First it's Al Gore turning his back on ethanol and the government subsidies supporting it. Now it's a bipartisan group of Senators looking to kill ethanol subsidies and the prohibitive tariffs keeping foreign ethanol and feedstocks out.
It has become increasingly apparent ethanol, or at least corn-derived ethanol, is not the answer to our energy problems or the efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. Ethanol as it is presently produced here in the US is anything but carbon neutral and creates a net energy loss, meaning it uses more energy to produce it than it returns. As any economist can tell you, negative returns is one of the quickest ways to go bust and ethanol is nothing but negative returns.
If the ethanol industry can't stand on its own then it's time to stop wasting taxpayer dollars trying to prop it up, EPA mandates not withstanding.
It has become increasingly apparent ethanol, or at least corn-derived ethanol, is not the answer to our energy problems or the efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. Ethanol as it is presently produced here in the US is anything but carbon neutral and creates a net energy loss, meaning it uses more energy to produce it than it returns. As any economist can tell you, negative returns is one of the quickest ways to go bust and ethanol is nothing but negative returns.
If the ethanol industry can't stand on its own then it's time to stop wasting taxpayer dollars trying to prop it up, EPA mandates not withstanding.
Leave a comment