How serious are we about Ethanol?

Originally posted on my xanga on 1/10/2007.

So corn-produced ethanol is starting to take the center stage to help with reduce the use of oil for fuel in vehicles. Using a gas-ethanol mix is nothing new, though the people advocating it here in the US would have you believe they just found this "holy grail." Brazil has been using flex-fuel vehicles since the mid-80's. Except their ethanol is produced from sugar cane, which is a more efficient source of ethanol than corn. Yet oddly enough, the US current has trade restrictions in place AGAINST the importation of Brazilian ethanol. And if you listen to all the speeches, the emphasis is on CORN-produced ethanol. Why? It's all political.

If domestic corn ethanol was pitted against Brazil's sugar cane ethanol on a fair market, Brazil's product would win out because of cost. The corn farmers and the corn-ethanol producers know this, and so they lobbied for the trade barrier. So instead of really good ethanol initiative to reduce our dependence on oil and help out a friendly country, we get a plan to help local corn farmers. And as a side note, with the rise of corn-ethanol expect a rise in the cost of not only corn in the supermarket, but an increase in the cost of various meats. Chickens and cows are fed corn-based feed, afterall. Sorry Bessy, ye're gonna hafta go onna di-et 'cause dem poli-ti-cians want yer corn ter run dem fancy cars.