A government-sponsored ($500,000) study says ethanol fails again. In Nature Climate Change, the study concludes that non-food biofuels, (cellulosic ethanol) emit 7% more greenhouse gas in the first 7 years than pure gasoline. The findings belie the rationale for government subsidies totaling about $1 billion to date. The Obama Administration and the ethanol lobby attacked the study’s research and conclusions.
Ethanol is a mandated, subsidized, valueless additive. It does not clean the air; it lowers miles-per-gallon; it cuts state and Highway Trust Fund revenues (it is exempt from those taxes and fees). It raises food and feed prices, and starvation rates. In 2013, America used 37% of our corn crop – enough to end starvation on earth by providing two meals a day for a year, for 1.033 billion people. Instead, our politicians spent $60 billion in subsidies for corn farmers and the ethanol industry.
Ethanol was mandated as a 10% gasoline additive in 1992 to reduce oil imports and clean the air. Imports are down – due to more efficient autos and huge new US oil production. Ethanol burns 30% less efficiently than gasoline and lowers miles-per-gallon. It provides no clean air benefits, because on-board computers in every auto correct for oxygen content in fuel and slash CO emissions; ethanol’s only “contribution” is lower mpg. The EPA knew all that all along, but now seeks to raise the level to 15%, despite the damage that move would cause.
In 2012, Congress set minimum use of cellulosic ethanol at 5 million gallons per year, though none had been produced. EPA raised that figure to 8.7 million gallons. “Producers” could turn out only 22,069 gallons – eight drops per year per auto. The EPA fined refiners $0.78 per gallon for 8.677 million gallons of non-existent additive! A court voided the fine.
EPA set the 2013 minimum at 15 million gallons – but cut it when production stayed at lab-test quantities. In 2014 they cut the 1 billion gallon mandate by 99.4%. The 2015 mandate is 22 million gallons on the expectation that one unbuilt facility will be built next year and will meet that quantity. What a way to plan.
So corn-based ethanol mix is now in surplus because less gasoline is used each year in the US. In reaction, Congress and the EPA, mandated a 15% blend and feigned surprise to learn that higher concentrations damage motors and other machinery. Ethanol has “hit the wall” and will be clearly harmful and more costly.
Yet it is the model for political favorites. Mandates and subsidies force Americans to pay for high-priced wind, solar and other “green” energy sources required for electric company use and customer payment. Think of subsidized companies that go bankrupt (Solyndra, et al) – whose failures are paid for by American taxpayers all on the promise that those new energy sources will eliminate fossil fuel use, quickly.
It’s insane! The US uses 100 quadrillion British Thermal Units of energy per year. A BTU is the heat of one kitchen match; 100 quadrillion is 100 followed by 15 zeroes. Coal to furnish those BTUs would cover Manhattan Island (12.5 x 2.5 miles), to a depth of 161 feet.
Of that total, oil would comprise 65 feet, and natural gas and coal 36 feet each. That 137 feet is 85% of the US total. Nuclear energy would add 13 feet (with no certainty of more) and hydroelectric, 4 feet (but some dams are being removed). That’s 154 feet — 93% of the total.
“Green” sources make up the remaining 7%. Biomass adds 5 feet – including less than the thickness of two sheets of paper for cellulosic ethanol. The last two feet of the pile is wind (24 inches), geothermal (7 inches), and solar, the thickness of 10 sheets of paper.
So the EPA is expanding irrational mandates and subsidies. EPA “success” and spiteful non-science will create havoc in the US economy.
If elected officials applied logic, facts and arithmetic to enact “policy,” they would improve the lot of American consumers, businesses, and the economy; provide jobs, more prosperity and a brighter day for Americans. Don’t hold your breath.
