As Americans look for more efficient ways of transportation, the search for an alternative energy supply struggles on. One energy source Americans have began to invest more into is corn ethanol fuel.
Ethanol fuel represents only 6 percent of the fuel consumed in America but the numbers are expected to rise up to 19 percent within the next decade, mainly due to the high price of foreign fuel. Analyst are saying “watchout”, storms that have ravaged the mid-west are effecting the amount of ethanol fuel that can be produced, hence weather playing factor in the price at the pump.
Ethanol sounds like a great alternative, it can be produced right here on our soil, but when dealing with crops, a small hail storm could double pump prices. Basing our fuel economy on a system that will vary depending on weather which is never consistent could drain Americans wallets even more. A storm over a corn field could be just as damaging as bombing an oil field over seas. We realized the weather would be playing a factor in gas prices after a series of storms ravaged through the gulf coast throwing prices up double in that period of time. Raising the amount of ethanol bieng produced could be very risky.
Iowa, the countries largest producer of corn ethanol, is said to have lost nearly ten percent of its crop in the floods. Corn ethanol was at nearly 1.50 in september and has doubled since the storm. Other oil interruptions along with weather could triple gas prices in just weeks which is not what Americans need right now.
Currently the ethanol mandate is set at 9 billion gallons for 2008. The estimate for the bio-fuel is expected to rise to 36 billion by 2022. Although, the cap for corn ethanol will be at 15 million. Having the number of gallons of bio-fuels shoot up so high could be very cost effective in the event of a disaster. We know that the fuel is being used more and more because the amount of corn being used for fuel jumped from 7% in 2001 to 15% in 2008.
“There is now a vulnerability to perfect storms, not just in a metaphorical sense, but increasingly in a literal sense,” said Daniel Yergin, the chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consulting firm. “In addition to geopolitical risks, you must
now add weather risks.” Both the government and the ethanol industry recognize the risks of tying fuels to crops. The secretaries of energy and agriculture, in a joint letter to the Senate, recently said: “If we assumed a supply disruption of ethanol, we would expect a fairly large increase in the price of gasoline until ethanol supply were re-established or new market equilibriums were achieved.” Meaning had corn and other bio-fuels gone array, we know that prices will sky rocket. You decide whether corn ethanol fuel is the way of energy independence in the future. Remember no source will ever be 100% effective and perfectly un-interrupted. I might add Brazil has been energy indepedent from the rest of the world for nearly a decade now on purely corn ethanol fuel.
This package put out by CBS talks about the increase in Corn ethanol fuels.
