Tweet
http://www.climatechangedispatch.com...ld-food-crisis
Note how the US increased its ethanol production nearly 50% from 2008 to 2012.
The scale of the increase - 2,640,000,000 gallons - is itself more than 10% of the entire world's production of ethanol from all source.
More importantly, $7.7 billion was spent on ethanol subsidies last year. This equates to $0.94 per gallon.
Furthermore to put the 8,178,000,000 gallons on ethanol product in perspective: The US uses roughly 9.21 million barrels per day for gasoline. This is over 180 million gallons per day.
The ethanol in question thus represents 12.4% of gasoline usage just in the US, albeit the energy equivalent is significantly less.
What's truly ironic? There is significant oil usage in the production of corn.
If this example is correct (http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/...iveexample.htm) 1.2 gallons of petrochemical fertilizer is used to grow 1 bushel of corn, which in turn can be used to create 2.7 gallons of ethanol - using natural gas in the conversion process.
This link speaks to the actual energy transfers:
http://www.carbohydrateeconomy.org/l...a_Gallon_.html
Table 1:Energy Used to Make Ethanol From Corn and Cellulose (Btus per Gallon of Ethanol)
So under the most optimistic assumptions - i.e. 4x efficiency improvements over present industry average - there is only a 162% gain in energy. This optimistic assumption is also better than 2x improved over industry best levels.
Using the most highly optimistic assumption, and since the vast majority of the input energy is oil, 1 gallon of gasoline converts to a bit over 4 gallons of ethanol.
Under existing industry averages, one gallon of gasoline converts to 1 gallon of ethanol.
(By the way, 1 gallon of gasoline contains roughly 60% more energy than 1 gallon of ethanol).
Talk about entropy in action...
Today a whopping 6.5 percent of the world’s grain has been stripped from the global food supply.
...
The Global Renewable Fuels Alliance promotes “biofuels friendly policies internationally and represent over 65 per cent of the global biofuels production from 44 countries.” They predict only growth in this voracious business and if their numbers are correct, a death sentence is being issued on millions more in the future.
...
| World Ethanol Fuel Production in Million Liters | ||||||
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
| Europe | 1,627 | 1,882 | 2,814 | 3,683 | 4,615 | 5,467 |
| Africa | 0 | 49 | 72 | 108 | 165 | 170 |
| Americas | 35,625 | 45,467 | 60,393 | 66,368 | 77,800 | 79,005 |
| Asia/Pacific | 1,940 | 2,142 | 2,743 | 2,888 | 3,183 | 4,077 |
| World | 39,192 | 49,540 | 66,022 | 73,047 | 85,763 | 88,719 |
| Source: F.O. Licht | ||||||
| World Ethanol Production Forecast 2008 - 2012 by Country, Millions of Gallons | ||||||
| | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | CAGR, % |
| Brazil | 4,988 | 5,238 | 5,489 | 5,739 | 5,990 | 2.8% |
| U.S. | 6,198 | 6,858 | 7,518 | 8,178 | 8,838 | 5.7% |
| China | 1,075 | 1,101 | 1,128 | 1,154 | 1,181 | 1.4% |
| India | 531 | 551 | 571 | 591 | 611 | 2.2% |
| France | 285 | 301 | 317 | 333 | 349 | 3.2% |
| Spain | 163 | 184 | 206 | 227 | 249 | 6.9% |
| Germany | 319 | 381 | 444 | 506 | 569 | 9.7% |
| Canada | 230 | 276 | 322 | 368 | 414 | 9.9% |
| Indonesia | 76 | 84 | 92 | 100 | 108 | 5.6% |
| Italy | 50 | 53 | 55 | 58 | 60 | 2.8% |
| ROW | 2,302 | 2,548 | 2,794 | 3,040 | 3,286 | 5.7% |
| World | 16,215 | 17,574 | 18,934 | 20,293 | 21,653 | 4.6% |
The scale of the increase - 2,640,000,000 gallons - is itself more than 10% of the entire world's production of ethanol from all source.
More importantly, $7.7 billion was spent on ethanol subsidies last year. This equates to $0.94 per gallon.
Furthermore to put the 8,178,000,000 gallons on ethanol product in perspective: The US uses roughly 9.21 million barrels per day for gasoline. This is over 180 million gallons per day.
The ethanol in question thus represents 12.4% of gasoline usage just in the US, albeit the energy equivalent is significantly less.
What's truly ironic? There is significant oil usage in the production of corn.
If this example is correct (http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/...iveexample.htm) 1.2 gallons of petrochemical fertilizer is used to grow 1 bushel of corn, which in turn can be used to create 2.7 gallons of ethanol - using natural gas in the conversion process.
This link speaks to the actual energy transfers:
http://www.carbohydrateeconomy.org/l...a_Gallon_.html
| Corn Ethanol (Industry Average) | Corn Ethanol (Industry Best) | Corn Ethanol (State-of-the-Art) | Cellulosic Crop-Based Ethanol | |
| Fertilizer | 12,981 | 7,542 | 3,869 | 3,549 |
| Pesticide | 1,060 | 643 | 406 | 437 |
| Fuel | 2,651 | 1,565 | 1,321 | 8,120 |
| Irrigation | 7,046 | 6,624 | 6,046 | -- |
| Other (Feedstock) | 3,395 | 3,248 | 3,122 | 2,558 |
| Total (feedstock) | 27,134 | 19,622 | 14,765 | 14,663 |
| Process Steam | 36,732 | 28,201 | 26,185 | 49,075 |
| Electricity | 14,444 | 7,300 | 5,148 | 8,925 |
| Bulk Transport | 1,330 | 1,100 | 800 | 1,330 |
| Other (process) | 1,450 | 1,282 | 1,050 | 2,100 |
| Total (processing) | 53,956 | 37,883 | 33,183 | 61,430 |
| TOTAL ENERGY INPUT | 81,090 | 57,504 | 47,948 | 76,093 |
| Energy in Ethanol | 84,100 | 84,100 | 84,100 | 84,100 |
| Co-product Credits | 27,579 | 36,261 | 36,261 | 115,400 |
| TOTAL ENERGY OUTPUT | 111,679 | 120,361 | 120,361 | 199,500 |
| Net Energy Gain | 30,589 | 62,857 | 72,413 | 123,407 |
| Percent Gain | 38% | 109% | 151% | 162% |
Using the most highly optimistic assumption, and since the vast majority of the input energy is oil, 1 gallon of gasoline converts to a bit over 4 gallons of ethanol.
Under existing industry averages, one gallon of gasoline converts to 1 gallon of ethanol.
(By the way, 1 gallon of gasoline contains roughly 60% more energy than 1 gallon of ethanol).
Talk about entropy in action...
Comment