This Month Poll: Is Ethanol Our Right Choice?

29 April, 2007 12:00:00

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Gas prices are high and they’re going to continue to rise throughout the summer’s peak driving season. How high will they go? While nobody knows for sure, some analysts are predicting that before this summer is over, the average gas price will top $4 per gallon for the first time in history.

So, what would happen to the summer travel season if these predictions prove to be true and the average gasoline price actually does climb above $4 per gallon? According to our poll, it looks like the summer travel season could come to a grinding halt.

When we asked “If gas hits $4 or even 5$ per gallon this summer, will it cause you to travel less?” 92% of respondents stated that they would in fact travel less. A total of 6% of respondents stated that they would not travel less because they already drive an alternative fuel car and 2% said they will consider buying an alternative fuel car and the gas price would not have impact on their summer travel plans.

Obviously, this isn’t very good news for summer vacation hotspots, many of whom rely on summer tourists to provide much of the year’s revenue. If gas prices were to force people to “vacation” closer to home, many beach shops and restaurants could be in danger of going out of business.

Everyone is hoping that gas prices won’t rise that high and, at worst; we’ll have a summer like last year, where we had higher but somewhat manageable gas prices.

Unfortunately, at this point, it doesn’t look like you should count on it.

This month poll is about ethanol and its impact on farmers, global food supply and food prices.

Corn has about doubled in price during the last few months, thanks to an increasing demand for ethanol — the mostly corn-based alternative fuel that burns cleaner than oil and, ideally, could one day reduce American dependence on oil imports.

And with ethanol production taking an increasing percentage of the corn crop, farmers are hard-pressed to meet the traditional demand for corn as food stuff for human or animal consumption, even though the Agriculture Department predicts 15 percent more corn will be grown this year than last.

With Detroit now talking up the merits of "flex-fuel" cars that could run on ethanol, distilleries that make the stuff are sprouting across the Midwest like so many corn stalks. All of which is great — if you grow corn.

But if you're a dairy farmer the higher corn prices are no cause for celebration.

Cows are animals that just love to eat corn feed -- corn protein helps produce better milk. But the higher corn prices mean that a diary farmer has to pay almost double this year for the corn feed they gives his cows.

Some farmers say they may well have to reduce their herd, which means "there'll be less milk produced because of the price of corn. That's the bottom line."

It gets more complicated.

Pigs, chickens, turkeys’ steers all are fed a mix of corn feed too. As a result, you guessed it; the price for those items will be rising at the supermarket.

"Almost everything in our refrigerator contains corn," says Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute. "Whether it's milk or eggs or chicken, pork, beef, ice cream, yogurt — these are all corn products."

And consider this: The price of wheat, soybeans and other crops will go up because farmers will be planting less of each.

Brown says the nation needs a "timeout" in building ethanol distilleries so people can consider the direction in which they are heading.

"While there are 40,000 members of the American Corn Growers Association," he says, "there are 300 million consumers in this country — all of whom get their food from supermarkets. And that supermarket checkout shock that they're going to be getting as a result of diverting so much grain to ethanol could be a political wake-up call."

And with the United States serving as bread basket to much of the world, what happens to America's crops is of interest far beyond the local supermarket shelf.

"What we're beginning to see is a sort of epic competition emerging in the world between the 800 million people who own automobiles and the 2 billion poorest people in the world who are now beginning to compete for the same grain supplies," Brown says. "We've never faced a situation like this before."

US government is betting big on ethanol as a green fuel that can help make America more energy-independent.

Give us your opinion!!!

What do you think: Is ethanol our right choice as a green fuel?

*note: this poll will last until May-28-2007

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Comments (6 posted):

on 29 April, 2007 05:32:55

Seems there is a lot of debate over the benefits of Ethanol as a fuel additive. Stanford University recently released a report warning about the health risks of Ethanol fuel emissions (compared to gasoline). The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC) disputed that claim. Who knows whether or not Ethanol is the right choice?

I personally can't vote on this until all of the facts on the issue come in, but that isn't likely to happen until we've been using it on a large-scale basis for a while. Here is an article that might be helpful in sorting out some of the arguments for and against Ethanol:

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/e85-health-report/

on 29 April, 2007 11:47:09

If you would rather drive than eat, ethanol is a good way to go. I would rather that land be used to produce food rather than fuel. There are other ways to power our transport system than use our agricultural system to do the job. Food is food and transport is transport.

You drive up the prices for corn and all animal foods that need corn as a food source. It is just like standing on a tree and cutting the limb with a saw. It is not good common sense.

The next time you go shopping, just imagine pouring some of the groceries into your gas tank instead of having them on your kitchen table.

adrianakau@aol.com

on 04 August, 2008 04:46:23

It will take an adjustment period for the transition to ethanol fuel. However, the transition will eliminate the need for fossil fuels all together. Ethanol can be produced from many sources other than just corn. with current technologies avaliable ethanol can be distilled from any starch or sugar containing plant. Ethanol can be made from many common plants such as sugar beets, sugar cane, sorgum, rice, wheat, barley, potatoes, and virtually all fruits. Each has its pros and cons, and as stated earlier, it will take a transitional period and some growing pains to free ourselves from fossil fuels.
Corn is touted as the premier source for ethanol due to the political power of a company known as ADM. If large corporations and the oil companies get the government sanctions they want, they will control the ethanol market as a co-op monopoly. Economically we will be no better off than we are today as they will continue taking astronomical profits. It will just transfer to another product.
In time the technology will make fuel cell vehicles practical, but for the time being ethanol will clean up our environment, and keep some green in our wallets. For us independent types we can produce our own ethanol for less than $1.30 per gallon. Small co-ops can develop (farmers need fuel too)
Bio diesel is also a product well suited to cottage industries. We can break the hold that the mega corporations now have on our energy costs if we have the will to do so.

on 09 October, 2008 05:34:57

Got read from an article (hoosierhappensings.blogspot.com) that ethanol isn't a right choice.. Apparently, we have our own opinions.. for me, ethanol could be very useful for us especially in the near future.

on 16 June, 2011 12:03:05

If you prefer to ride than eat, ethanol is a good way to go. I would prefer that the land will be used to produce food instead of fuel. There are other ways to power our transportation system than to use our farm system to accomplish the task. Food is food and transportation is transportation.

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on 22 February, 2012 10:24:59