by Disinvestment Supporter

Created on: May 02, 2008   Last Updated: May 07, 2008

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 calls for 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022. Bio-fuels are renewable, and they do not create more carbon dioxide pollution, the recognized cause of climate change. Bio-fuels could make a significant impact on the future of climate change. Finally by raising the price of food produced by US farmers, it is hoped bio-fuels will even out our negative trade balance. While the plan has broad support, it also faces some serious criticisms.

David Pimentel at Cornell University presented research back in 2001. An acre of US-grown corn can be processed into 328 gallons of ethanol. This requires American farmers grow almost a 110 million acres of corn. We currently have about 72 million acres planted. Corn-based ethanol is the center of current bio-fuel efforts. The total energy costs of ethanol is averaged at 131,000 BTUs for row-cropping. A gallon of ethanol contains about 77,000 BTUs.

What this means is that farmers and refineries are not running their operations using biofuels. Farmers still rely on oil for their fertilizers and to operate tractors. Crop dusters use oil, and then oil is used once again to truck the corn to a refinery, refine it, and truck it out to the market. Biofuels using oil inputs are unsustainable and non-renewable. We won't be able to grow enough corn without cheap oil. Corn production also uses other resources like water and topsoil faster than they are replaced.

While burning ethanol shows no net release of carbon dioxide, CO2 pollution from production makes up for it. The Consumer Energy Council reports that burning ethanol releases nitrogen oxide, a greenhouse gas. It is likely that increasing corn production, with its high need for fertilizers, will worsen the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, immediately causing more shark attacks, as sharks come in closer looking for food.

Despite net energy loss and environmental concerns, a Global Studies Initiative report found a sprawling set of "poorly coordinated and targeted" subsidies by "hundreds of government programs created to support every stage of production and consumption relating [biofuels]." Estimates are $6.3-8.7 billion a year for ethanol and $1.7-2.3 billion for biodiesel. There is no risk for biofuel producers.

The risk is taken by the rest of us. Grain prices are up world-wide, over double for some like rice and wheat. The food riots happening in undeveloped nations now are closely connected to this land-use change. High subsidies for growing biofuel crops means that less farmers are planting less acreage in other crops leading to higher prices. This combined with the increasing price of oil means that the cost of food can be expected to rise much more in the coming months.

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