Word: ethanol
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...promise of biofuels like ethanol is that they will someday help the world grow its way out of its addiction to oil. Nine billion gallons of corn ethanol were produced in the U.S. in 2008, while countries like Brazil have already widely replaced gasoline with ethanol from sugar cane and countless start-ups are working to bring cellulosic and other second-generation biofuels to market. The reasoning is that if we use greener biofuels in place of gasoline, it will significantly enhance our effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions...
...Critics of the proposal also point to phantom savings. Becker says the new rules perpetuate the flex-fuel credit that allows carmakers to build more gas guzzlers than the regulation might otherwise allow, provided the vehicles can run on E85, a mixture that is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. The problem is that only about 1% of the gas stations in the U.S. now sell E85 and the number isn't expected to increase much anytime soon. The flex-fuel credit trims the m.p.g. target for manufacturers selling flex-fuel-capable vehicles by 1.2 m.p.g...
...Environmentalists are generally ecstatic about Chu, but at a time when coal plants and heavily subsidized corn ethanol are creating huge environmental problems, some question his enthusiasm for "clean coal" and "third-generation biofuels," which do not yet exist, as well as his support for new nuclear power, which has become wildly expensive. They recall President George W. Bush talking up future technological miracles as an alternative to present-day action, and they want Chu to focus on proven technologies that can help boost efficiency and conservation to reduce energy demand now, plus on renewables to create zero-emissions supply...
...free food, and corn comes with hidden costs. The crop is heavily fertilized - both with chemicals like nitrogen and with subsidies from Washington. Over the past decade, the Federal Government has poured more than $50 billion into the corn industry, keeping prices for the crop - at least until corn ethanol skewed the market - artificially low. That's why McDonald's can sell you a Big Mac, fries and a Coke for around $5 - a bargain, given that the meal contains nearly 1,200 calories, more than half the daily recommended requirement for adults. "Taxpayer subsidies basically underwrite cheap grain...
Comprehensive energy reform will be even harder to push through Congress in a form that still looks like reform; Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota has already watered down the House version to protect subsidized industrial farmers and their catastrophic ethanol boondoggles, and the legislation faces even rougher rapids in the Senate. But a less ambitious effort to bring the entire country in line with the six states that have already decoupled utility profits from electricity sales - and the 16 that have done the same with natural gas - would be less controversial as well. Most utilities would be delighted...