Let's Start with Ethanol, or Not

Let's start the environmental discussion with ethanol. Ethanol has been in the news for some time now. Since the 70's, it's been toyed around with as an alternative to gasoline. In recent years it has been the pet project of well-meaning environmentalists, and it was pushed along as viable by the corn growers and auto manufacturers and the government officials they lobbied.

Why? Number one, ethanol is an efficient, clean burner. Good for everyone. Number two, it can go right into existing vehicles with very little modification. Good for everyone; very good for car manufacturers, who would be able to move away from petrochemicals with very little effort or expense. Number three, if you were a struggling farmer, wouldn't you love to have your product used by every automobile owner in America? So here we are with ethanol ready vehicles (notice E85 on the back of all those cars).

But lately you may have heard or read a little back-pedalling on the wisdom of corn based fuel. Have you noticed how much corn on the cob costs now? The pocketbook is probably what will keep corn-based ethanol from becoming the latest and greatest thing, but it's not the best reason to dump it. How do you think all that corn gets harvested? Have you heard of ethanol ready farm equipment? Me either. Did you know that every time the soil gets tilled and worked tons of carbon dioxide gets released into the atmosphere? It's worse when woodlands are cut down to make way for farm land.

The corn we eat right now generally comes from land that has been cultivated for decades. If we use corn for fuel, more land needs to be allocated to compensate for the increased demand for corn, and more gas needs to be produced to make all of this happen. According to that Frontline episode I mentioned last post, it is generous to say corn based fuel gives a 15% improvement in the "carbon footprint."

The newest buzzword is "switchgrass." You may have heard it in connection with a term "cellulosic ethanol" or ceetol; which is ethanol that comes from cellulose like wood chips, grass, or waste products of corn or sugarcane. The idea is that it grows without all of the equipment or fertilizer. Unfortunately, this is still not the way to go. There's a brief commentary on that in the episode too (watch it). Here's a technical overview of cellulosic ethanol considerations (really technical).

Let's get back to our "reduce, reuse, recycle" philosophy, which, as I said before, is "right on." Brazil has led the way on this. You heard me, Brazil. The tech isn't mainstream yet, but it's coming. Basically, they treat the slop left over from sugarcane production with enzymes and make ethanol from that. If only we had industries here that had waste products. If only we used sugar in the United States. Oh wait, we do. Basically this is recycling at it's finest. It requires a huge front end investment, but should pay off quickly in the end. Imagine putting a little fancy stuff in your trash, then being able to sell almost all of it. The best part is that we already have those E85 vehicle waiting to use it.

What we don't have are the enzymes needed to make that happen. Different kinds of plant's cellulose need different enzymes to help change them to ethanol. It is my contention that this is where the industrial muscle and government subsidies need to go. There are some upstarts in the states. Interestingly, I've heard mainly of it being done with corn by-products (close a window, open a door). Sugar cane does seem like the most obvious choice here in Louisiana, though. There is really no good reason why a state that thrives on chemical plants and purports to be a biomedical mecca can't come up with an appropriate enzyme to work with it's biggest cash crop.

The truth is, we don't know what drawbacks will show up with this technology in the future. At this time however, it is our best auto fuel alternative. It is not the solution to all of our energy needs. The bulk of that must go to "clean" energy sources, which I will talk about in a later post.

In the meantime, get wise about your fuel consumption. Oil will always be important (I'll remind you about that later too) so we shouldn't waste it just because fuel alternatives are on the horizon. Don't buy cars and trucks that only have a 26 miles to the gallon rating, no matter what kind of technology they boast. 26 mpg for a standard vehicle is using the exact same amount of gasoline as a 26 mpg hybrid. Right now buying a hybrid because you wanted a fuel efficient car is like buying a rooster instead of a chicken to lay eggs. It's close, but it doesn't get the job done. You should be able to get hybrid vehicles with much better ratings. You can get regular vehicles with much better ratings. They just probably won't be as big.