corn-base=
d fuel. This would take 11 acres to grow, based on net ethanol production. T=
his is the same amount of cropland required to feed seven Americans.

* If all the automobiles in the United States were fueled with 100 percent e=
thanol, a total of about 97 percent of U.S. land area would be needed to gro=
w the corn feedstock. Corn would cover nearly the total land area of the Uni=
ted States.


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