I Hate Ethanol

Yes I said it. And being from the exact center of the midwest it seems almost sacrilegious of me to say. You may be wondering (probably not) why I hate ethanol. You may also be wondering what ethanol even is. Well, sit back and take notes...

Ethanol

Ethanol is the fermented alcohol of corn-ethyl alcohol ( Gable 1 ). It's use is as a supplement to gasoline, meaning, it is added to gasoline as an eco-friendlier fuel to reduce emissions caused by automobiles. Ethanol/gasoline mixes are usually about 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol (Gable 1)

And Why I Hate It

First of all, it's a complete contradiction of itself...I think a list of why I hate it will better illustrate my points...

The List of Why I Hate Ethanol

1.) First of all, it's a complete contradiction of itself. It's supposed to be used as a supplement to gasoline. Ethanol is added to gas, gas burns cleaner, everyone is happy (not me). Although, most people don't know ethanol burns much less efficient than does gasoline. Ethanol burns with about 76,000 BTU's per gallon and gas burns with 114,000 BTU's per gallon(Gable 1). So the consumer is making more trips to the pump than they would if they would just buy gasoline. So really, more emissions are being produced. Here's an example:

Joe fills up once a week with normal gas. One day, he decides to "go green" and fill up with an ethanol/gasoline mix. He now finds himself filling up every five or six days instead of every seven. Since the mix is still 90% gasoline he is now contributing to even more gasoline burning than he previously had. Even if he starts filling up every six days instead of every seven he would still be filling up his car with 90% gasoline almost 8 more times a year. That's 8 more tanks of 90% gasoline pumping into the atmosphere.

2.) It stinks.

3.) It drives up food prices for corn products. Tons and tons of food products depend on corn. Cereal, certain types of grains, you name it. So when a large percent of corn is being burned for an inefficient fuel source, it makes me angry. It makes me angry because now the prices of those food products will now go up because of the law of supply and demand. When there is a constant or increase in demand and a decrease in supply, the price will go up. (my next blogs are gonna have a lot of economic mumbo jumbo in them too, just smile and nod your head, and just trust that I am right)

4.) Dave Bollaert agrees with me.

5.) The land being cleared to plant more corn is gonna effect the environment. We're using ethanol to help clean our air from emissions. To do this we are clearing land and planting something we are going to tear out of the ground and burn. So the forests that are our natural environment air filters are being destroyed for an inefficient, expensive fuel (there's that contradiction idea again)

6.) It also causes farmer's to only plant corn. Currently, farmers are making a bundle by supplying ethanol processing companies corn. So, of course, farmer's are planting more corn in the place of other crops. Some farmer's may stop rotating fields between corn and beans and plant only corn. Beans are also in a very large number of food items and a major loss of production will only send food costs up even higher.

7.) Both corn and beans are major exports of the United States. If I remember right, my AP Economics teacher told me that corn is the number one U.S. export. So when we use it as a fuel source, we are just burning our international trade in to oblivion (with a V8). Our gross domestic product per person is diminishing, and to some economists, the gross domestic product is the best way to judge a country's quality of life. So in their eyes, our quality of life is being threatened by ethanol.

The bottom line____________________see what I did there?

In my opinion, the production of ethanol needs to stop. We need to focus on alternative energies that are much more efficient and also don't effect other economic sectors as ethanol does. I hope to have left you hating ethanol as much as I do. And next time your filling your gas tank I want you to think-"I'll just take the regular."

Gable, Christine. "What is Ethanol?" About. New York Times Company. Web. 21 Apr. 2010.