by Jeff Johns

Created on: April 30, 2008   Last Updated: May 07, 2008

The debate over the production of bio-fuels is multi-faceted and continues to grow in both size and scope. The issues run the gamut from government subsidies and the amount of energy needed to produce bio-fuels to the environmental impact of producing and using the fuel to debates about the impact on the cost of global food staples.

While bio-mass fuels have been utilized in a solid form for heating and cooking for centuries, the more recent history has been pursuing the development of liquid fuels for transportation uses. The types of bio-fuel that have attracted the most attention are crop based ethanol, most often produced from corn or sugar cane and bio-diesel which is produced from plants that naturally produce oil, like soybeans or palm.

"For many years, ethanol opponents claimed that the energy needed to make a gallon of ethanol was greater than the energy value of the ethanol," said Dr. Jay Lehr, science director for the Heartland Institute. "More recent studies show a positive balance of between 25 percent and 50 percent. Continual improvements in the chemical engineering of the ethanol manufacturing process will ensure that additional gains are made in the future."

Some have argued for the need to account for the energy cost of farming and the production of fertilizers in these estimates. Because ethanol can be difficult to transport, it does tend to be locally produced and utilized, thereby reducing the energy cost of transporting the finished product. The construction of ethanol plants can produce an economic development impact for some rural communities.

More recently the concerns about bio-fuels have centered on the impact on global food prices and supplies. According to Dr. Lehr's research a bushel of corn will produce 2.7 gallons of ethanol. Since the fuel is produced from the starch, which is removed from the corn for fermentation, the remainder of the corn, known as Dry Distilled Grain (DDG), can be used of animal feed. That same bushel of corn will produce about 17 pounds of DDG or "enough to create four beef steaks or eight quarts of milk," according to Dr. Lehr.

The production and use of ethanol presents environmental pros and cons. The obvious pros are the fact that it is a renewable source of energy produced from crops or even municipal waste and it creates no net carbon monoxide into the atmosphere, producing only what it removes during the growing cycle. The greater demand for production crops like corn, has seen an increase in the price per bushel for growers.

On the other side of the debate is the increased food cost for consumers and a lessening of supplies available to the global marketplace has raised nutrition concerns. "We need to feed the stomach before we need to feed our cars," said Rattan Lal, an Ohio State University soil sciences professor. "We have 1 billion people who are food insecure. We can't afford the luxury of not taking care of them and taking care of gasoline."

Scientists may have the answer to address both issues as they research the use of non-grain crops like switch-grass for use in the production of bio-fuels.

Source- Energy Policy for America- Heartland Institute.

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