Is Corn Ethanol All It's Cracked Up To Be?
Mercedes-Benz debuted this luxurious flex-fuel C-Class at the 2007 New York Auto Show in April.
by Jacob Gordon of TreeHugger.com
Production of corn-based ethanol has increased dramatically and there are no signs of slowing down. But there is a rising concern that ethanol isn't much better than gasoline. Even if the last time you saw a cornfield was when Kevin Costner cut his down to make a baseball diamond in the movie Field of Dreams, corn is a big part of everyday life. It was probably in your lunch somewhere, it is almost definitely in soda, and chances are it's in your gas tank, too.
If you think that's about as likely as Shoeless Joe Jackson walking out from your backyard shrubs, check the ingredients. Ethanol made from corn has hit the big time, and is being forwarded as an answer to our foreign oil dependence and climate woes. But the pros of driving around with corn in the tank come with some significant cons.
There is no doubt that carmakers around the world are jumping on the ethanol train. Flex-fuel vehicles—cars that can run on gasoline or ethanol—are popping up everywhere.
It's hard to miss GM's "Live Green Go Yellow" magazine ads and TV spots. Ford sells fleet vehicles including F-Series pickups and Police Interceptors that can run on ethanol. And worldwide, Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, saab, Peugeot, and others either sell or are developing flex-fuel models as well.
At the NAIAS 2006 in Detroit, Ford debuted the Super Chief concept, a Tri-Flex vehicle that runs on gas, hydrogen or E85, hedging the company's bets regarding which fuel will ultimately prevail.
At the 2007 New York Auto Show in April, Mercedes-Benz even debuted a luxurious flex-fuel C-Class. In fact, there are more than 5 million flex-fuel vehicles on American roads, although many people who own them don't know it.
As gas prices have spiked upwards and the public has grown more distressed over issues like foreign oil-dependence and climate change, ethanol has taken center stage. Generous tax credits and the phasing-out of the MTBE fuel additive in favor of ethanol have also contributed to the surge.
To put it in perspective, the U.S. produced an estimated 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol in 2000. Last year, 5 billion gallons of ethanol were produced, using a full 20 percent of the country's corn. There are no signs of slowing down: Capacity is expected to more than double during 2008-09.
News of this biofuel revolution might sound like salvation from fossil fuel slavery, but there is a rising concern that corn-based ethanol isn't much better than gasoline, and brings with it a whole new batch of problems. Critics are looking past the fields of corn for more promising crops and technologies.
It's been hard to miss GM's "Live Green Go Yellow" magazine ads and TV spots. But is corn-based ethanol all it's cracked up to be?
The Energy Balance
Converting the starches found in corn into fuel gobbles up a significant amount of energy. And while ethanol itself can replace gasoline, there is still a great deal of fossil fuel consumed in the process of making it. Whether it is the nitrogen fertilizers, the farm equipment, or the tanker trucks that carry it, ethanol requires sizable energy inputs before it reaches the filling station. A 2006 study from the University of Minnesota found that ethanol produces 25 percent more energy than is used in making it. Biodiesel, in contrast, yields a more generous 93 percent.
Other evidence has suggested that while the energy gained from corn ethanol can be positive, it doesn't help cut global warming pollution. A UC Berkeley study published in the journal Science found that "current corn ethanol technologies are much less petroleum-intensive than gasoline but have greenhouse gases similar to those of gasoline."
Food or Fuel?
Another growing concern is over what the ethanol boom will do to food supplies. Devoting greater acreage to corn production has already raised the prices of everything from beef to beer. A study done at the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University estimated that more than half of U.S. corn, wheat, and coarse grains could be headed to ethanol refineries by 2012; and that already, food prices have gone up $47 per person annually. Protests have broken out in Mexico over high corn tortilla prices, and China is considering a ban that would block food crops from becoming fuel feedstocks.
The Chevrolet E85 Avalanche flex-fuel vehicle debuted at the 2006 Chicago Auto Show, rolling out on a stage strewn with corn.
Alternatives
The industry standard method of making ethanol from corn is a choice that many say stems from America's farm subsidies and the sway of agricultural lobbies like the American Corn Growers Association. But the ethanol story goes far beyond corn, and so-called cellulosic ethanol technologies may still have a very bright future.
Cellulosic ethanol can be made from waste products—everything from orange peels to woodchips to cow manure—or hearty, energy-rich crops like switchgrass or sugarcane. Mixing these materials with enzymes releases the glucose, which is then fermented. "The big question is whether scientists will be able to get the technology to where cellulosic is competitive," says Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute.
Combining new technologies with unused farmland is another promising possibility. Bill Carmichael, vice president of operations at Gulf Ethanol explains, "A whole lot of rice land has gone fallow in Texas, something to the tune of 200,000 acres. And that acreage is now being subsidized even though they're not growing anything. This is a drain on our economy."
The governor has tasked Texas A&M University with creating a biofuel strategy for the state. The university answered with a special strain of sweet sorghum that grows well in the climate and has a sizable energy yield. Gulf Ethanol, a startup in its development stages, is planning to benefit from this.
"There are farmers out there wanting to grow things they can make a living at. And the sweet sorghum is ideal for this land," says Carmichael. Gulf Ethanol plans to use a cellulose process to make ethanol as Texas A&M teaches local farmers to cultivate the special sweet sorghum.
"The corn ethanol plants aren't going to go away," says Carmichael. "But it's capped. If we use more corn it will have serious ripples through the economy."
Cellulosic ethanol is still about twice the price of ethanol made from corn, but new technologies and feedstocks—many of them waste products and non-food crops—seem to appear every day. As Lester Brown points out, if the price of corn goes high enough, that in itself could make cellulosic ethanol price competitive.
Jacob Gordon is a freelance writer, a blogger for TreeHugger.com, and producer of TreeHugger Radio. He can be reached at by jacob@treehugger.com.
Print | posted on Sunday, August 19, 2007 10:03 AM