Talk:Ethanol

Corn ethanol destructive in terms of economics, the environment, car durability, fuel efficiency, taxes, and increase in food costs. Subsidies are the primary culprit in this battle. I would also like to state that not all bio-fuels are "bad," so it would be wise to be specific in our discussion.

Below is information I have collected so far, please keep in mind that much of it is inaccurate and sloppy, however it might provide a useful starting point for this article to grow.

Corn to gas conversion:

1 Bushel of corn + Energy => 2.8 gal ethanol + byproduct 2.8 gal Ethanol /| 1.5 gal Gas / gal Ethanol => 1.87 gal Gas per bushel of corn

1 Year food supply for 1 person:

400 calories per lb corn | nutrition data 5 lbs = 2000 calorie daily diet 5lbs x 365 = 1825lbs / person / year 1825 lbs / 56 lbs/bushel = 32.59 bushels = 1 year food supply

1 year food supply in gas

32.59 bushels x 1.87 gal gas/bushel = 60.94 gal gas vs. 1 year food supply

2010 Ethanol to Food Conversion (Assumes 2000 calorie diet of nothing but corn.)

| 10.6 billion gallons of U.S. ethanol production in 2010 / 2.8 gal Ethanol per bushel = 3.786 billion bushels 3.786 million bushels / 32.59 bushels = 116.2 million people 116.2 million people / | 308.7 million US population = Feeds 37.6% of US population

Subsidies cost to offset 1 gallon of gas

| 2008 subsidies 45-cents per gallon of gas containing 10% ethanol 45 cents / 0.1 gallons ethanol => $4.50 / gallon ethanol subsidies $4.50 x | 1.5 gal Gas / gal Ethanol = $6.75 subsidies offsets 1 gallon of gas

Subsidies Calculation

10.6 billion gallons ethanol x $4.50 subsidies per gallon = $47.7 billion

^ Unfortunately, I think my numbers are off, because most articles seem to indicate subsidies are between 6 to 10 billion in 2010

More information

| $7 per bushel of corn | 32% of Corn production used for Ethanol | Wet Milling vs Dry Milling | 13.5 billion gallons expected for 2011 (USA) - (| Link 2) | 10.9 billion gallons of ethanol in 2010

Environment

| Libertarians & Environmentalists join forces against subsidies | Ethanol Environmental Impact | Al Gore admits corn & ethanol subsidies were a mistake