The News Virginian reports on the merits of sugar-based ethanol vs. corn. The article quotes 2006 report from the USDA and Louisiana State University that found ethanol produced from sugar cane cost 2.5 times as much as ethanol made from corn. The study acknowledged that the raw cost of sugarcane is the main problem — ethanol production from sugar cane costs half as much as producing ethanol from corn. Further, the report has not considered the potential effect on price of the reduction of import quotas on Mexican sugar scheduled for the end of this year.
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Stan Cotton | Aug 28, 2007 | Reply
It’s time to make farmers, ethanol producers and Big Government accountable, answerable, responsive and to stop protecting special interests at the public’s expense — before it’s too late.
Ethanol made from corn is yielding “unimaginable profits†to farmers and corn based ethanol producers.
Corn-based ethanol is here to stay until the public has its say.
Corn ethanol is made from the same food kernels used to make corn flakes, cornbread, tortillas, corn syrup, and of course, livestock feed. As demand for corn ethanol grows it pays farmers more to sell their corn for ethanol than for food for the table. That forces the price of corn products upwards. This is not theory. It is happening. And the inflation does not stop at borders. The price of corn flakes in Poughkeepsie is up 40% percent; the cost of a tortilla in Mexico City by a comparable amount and rising.
Is ethanol an efficient alternative product that the politicians and spin meisters tell you?