Research Draft Part 3: Ethanol is Not Cool

Ethyl alcohol, more commonly known as Ethanol, is the most widespread type of alcohol you will find on the market. Today, it is often used in fuels, beverages, and solvents. A desire to lower our need for foreign oil has driven the demand for this alcohol and its use as a biofuel. Producing ethanol from corn is a complicated and costly process involving converting starch into sugar, fermenting, distilling, and separating. There are two common blends of ethanol fuel in use today. E10 is composed of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline. E85 is composed of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Running a vehicle on pure ethanol is not conventional. Ethanol is incredibly common in Midwestern states because of the agricultural sector in the surrounding areas. Ethanol is also produced in other areas around the world from different crops such as sugar cane. The seemingly increased popularity of these fuel blends is largely due to new government mandates in the United States requiring its use. Although the use of corn based ethanol in vehicles may seem like a good idea, the actual benefit to the environment and vehicles is almost nothing. Ethanol production is wasteful, bad for vehicles, and too expensive.

One of the most important things to consider in any production process is the efficiency of the process. An inefficient process should be examined and fixed. Ethanol used in the US largely comes from corn. Corn is also a food. Food under no circumstance should ever be used to fuel vehicles. What is basically happening when we use ethanol to power a vehicle is we are burning food. Burning food to power vehicles is unsustainable. Right now, a large percentage of corn is also used for livestock feed. Together, corn that is destined for ethanol manufacturing and livestock feed raises the price for the corn that is sold as food. False demand for ethanol creates an inflated supply which would not exist without mandates.

Growing corn requires vast amounts of land. The amount of land required to produce a single gallon of ethanol is staggering. A crop of corn must be planted, grown, harvested, processed, and then be turned into ethanol. Each step involves time, money, and energy. The total cost which is required to produce ethanol is higher than comparable fuels, which is why the government must subsidize the production in order to keep the price competitive. These subsidies result in the desire to keep the price of ethanol down and the need to support the agricultural sector. One gallon of ethanol only contains about 1905 BTUs while a gallon of gas contains about 2830 BTUS (Wald, 2007). When we look at the amount of energy required to produce ethanol is becomes clearly apparent that it is not an efficient process. Simply heating ethanol in the various steps of production requires 36,000 BTUs of energy which only produces 80,000 BTUs of energy in the resulting barrel of ethanol (Wald, 2007).

Ethanol is not good for vehicles. An internal combustion engine that is designed for gasoline cannot run pure ethanol. Most conventional modern new vehicles that are sold in the US today are capable of running with at most a 10% ethanol blend. Any vehicle that is over 15-20 years old and uses a carburetor cannot run anything more than a 10% ethanol blend. These types of vehicles will usually be able to run an ethanol blend of about 5%. Engines must be designed to run on different fuels. Burning ethanol blends in vehicles is not efficient compared with conventional petrochemical fuels. E10 and E85 especially contain less energy and will result in increased fuel usage and more frequent refueling.

State government mandates requiring the manufacture and sale of ethanol compliant engines have resulted in an increase in availability of these types of vehicles. Many people buy a new vehicle not realizing it is a “flex-fuel” vehicle and can run on E85 or gasoline. The majority of the existing vehicles on the road are not E85 compatible. Research and development costs of E85 compatible engines are passed directly onto the consumer who buys the vehicle. Because ethanol has a lower energy density compared with gasoline, fuel efficiency is lowered and every gallon of ethanol will give you less miles traveled.

Ethanol is more expensive than other fuels. Compared with a gasoline powered car, a vehicle running E85 will achieve 15% less miles per gallon. All together E85 will be 8% more expensive (“True” 2006). The entire process of producing ethanol is more expensive than gasoline. Consumers may not be able to tell the difference when pumping fuel into their car but if the total costs over the long term are looked at it is readily obvious because of lower miles per gallon.

Environmental damage and health issue are other issues which must be considered. With government mandated corn-based ethanol production, a false demand is forced on the economy. While ethanol is technically a sustainable fuel, the entire process involved in production is just as bad if not worse than any other petrochemical process. Plants that manufacture ethanol produce methanol, carbon monoxide, and carcinogens which are pumped into the atmosphere (Miller, 2007).

A study that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that if every vehicle in the United States was running on E85, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and ozone levels in the atmosphere would increase. Butadiene and benzene levels would decrease (Hampton, 2007).  Ethanol is not any safer or cleaner than regular gasoline. Many people submit to a false sense of approval over the use of this fuel because it is renewable. Subsidies are enough of an incentive for farmers to switch from growing other types of food and start growing corn targeted for ethanol production.

The cost to our economy is enormous. Creating subsidies and paying them to corn farmers destroys the natural balance of the agricultural sector’s supply and demand. These subsidies result in an artificially low price for this commodity. Government subsidies are paid for by taxes, just like any other spending. Therefore, this artificially low ethanol price is not really low; we are all paying for this, even if we choose not to use it. These kinds of subsidies should be ended immediately.

Blending ethanol into gasoline is an inefficient method of reducing our dependence on foreign oil. While we have not reached peak oil yet, oil reserves are not sustainable and will eventually run out. There are other methods available today that can help lengthen the availability of oil. With increased fuel economy standards today’s engines are more fuel efficient than ever before. Other technologies such as electric propulsion, hydrogen, natural gas, and biodiesel are better alternatives. There is absolutely no good reason to use ethanol in fuel blends that are destined for vehicles. If there is another option when comparing ethanol to another fuel source, the other source is usually the better choice. Ethanol production is expensive and wasteful. We must end these subsidies and government mandates which require ethanol use. Until there is a better option than gasoline, diesel, or other petroleum based fuels, ethanol should be kept out of our fuel supply.

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