Eat or Drive?

The push to use Ethanol as a substitute for gasoline has always seemed like a lot of wishful thinking to me.

From Barron's:

"Record energy prices boosted ethanol to $2.85 a gallon earlier this year, though prices since have fallen to $1.73. Still, rising interest in ethanol has sparked a nationwide building boom in distilleries. More than 30 new distilleries are under construction, and will complement the 101 already in operation, according to industry analysts. Ethanol production currently consumes about a fourth of the nation's corn crop, and the expansion expected could push that proportion to 50% in coming years."

So 30% increase in ethanol plants, ethanol eats 25% of the US corn crop, that is going to double, and we are going to increase corn production enough to supply the cheap food we depend on (and the hungry people of the world need more of)?

...and ethanol is going to be cheaper than gasoline? I'm not an expert, but that doesn't seem to add up to me.

Timothy Burger
timothyb(at)timothyburger.com