Corn ethanol is a terribly costly and damaging joke that has been inflicted on us by politicians looking for something that looks like a fix, rather than doing the much harder work to find real solutions to our energy problems. I’ve posted on corn ethanol [1] before, and it’s now time to pull down the tent and admit failure. Why? consider these new revelations [2]:
The Environmental Working Group has just issued a report that finds that 75 percent of all renewable fuels tax subsidies in 2007 went to environmentally damaging corn-ethanol production. In addition, the corn ethanol industry, teetering on the edge of collapse despite billions already wasted in subsidies on it, now wants additional billions for a bailout
Consider, also, that corn ethanol receives four times the amount of federal subsidies of “all other forms of renewable energy, including solar, wind and geothermal power.”
What’s a great substitute for corn ethanol? Energy conservation. Consider this talk by Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute [3]. It is much cheaper to save fuel than to produce it. My sister-in-law is a mover and shaker in the green wing of a major architectural firm. According to her. Lovins’ is widely recognized to be spot-on in his assessments of how to deal with our energy crisis. It you take the time to listen to this 2006 TED talk by Lovins [4], you’ll fall out of your chair when you hear his many statistics, which give me great hope. If only we had the courage to change our wasteful American way of life . . .
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