Name: Corn Ethanol's Dirty Little Secrets | It Is Bad For the Environment!
Uploaded: 2022-03-04T14:05:00+00:00
Duration: 6 min 4 s
Description: We are all feeling the pain at the pump. As gasoline prices rose in the 15 years (or so) ago, some suggested that converting our corn supply to ethanol was the answer—and both the automotive industry

2 years ago

We are all feeling the pain at the pump. As gasoline prices rose in the 15 years (or so) ago, some suggested that converting our corn supply to ethanol was the answer—and both the automotive industry and “environmentalists” quickly embraced theory. Now, with hindsight always better than foresight, a new study finds that corn-based ethanol may actually be worse than gasoline for the environment.

As a refresher, ethanol is made from corn, and for years it’s been mixed in the gasoline to be sold at America’s gas pumps. Typically you see E10, E15 or E85. The “E” is the ethanol percentage mixed with gasoline. Ethanol is now a key ingredient in today's gasoline, but the promise of ethanol as an oil and climate solution is not all that the government promised. A new study published by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) could deliver a death blow to E85 ethanol fuels.

When it was originally introduced, automakers were onboard with the use of E85. It was “better for the planet,” according to its proponents. So corn that would normally go to feed millions of people around the globe would instead be processed to fill your gas tank. It takes seven bushels of corn to create one gallon of ethanol. Farmers took the subsidies (who’d blame them?) but the results included an unintended consequence of an increase in food costs. Farmers could have produced other products but the government and environmentalists pushed hard for their efforts.

It’s important to note that you can still find gasoline without ethanol. This is needed for collector cars, small engines such as lawn mowers, ATV and snowmobiles.

The new NAS study now contends that corn-based ethanol is worse for the environment than gasoline. In fact, it’s at least 24 percent more carbon intensive than gas. Predictably, the ethanol trade lobby has trashed the study because they’re able to slop at the government trough of subsidies. They get paid for the corn whether it worked as an additive or not.

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