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An Earful on Ethanol: Rising Food Prices, Inefficient Production and Other
Problems
Just a year ago,
ethanol was the renewable fuel of the moment. Derived mostly from corn grown
in America's heartland, ethanol was promoted as a home-grown ticket to
energy independence for the U.S. and other oil-importing nations. |
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It
played a feature role in the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of
2007, passed by the U.S. Congress in December, which called for a five-fold
increase in ethanol production by 2022 and provided tax incentives and
grants to ethanol producers.
Today, however, ethanol's prospects look somewhat cloudy. Critics around the
world are crying foul over rising food prices. Others contend that it takes
more resources to create ethanol than the alternative fuel provides.
According to experts at Wharton and elsewhere, ethanol underscores the
hazards involved in the development of any new energy source, where failure
to understand the broader impact of production can result in unintended
consequences.
Anyone who ever drank grain alcohol at a college fraternity party is
familiar with ethanol. It is derived from the fermentation of starches in
organic matter; corn starch, found only in corn kernels, is the most popular
source in the domestic ethanol industry today. But other so-called second
generation ethanol sources are gaining favor as new technologies ease their
fermentation process. Of the 36 billion gallons of ethanol mandated in EISA
by 2022, 21 billion would come from those second generation sources, such as
corn stalks, switchgrass (a tall grass native to the North American prairie)
and even garbage.
Read more from the source
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