Corn Ethanol: Environmentally Disastrous?

Corn ethanol, always environmentally suspect, turns out to be environmentally disastrous.

...The grain it takes to fill an SUV tank with ethanol could feed a person for a year. Harvests are being plucked to fuel our cars instead of ourselves.

Soaring corn prices have sparked tortilla riots in Mexico City, and skyrocketing flour prices have destabilized Pakistan, which wasn't exactly tranquil when flour was affordable.

But the basic problem with most biofuels is amazingly simple,... using land to grow fuel leads to the destruction of forests, wetlands and grasslands that store enormous amounts of carbon. The Clean Energy Scam, Time magazine.

Link from Trends I'm Watching.

The prospect for  grain-based ethanol held such promise. Living in Iowa, the prospect of an industry to bring jobs to the rural communities built around grain production, seemed ideal. But has time's gone on, much of the benefit comes not to the local community but to the corporate owners who, too often, live, and take their profits, outside the state.

But that's not unique here. That business model is consistent around the world from Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, as well as here in Iowa.

Comments

[J.R.]

Bio-fuels may be the future, but using food crops to make them makes no sense. If we could make them out of mesquite, juniper or other invasive, noxious plants that would be a winner for all.

This link http://www.ethanolrfa.org/industry/locations/ will show you the ethanol plants by ownership. For my take visit http://jrrants.blogspot.com/2008/04/hungry-drink-ethanol.html