Re: Ethanol could leave the world hungry
- From: "Phil" <tuco@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 16:00:34 GMT
"Taylor" <123@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:YyGEg.5612$ph.2188@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The envirowackos are not familiar with the law of unintended consequences
Maybe so, but its equally funny that righties ignore any evidence
quantifying man kind's contribution to global warming or the reality that
fossil fuels are finite.
___________________________________________________________
One tankful of the latest craze in alternative energy could feed one
person for a year, Lester Brown tells Fortune.
By Lester Brown
August 16 2006: 5:39 AM EDT
(Fortune Magazine) -- The growing myth that corn is a cure-all for our
energy woes is leading us toward a potentially dangerous global fight for
food. While crop-based ethanol -the latest craze in alternative energy -
promises a guilt-free way to keep our gas tanks full, the reality is that
overuse of our agricultural resources could have consequences even more
drastic than, say, being deprived of our SUVs. It could leave much of the
world hungry.
We are facing an epic competition between the 800 million motorists who
want to protect their mobility and the two billion poorest people in the
world who simply want to survive. In effect, supermarkets and service
stations are now competing for the same resources.
This year cars, not people, will claim most of the increase in world grain
consumption. The problem is simple: It takes a whole lot of agricultural
produce to create a modest amount of automotive fuel.
The grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV gas tank with ethanol, for
instance, could feed one person for a year. If today's entire U.S. grain
harvest were converted into fuel for cars, it would still satisfy less
than one-sixth of U.S. demand.
Worldwide increase in grain consumption
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that world grain consumption
will increase by 20 million tons this year, roughly 1%. Of that, 14
million tons will be used to fuel cars in the U.S., leaving only six
million tons to cover the world's growing food needs.
Already commodity prices are rising. Sugar prices have doubled over the
past 18 months (driven in part by Brazil's use of sugar cane for fuel),
and world corn and wheat prices are up one-fourth so far this year.
For the world's poorest people, many of whom spend half or more of their
income on food, rising grain prices can quickly become life threatening.
Once stimulated solely by government subsidies, biofuel production is now
being driven largely by the runaway price of oil. Many food commodities,
including corn, wheat, rice, soybeans, and sugar cane, can be converted
into fuel; thus the food and energy economies are beginning to merge.
The market is setting the price for farm commodities at their
oil-equivalent value. As the price of oil climbs, so will the price of
food.
In some U.S. Cornbelt states, ethanol distilleries are taking over the
corn supply. In Iowa, 25 ethanol plants are operating, four are under
construction, and another 26 are planned.
Iowa State University economist Bob Wisner observes that if all those
plants are built, distilleries would use the entire Iowa corn harvest. In
South Dakota, ethanol distilleries are already claiming over half that
state's crop.
The key to lessening demand for grain is to commercialize ethanol
production from cellulosic materials such as switchgrass or poplar trees,
a prospect that is at least five years away.
Malaysia, the leading exporter of palm oil, is emerging as the biofuel
leader in Asia. But after approving 32 biodiesel refineries within the
past 15 months, it recently suspended further licensing while it assesses
the adequacy of its palm oil supplies. Fast-rising global demand for palm
oil for both food and biodiesel purposes, coupled with rising domestic
needs, has the government concerned that there will not be enough to go
around.
Less costly alternatives
There are truly guilt-free alternatives to using food-based fuels. The
equivalent of the 3% of U.S. automotive fuel supplies coming from ethanol
could be achieved several times over - and at a fraction of the cost - by
raising auto fuel-efficiency standards by 20%. (Unfortunately Detroit has
resisted this, preferring to produce flex-fuel vehicles that will burn
either gasoline or ethanol.)
Or what if we shifted to gas-electric hybrid plug-in cars over the next
decade, powering short-distance driving, such as the daily commute or
grocery shopping, with electricity?
By investing not in hundreds of wind farms, as we now are, but rather in
thousands of them to feed cheap electricity into the grid, the U.S. could
have cars running primarily on wind energy, and at the gasoline equivalent
of less than $1 a gallon.
Clearly, solutions exist. The world desperately needs a strategy to deal
with the emerging food-fuel battle. As the world's leading grain producer
and exporter, as well as its largest producer of ethanol, the U.S. is in
the driver's seat.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/08/21/8383659/index.htm?cnn=yes
.
- Prev by Date: Re: Ethanol could leave the world hungry
- Next by Date: No woman with a screw driver
- Previous by thread: Re: Ethanol could leave the world hungry
- Next by thread: No woman with a screw driver
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
Loading
