Ethanol Biofuel Production
Ethanol production plants have been built in the Midwest and have also been promoted heavily through Federal subsidies. Is ethanol a serious player in the market for alternative energy?
That ethanol is benefiting our nation’s quest toward energy independence, in the way that it is used today, is a hard argument.
Common sense is common sense, why are we using farm lands to make fuel for automobiles? There is still plenty of oil in the Earth, and plenty of room for improvements in efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
Ethanol has been driving up food prices by competing with the grains market. Farmers deserve to earn good money there is no question. That the gasoline market is competing with our fundamental food production capability, however, brings a good argument.
Another disadvantage of ethanol biofuel is the lower amount of combustive energy. It’s energy density is only 60% of gasoline (HHV = 12,700 BTU/lb vs. 20,500 BTU/lb), and so pound for pound doesn’t deliver the same amount of useful energy.
One could envision ethanol being used to heat homes and make hot water, but that is not currently it’s marketed use.
Maybe the last nail in the coffin for ethanol biofuel is that unlike wind power and unlike solar power it is not tapping a source of free energy (unless it is derived from agri waste). When you look at the consumption of energy required in the planting, harvesting, and processing of the grains you find ethanol is actually quite expensive as a fuel. It has almost half the energy of diesel or gasoline, and similar amounts of production costs.
In total, ethanol production as practiced today is not as valuable of an alternative energy as some would have us believe. Using agricultural waste to generate ethanol, on the other hand, has a lot of potential in years to come. It falls into a broad definition of alternative energy but currently ethanol is not tapping a free energy source like some alternatives do.