Summary
Ethanol production is so energy-intensive that the United States would have to increase its imports of natural gas to meet mandates for this "domestic" fuel. What's more, thanks to ethanol's lower energy density, your vehicle is 33 percent less efficient when it burns ethanol, so you'll be paying more to fill up more often. Energy experts such as Jan Kreider of the University of Colorado find that burning ethanol produces more carbon dioxide, a major component of global warming, than just burning gasoline.
It appears that politics drives the production of the new fuel more than any benefits to the environment. Agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world's largest corn-processing firms and the country's leading ethanol producer, has contributed $3.7 million to elected officials since 2000. Those politicians, in turn, handed out corn subsidies totaling $51 billion between 1995 and 2005. Congress has also subsidized ethanol itself at $1.38 per gallon, and mandated huge increases in ethanol production. All told, the ethanol hoopla seems more like a cynical and misleading marketing campaign than an ecological fix to what's ailing our atmosphere.See the full content of this document
Extract
A Bad Idea Hits the Gas Pumps
A quiet invasion is under way near my home in Colorado. Inconspicuous black stickers are appearing on gas pumps to announce the arrival of a new molecule looking to occupy gas tanks. It goes by the nam...
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