In the five minutes it takes you to read this column, the United States will consume 70,000 barrels of oil. According to the Energy Information Administration, we burn 6.2 billion gallons of oil in a single day. Our insatiable appetite for petroleum, which is both expensive and finite, has economists and scientists worried.
Where will we turn when the oil wells run dry? When will the price of crude oil finally prove too expensive to run our cars, produce our plastics and manufacture our chemicals? In the debate over energy and carbon emissions, an unlikely hero has emerged in corn-based ethanol.
The hoopla surrounding ethanol has been hard to ignore. Farmers, venture capitalists, politicians and even energy companies have pointed to ethanol as the fuel of the future. The prospects of ethanol are indeed alluring. The clean-burning, home-grown gasoline substitute has the potential to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, decrease the amount of dangerous carbons entering our atmosphere, jumpstart struggling economies in rural America and begin the next revolution in technology and industry: The biofuel age.
The ethanol explosion certainly has affected the Kansas economy. There are eight ethanol plants in the state, with construction price tags ranging from $60 million to $200 million. The Kansas Energy Information Network reported that four more plants are under construction, and another 22 are being proposed. From Finney County in the southwest to Atchison County in the northeast, ethanol plants are spending millions of dollars buying fuel, feed, water and labor from rural Kansas communities - an economic stimulus for areas with falling populations and fewer employment opportunities.
More ethanol plants mean more demand for corn, the grain whose starches are converted into sugars and fermented into ethyl alcohol, or ethanol.
Fred Cholick, dean of the College of Agriculture, said higher demand for grain, coupled with a worldwide food shortage, has led to higher corn prices. Though the jump in prices has profited the Kansas corn producer, Cholick said not everyone is singing ethanol's praises.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 5
Jessy Ohl
posted 3/04/08 @ 10:01 AM CST
Joe Vosson's article concerning ethanol does an excellent job of explaining the causes of the ethanol craze. However, I believe that it is important to note that there is a major difference between many kinds of ethanol. (Continued…)
Carbon tax
posted 3/04/08 @ 10:02 AM CST
Here we have a fourth year polisci author, contributing little more than freshman comments on the ongoing political/agribusiness boondoggle of ethanol. (Continued…)
S. C. Hawk
posted 3/04/08 @ 11:07 AM CST
Good article. I completely agree that ethanol will shape the energy future of the 21st century. I also have confidence in "American ingenuity". If Brazil can become oil independent through ethanol, I think the US can as well. (Continued…)
Devil's Advocate
posted 3/04/08 @ 1:30 PM CST
I am glad Joe had decided to address all sides of the ethanol issue. Thanks Jessy for the informative response.
And to play devil's advocate...
http://www. (Continued…)
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