Lookin' Past the Corn Fields

Say ethanol and most Americans think corn. However, there's not enough land to feasibly grow sufficient quantities of corn as the sole ethanol feedstock. And according to President Bush's ultimate goal of energy independence that has gasoline usage slashed by 20 percent in the next decade, America will need seven times more ethanol to meet that need: a hefty 35-billion gallon target.

Let's take off the blinders, America. All of our eggs don't have to be in one basket - there are actually many different types of biomass that can be used to distill this biofuel. For example, take a look at Brazil. Corn isn't even in the equation. They start with sugarcane, eliminating the starch to simple sugar conversion process that is necessary when using corn. Thus, the energy expended is greatly reduced, and that means ethanol can be made more cheaply than gasoline. To the tune of 30 cents a gallon. Yes, development for alternative feedstocks in the United States needs to be addressed. Many types of biomass can be used to make ethanol, from cellulose to switchgrass, but it takes political will to bypass the special interests that would like to maintain the status quo.

There's currently a 54-cent per gallon tariff on imported ethanol, mostly aimed at keeping the powerful farm lobby happy - but think of this - until America develops processes for using other biomass, isn't it better to import ethanol from friendly Latin American countries rather than importing oil from hostile parts of the world?

This flex-fuel truck could be powered from sugar cane derived ethanol - photo © Adrian Gable