Nestle CEO tells World Economic Forum that “true price of water” needed to be charged on energy projects

In Switzerland, the CEO of Nestle said that there needed to be a true price associated with the use of water, saying that it takes 2,400 gallons of water to make one gallon of biodiesel. Peter Brabeck said at the World Economic Forum that it took less than a gallon of water to make a gallon of oil, but that it would take as many as 65 gallons of water to make a gallon of oil if heavy oil and oil sands were tapped as energy sources.

The Corn Board of Nebraska says that it takes more than 90 gallons of water to produce a gallon of gasoline, contradicting Brabeck’s facts.

The connection between water usage and corn ethanol production was Myth #8 in a Biofuels Digest editorial on the jihad against biofuels.

Myth #8: According to the Crown Prince of Holland, the amount of biofuel in an SUV tank uses as much water as it takes to produce enough grain to support one person for a year.

Fact: It always depends on how much grain a person eats in a day, but using: the USDA US adult average consumption of grains; an allowance of 449 gallons of water per pound of corn based on irrigation tables; and a usage of 2.19 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol based on a North Dakota plant breaking ground today: we conclude that it takes 37 incremental gallons of water to make enough E85 ethanol to fill an SUV. That’s enough water to sustain the average US adult grain diet for 216 minutes.However, Environmental Defense released a report in September predicting that the increase in Midwestern ethanol production could place an unacceptable strain on the Ogallala aquifer. The report projected an additional 2.6 billion gallon demand from the aquifer for processing, and as much as 120 billion gallons from added corn production, which supplies water for more than 20% of all irrigated land in the United States, covering an area between Texas and South Dakota. A follow-up study from the organization detailed more water consumption problems arising from ethanol production. The study’s authors suggested the use of milo, sorghum or switchgrass to produce ethanol with less water consumption. The authors cited advanced ethanol plants that use manure, as opposed to coal, or plants that recycle wastewater, as examples of positive developments.

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