Scott Benson

More Bad News for the Anti-Ethanol Crowd

Corn ethanol will never displace any real quantities of gasoline and diesel in the U.S. The U.S. consumes 25,000 trillion BTUs in its gasoline and diesel vehicles per year. If every single kernel of corn was used to make ethanol/E85, it would produce 3,600 trillion BTUs of fuel. That's 15% (at best) replacement of the traditional fuels. Ethanol is a boutique fuel, and nothing more. It will never be "big time." The math is easy, but there are a lot of zeroes.

Ethanol Will Become a Fad Without Government Intervention

The argument about corn ethanol as a fuel is not a food issue. There are just not enough BTUs in corn ethanol (in America) to displace any meaningful quantities of gasoline or diesel -- maybe 15% at best. Corn ethanol cannot do anything for us, unless we were to grow 6-8 times more corn, which is fantasy.

Ethanol Producers Will Surprise Many

1) Corn ethanol will never displace any real quantities of gasoline or diesel -- it doesn't have enough BTUs (and we will never be able to grow enough corn to satisfy our vehicle fuel needs.)
2) 50% of corn is consumed by the animals we eat, but that part of the corn stalk is NOT the part that humans eat
2) Corn ethanol plants cannot be converted easily to cellulosic ethanol plants -- they are very different processes. Cellulosic means moving tons of "hay" all around, something the corn infrastructure can't do right away.
3) Profitable cellulosic is many years away -- they haven't found the right enzyme yet (after 30 years of trying). Corn is a sugar -- easily broken down. Cellulosic is plants and wood -- much harder to break down.
4) CNG production in the U.S. has plateaued for 30 years, with every new well depleting faster than the last. The rest of the world pays $15 to $20 per million BTUs for LNG, versus us paying $11 presently. They will outbid us. CNG & LNG isn't the answer either.
5) We Americans are just going to have to used to living less.

VeraSun Energy and the Ethanol Debate

We're also going to have to confront the "slavery-like" conditions of the 1,000,000+ migrant, destitute sugar cane cutters, who work in inferno-like conditions for little pay. Even the catholic church is starting to scream about it. That 8:1 EROEI comes at a price.

VeraSun Energy and the Ethanol Debate

Corn ethanol will never displace any real quantities of oil -- 15% at best. There just aren't enough BTUs in the whole American corn crop. What happens if we need it to replace 50% of U.S. oil if oil becomes unavailable/unaffordab... Corn ethanol ain't gonna work. Neither is Brazilian sugarcane ethanol (they make less eth than the U.S. does.) And, no one has managed to make a dime yet off of cellulosic ethanol. We are just going to have to "live" less.