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Highlands Today

Ethanol Production: The Rest Of The Story

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Laverne Chadderdon

Published: April 9, 2008

The March 18 article "Soberly Weighing Advantages of Higher Ethanol Consumption" glosses over the point. "The retail bakers of America complain that ethanol makers burn up our food supply and jack up the price of bread. The price of wheat has more than tripled during the past 10 months, but bakery goods haven't gone up as sharply; giving all farmers a potential new source of income." He continues, "Environmentalists who have long argued for renewable fuel are now saying that turning food into fuel is wrong." But the writer's conclusion, in favor of corn ethanol — judge for yourself.

The New York Times Sept. 24, 2007 article "Corn Ethanol: Biofuel or Bio-fraud?" details a scientific research report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (O.E.C.D.,) a Paris-based economic think tank. It reported on the difference in greenhouse gas emission reductions from cars burning gasoline and various forms of ethanol. Results: Corn ethanol 0-3 percent reduction in emissions, sugar cane ethanol 50-70 percent reduction, cellulose ethanol 90-plus percent reduction in emissions.

But wait, there's more: which form of ethanol production is the U.S. government and its taxpayers subsidizing? Corn, of course.

On which form of ethanol production does the United States levy a 53 cents a gallon import? Sugar cane, naturally. And which form of ethanol production is under-funded, under-researched and furthest from commercial productivity? The cleanest choice, obviously. Do you see a pattern here? Could Florida State University do better? Believe it.

Corn ethanol is also the culprit that raises the cost of corn-based food crops, because food products are being diverted to ethanol production.

Corn ethanol production also affects the price of other food crops such as wheat, barley and soybeans because it is economically more attractive for farmers to switch from these crops to subsidized corn. And producing corn ethanol is also only marginally less costly than manufacturing a gallon of gas. If this were not so, the price of gas with 10 percent ethanol would be going down instead of up. Could it be greed?

As we speak, the cheapest, easiest, most reliably available form of ethanol is sugar cane from Brazil, which has already developed fuel with a reduced greenhouse gas emission 50-70 percent less than corn. Brazil is also positively stable and friendly to both the European Union and the United States. And Brazil has a surplus of it ready to export. What Brazil is doing, Florida could do too.

Cellulose ethanol, which is made of inedible switchgrass, may be even better than sliced bread. If only we had entrepreneurs instead of politicians, Florida would be self-sufficient.

The point missed is that better biofuels than corn clearly exist as we speak and we even have an updated taxpayer-funded railroad to transport the refined products. What we are sadly missing here in Florida are enough people who care more about the state and its people and less about no-risk profits. But then again, that's also our federal affliction today.

Laverne Chadderdon lives in Sebring.

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