Today in Biofuels Opinion: “The RFA propaganda is full of these kinds of outright lies and exaggerations.”

Thomas Elam, FarmEcon: “Take this quote from RFA: FACT: The production and use of 9 billion gallons of ethanol in 2008 displaced the need for 321.4 million barrels of oil.  It also saved American consumers and taxpayers $32 billion, an average of more than $87 million a day.  This is the equivalent of eliminating oil imports from Venezuela for 10 months, or looked at another way, it would mean that the U.S. would not have to import ANY oil for 33 days.

“That is absolute, total, BS.

“They are claiming that 9 bg of ethanol replaced 13.5 bg of oil imports, or 1 gallon of ethanol = 1.5 gallons of crude oil.  The energy content of the ethanol is 6 bg of gasoline so the energy-equivalent ratio is 2.25:1.

“How did they get that inflated number?  Simple.  They took the total barrels of oil required to make 9 billion gallons of gasoline and claimed the entire savings.  Only 45% of a barrel is gasoline.  That is, RFS ignored the fact that we needed to import that oil for more than just the gasoline fraction.  If you take the true saving of 6 bg of gasoline its actually about 140 mb of oil displaced, worth about $13.5 billion at the 2008 average landed OPEC price of $95/bbl.  There was no net savings to American consumers either.  The displaced oil was replaced by ethanol at about the same cost.

“Consumers saved nothing, nor did taxpayers.  The cost to taxpayer for ethanol was significant.  Taxpayers shelled out $4.5 billion in tax credits for ethanol and no subsidies for imported oil. The RFA propaganda is full of these kinds of outright lies and exaggerations.”

Pavel Molchanov, Raymond James energy analyst: “The global economic crisis continues to obscure oil demand, with virtually no near-term visibility. Despite recent stimulus packages around the world, we now assume depression-era year-over-year demand degradation of 3.5%. Worldwide inventories are brimming, and oil prices will likely remain depressed until OPEC’s supply cuts work their way through the system. We have lowered our 2009 oil forecast to $43/bbl (previously $58/bbl). While we also cut our 2010 forecast from $80/bbl to $65/bbl, we still view the oil price slump as a temporary (albeit prolonged) disruption in a long-term secular upswing.”

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Today in Biofuels Opinion: “Jet A-1 at $US172 gives a hell of a lot of people a hell of a lot of encouragement to get on and make it happen bloody quickly”

Air New Zealand Deputy CEO Norm Thompson: "Our goal within the organisation is certainly to get into a position where we could run if not all, certainly part of our domestic fleet on biofuels. Believe...

Today in Biofuels Opinion: “Is it a good fuel? It’s an ugly baby, but it’s our ugly baby. I’d rather use ethanol than foreign fuel.”

T. Boone Pickens: “Is it a good fuel? It’s an ugly baby, but it’s our ugly baby. I’d rather use ethanol than foreign fuel. We’re going to get off of foreign oil, and it’s going to open up ...

Today in Biofuels Opinion: “Get your damn Corn out of my Gas”

From Energy Tribune: "I am not trying to come down either for or against ethanol tariffs, but rather to discuss what I see as the key issues surrounding them. By all accounts, ethanol from sugarcane i...

Aventine explores keeping assets, as ethanol crush spread quadruples

In Illinois, Aventine Renewable Energy has indicated a potential change of direction in reorganization under bankruptcy. Previously, the company had been looking at an outright sale, or sale of assets...

100 grams/sq meter/day feasible from wolffia, according to Thai project developers

In Thailand, Digest subscriber Andrew K. Salzer writes, "we are currently producing and consuming 14 tons of Wolffia Globossa — also known as Asian watermeal — per day for duck feed. We utilize th...

Today in BIofuels Opinion: “We haven’t even begun to see the impact on the cost of food.”

Kent Barton, plant spokesman for Moroni Feed: "I don't believe consumers understand what's going to hit them next year. We haven't even begun to see the impact on the cost of food." Gary Truitt, Ho...