Why does the world think ethanol is solely responible for the increase in food prices.?
I must start my answer by emphasizing that I am NOT (and never have been) a believer in Ethanol as the solution to America’s love affair with Oil energy. As a matter of fact, I despise America’s Ethanol program, because it is so futilely inefficient. America’s Ethanol production is overwhelmingly Corn based. If we quit eating Corn (and all of its derivatives) altogether and dedicated the entire harvest to Ethanol production … we would supply just 12% of our current gasoline consumption. 12% doesn’t quite add up to a “solution” in my book: in fact, it amounts to an “F-” solution. Quite apart from the fact that I’d miss eating. Crucially, even if Americans are ready to quit eating in order to fuel their SUV’s, the economics of Ethanol production from US Corn are lousy. In terms of net energy production, making Ethanol from US grown Corn only saves about 25% of a gallon of gasoline. That is thanks to the energy cost of producing Ethanol: in growing the Corn, transporting it, running the
