Ethanol as an Alternative to Gas: What a Joke

Did you hear the joke about the alternative fuel? Well, if you did, you probably wouldn't be laughing. Researchers are saying that the government push for ethanol in 2005 utilized information straight from the cynical pages of Saturday Night Live. Although there are opponents on both sides of the ethanol benefit issue, everyone agrees on one thing: ethanol as the cheap alternative to gas was the biggest joke of millennium.

Trilby Lungren writes the "Lundgren Survey of Gas Prices" which is used as a price indicator by the likes of CNN. She says that ethanol should be called the "uneconomic source of fuel". Trilby explained that ethanol is very expensive to produce, causing the prices for the alternative fuel to hang only slightly under the price for regular unleaded.

Ethanol, according the U.S Department of Energy website, is made from biological products which are converted to sugar. Corn is the most easily converted, but ethanol can be made from grasses, trees, and most crops. They did describe the process of converting the sugars as "energy intensive", but did not expound. It is mixed with gasoline, and in some states, there is a mandatory amount of ethanol to be used.

Food prices all over the country have skyrocketed caused by the decreased availability of America's staple: corn. Corn is used to feed the livestock, which become the meat on our dinner tables every night. It is also ground and used in many of the foods we eat every day. The absence of corn for human/animal consumption has caused a decrease in supply and, in turn, a higher demand. What does the law of supply and demand state boys and girls? Demand down, prices down. Demand goes up, and the prices go with it. The prices of food in the U.S. are not the only ones affected. Our neighbors to the South are also feeling the punch.

Trilby says that this causes yet another problem in that the mandatory ethanol levels in gas is requires more and more corn is to keep up with the gallons of gas used every day. Although corn for human/animal consumption is down, corn production on a whole is up. As a matter of fact, farmers see such a boon in corn that they have stopped planting other grains that we rely on, causing shortages in other foods.

Overall, the cheapness of ethanol has yet to show itself. Since it has been a staple in our gas tanks, the price of food has gone up faster than the gas prices. The price of ethanol isn't even the bargain it was promised to be. At my last trip to the gas station, the ethanol was only twenty cents less than regular unleaded. Filling up my tank with the corny stuff netted me a clean $4, which was lost at the grocery store when I bought milk.