What was presented to consumers as a clean, green alternative to fossil fuels turns out to be a wretched red herring. Ethanol is a kludge attempt to address the Global Warming crisis. The idea of using Ethanol as a substitute for fossil fuels is so stupid that it’s necessary to break down the stupidity into a list:
1) Food Diversion : Ethanol is produced from several sources, most notably corn.
The UN says it takes 232kg of corn to fill a 50-litre car tank with ethanol. That is enough to feed a child for a year. Last week, the UN predicted “massacres” unless the bio fuel policy is halted.
Certain critics will point out that ethanol is produced by feed corn, not human corn. Those critics would do best to consider that the amount of arable land on the planet is finite. Thus the more feed corn we grow, the less food corn can be grown.
2) Ethanol isn’t economical. That is, it costs MORE than crude oil. For comparison:
Goldman Sachs says the cost of ethanol from corn is $81 a barrel (oil equivalent), with wheat at $145 and soybeans $232. It is built on subsidy.
3) Farm land isn’t green land. The more we come to rely on ethanol, or bio fuels in general the more farmland we’ll need. For example Brazil has the largest reserve of potentially arable land. The problem is that land coexists with the rainforest.
The catch is obvious. “The idea that you cut down rainforest to actually grow bio fuels seems profoundly stupid,” said Professor John Beddington, Britain’s chief scientific adviser.
4) As a corollary to 1) Ethanol is a weak attempt to assuage the West’s abuse of the planet, at the cost of the world’s poor.
The global food bill has risen 57pc in the last year. Soaring freight rates make it worse. The cost of food “on the table” has jumped by 74pc in poor countries that rely on imports, according to the FAO.
The world food situation is very serious: we have seen riots in Egypt, Cameroon, Haiti and Burkina Faso,” said Mr Diouf. “There is a risk that this unrest will spread in countries where 50pc to 60pc of income goes to food,” he said.
Original source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/04/14/ccview114.xml
Allthough there are a number of other aspects quoted as drivers , I believe the unlimited senceless policy of USA to produce fuel from food, triggered the present food price crisis. Admittedly, a surge of demand for commodities worldwide driven by Chinese growth, energy costs, etc created a climate of increased cost and priices. As editor of a trade magazine for Poultry Industry, the spin offs to my industrty is crippling and does not promiise a reversal soon. How far must world wide famine go before we in the developed world would discount the implications of our policies?