Ethanol: Part 2

I was planning on writing another post outlining more of the problems of ethanol. However, the Daily Herald had an interesting article on ethanol that covered most of the additional points that I was planning on making. So in the spirit of laziness and not wanting to write something that has already been written here is THE LINK. For those who don't want to read the article this is a quick summary of the main points.

- Ethanol production has caused corn prices to triple since 2005
- The increase in food prices due to ethanol is estimated at $15 billion in 2007
- Given tax breaks, subsides, and price ethanol cost America $31 billion in 2007
- Global food prices have risen 83% in the last 3 years (the time of the US ethanol push)
- Journal of Science estimates that ethanol doubles greenhouse gases due to deforestation and gas used in farm equipment.
- Ethanol also contributes to greenhouse gases because it cannot be shipped by pipeline so it is shipped by truck.
- Corrected for energy content the cost equivalent to wholesale gasoline is $6.67/gallon

Ethanol wastes land, wastes energy, pollutes, causes hunger and unrest in the world, and we spend billions of dollars to support it. Go us.