Why President Bush’s corn ethanol subsidy plan, supported by numerous governors and state legislatures as well as Congress, is terrible for the environment and US taxpayers, doing nothing but sending tax money down the drain, or more literally up in smoke. Independent opinions from another site, that I am not connected to, but which I agree with strongly in this case.
By now, I have written and blogged quite a bit on this topic, so you can find more information by searching this site for ethanol or clicking here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Feedback is welcome as always.
Technorati Tags:corn ethanol, environmental damage from corn ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, ethanol from biomass
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
Technorati Tags:bioethanol, bio-ethanol, corn ethanol, pollution, overuse of water, agricultural runoff, unprofitable corn ethanol
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator
-
1
Pingback on Dec 18th, 2007 at 4:38 am
[...] article gives a good introduction to ethanol as fuel, and discusses the differences between corn ethanol (US) and ethanol derived from sugar cane (as in Brazil). Note that the best form of ethanol [...]
-
2
Pingback on Dec 18th, 2007 at 6:39 am
[...] ED is correct to point this out. However, the conversion of corn to ethanol carries with it a much higher environmental burden and actual cost: the increased runoff of fertilizer alone threatens rivers, streams and other bodies of water, [...]
-
3
Pingback on Apr 15th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
[...] or work-place to minimize or eliminate the use of liquid hydrocarbon fuels like gasoline/petrol, ethanol, etc. You can even run your home off your car [...]
-
4
Pingback on Jun 26th, 2008 at 1:55 am
[...] Why Corn Ethonol is Bad [...]
Leave a Comment
-
A practical solar solution:
-
Subscribe by mobile device
Chemistry for a Sustainable World
-
Recent Comments
-
Find Solar Installers, Tax Information and more:
-
To subscribe to my RSS feed, click here:
-
Click here to subscribe by email:
-
-
If you search the web, blog or have an online business you might want to check out Squidoo (free membership, lots of resources) 
Feed from Green site Hugg- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- My fiction blog
-
-
My Flickr Photos
More Photos
April 4, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Start in spring and fuel your tractor. Count the BTUs untill ethanol goes into someones auto and you will see the energy from the ethanol does not equal the energy it takes to make it. Also the water table has droped dramatically on our farm here in southeast Arkansas so we will soon be dry land farmers. So much for the ethanol fad! No more water!!!!!
April 4, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Absolutely! Thanks for the comment, Just Watching. Jim
April 25, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with the arguments.
As much as we may like – we cannot grow our way out of oil dependence.
http://rightcommentary.com/2008/04/25/corn-hoax-well-need-oil-and-lots-of-it/
April 25, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Uncle Sam, thanks for the feedback. I’ll be sure to read your site and the post you reference. Best wishes. Jim
May 6, 2008 at 10:06 am
eth is good
September 15, 2008 at 10:23 am
Corn was just the start. I agree that corn isn’t the long term answer, but sometimes you have to start the easy way, and subsidize it in order to get the ultimate solution. The next step is using our landfills of trash (at $1.00 per gallon). http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch=specialsections&sc=biofuels&id=18084&a=
I run my vehicle on E85 for this reason. The more I encourage the government and business that this is a good alternative, the more they work with it. Check out http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/articles/hof/HofJuly07.html for current conversion information.
September 15, 2008 at 12:02 pm
DSuupr, thanks for the feedback. Your ideas are shared by many, but not by me. I believe that we have done damage both to the economy and the environment by pursuing corn ethanol and not pursuing truly viable alternative energy, especially cellulosic waste and the numerous “zero carbon” sources, such as wind and solar power, which help lower costs and environmental impact of hybrid or electric cars and can be used for electric power, in general. A very large number of other countries are now far ahead of us in viable green energy use, and the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is the largest ever seen. The problems in the Gulf are, I believe, largely attributable to the increasing used of artificial fertilizer to avoid crop rotation and keep a failing corn ethanol business going. With all of the tax subsidies that have gone into corn ethanol, the businesses have, at best broken even, yet they have made zero contribution to the fuel problem in the U.S. (see articles from the Economist and other sources discussed on this site) and have been a net contributor to environmental problems. The “selling” of this technology as green is simply wrong. The selling of it as a viable business idea is also wrong. I like your thoughts of what should come next, but those ideas will only be fully developed when the funds going to corn subsidies are diverted to true green approaches. Thanks again for the comment, Jim
May 28, 2009 at 6:35 am
Hello
I have a 93 stanza Altima and for 2 years now the car had problems running the new fuel E-10, I live here in FL, to start out saying Ethanol an alcohol fuel, was not designed to be ran in my car its constantly stalls, hard to start, black exhaust, I taken out my spark plugs and they are coated in black soot, I have to keep cleaning the throttle body with cleaner, to get the gunk out, and run 3 bottles ($6.00each)of fuel octane boosters and car runs fine, and runs clean no black exhaust, no stalling, so I checked the spark plugs and are clean a light brown color.
I have noticed the gas here has a oily feel to it? and I had to replace my fuel pump 4 times this year (09) and replace the Idle air control valve, EGR valve, and fuel filters,
the ethanol in my opinion is damaging and should be removed from gas, as i read its a solvent and some fuel injectors cant run cleaners and a solvent is a cleaner a good one.,
From Nissan:
Due to the introduction of contamination resistant “pintle-less” fuel injectors, Nissan no longer recommends using fuel injector cleaners in vehicles with injectors of this design. Use of fuel injector cleaner on these vehicles, while providing little cleaning benefit, may cause corrosion of the fuel injector coil and eventual failure of the injector. Do not use fuel injector cleaner on the models listed in the chart or subsequent models with “pintle-less” injectors.
Model Engine Year
Altima KA24DE 1993
240SX KA24DE 1991
Truck/Pathfinder KA24E 1990
300ZX VG30DE 1993
Truck/Pathfinder VG30E 1990
Maxima VG30E 1993
Quest VG30E 1993
Sentra GA16DE 1991
Sentra SR20DE 1991
My dad 2000 chevrolet 3500HD has the same problem it stalls and its a 454 V8 7.5L,
May 28, 2009 at 11:47 am
Tom, thanks for the detailed information. I’m not sure of the reasons for all your various problems, but I don’t doubt that they occur.
Chemically speaking, ethanol is a solvent for many things, but not everything. Gasoline itself is also a solvent for many things, though it doesn’t have the same solvent properties as ethanol.
One particular problem with ethanol is its ability to “pull” water out of the air. This might be a serious matter in Florida, where the air can be quite humid (of course, the air is humid in many places). Some of the hard-core ethanol supporters claim that there is no problem with accelerated corrosion due to increased water in gas lines when ethanol is used, but I have a hard time believing that (in the absence of more data, anyway).
Thanks for your comment! Jim