Bloomberg has a tidy little article summing up the current state of play in the corn ethanol industry: game called on account of brain. Yes, not only are people beginning to realize that the “food for fuel” industry has its ethical “limitations” (food riots and rising prices at the supermarket will do that to a concept), but the realities of economics are giving gung-ho investors pause. As in, why should we put money into this boondoggle when there’s already tens of millions of gallons more production capacity than demand? (So much that E85 producers can’t get cheap corn, either.) The result: the end of the corn-based ethanol industry’s boom. And a big PR switch from “no one ever died defending a corn field” to talking about [non-existent] cellulosic-based E85. The Bloomberg piece ends with the revelation that even ADM’s man (gotta love that jet) is backing away from corn juice. “Asked whether Obama may reduce his support for corn-based ethanol as president, spokesman Tommy Vietor referred to an April speech in Indiana: ‘We have to recognize that corn-based ethanol is a transitional technology,” the candidate said then.” Oh wait… “An energy bill introduced by House Democrats Thursday would require all gas stations to add one alternative fuel E85 pump, a fuel of 85 percent ethanol,” The Detroit News reports. “Currently, less than 2,000 of the nation’s 185,000 gas stations have an E85 pump.” And why is that, then?
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I hope this corn based crap ends quickly.
I’m starting to [really] hate going to the supermarket.
Adding a pump that could be changed from E85 to another option later really isn’t a bad idea, but I think the free market will still have its way with E85. It’s now close to $.50 a gallon cheaper in my neck of the woods than a regular gallon of the real stuff so people are using it that can use it – even knowing they are getting less mileage per gallon out of it. I still don’t get that, but the price here has dropped enough to partially offset the mileage difference.
Cue gunked up carbs in Boats, Cycles and Jet Skis, along with every other small gas engined device, in three…two….one.
I’m buying stock in Carburetor rebuild suppliers.
I want less power and efficiency from my car….and Washington, along with a Cabal from Archer Daniels Midland, is making it happen.
Yeah, cause there’s nothing better at bringing down prices than government regulation. And how much will small business owners have to shell out (ha ha) to add that pump?
That’s a cost we’ll all pay for because of the politicians riding in ADM owned jets. As opposed to those flying around in Pfizer owned jets, GM owned jets and Microsoft owned jets.
Yet another reason for people to elect different representative at EVERY election.
Even if the agricultural feedstock can be switched to switchgrass, food prices won’t come down. Millions of acres of “marginal” ground now used to graze cattle will be off-limits for grazing and owners of better ground will switch from food crops to switchgrass.
Further, on the so-called marginal ground, ranchers are pretty well satisfied with dry-land grass yields.
“Energy farmers” will irrigate; with equipment that uses diesel or electricity to extract the content of dwindling aquifers.
It is still the failed “food for fuel” concept!
Same old tax and spend Democrats.
The don’t drill for oil CO2 is a poison crowd heavily susidizes ethanol and prevents imports of ethanol.
Most Americans probably don’t even know what ADM is, but they and the farm lobby control a huge amount of American life.
This article shows how the corn lobby goes way beyond E10/15/20/85:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1031/p17s01-lihc.html
There is also this book:
http://www.amazon.com/King-Corn-Michael-Pollan/dp/B0012680D0/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1221237309&sr=8-1
This is the most entertaining recent corn propaganda I’ve seen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbRxTOyGf0
Basically the message of the ad is that if you don’t drink corn syrup you’re an uppity white bitch. The site for the association that made the ad is this: http://www.corn.org/ , and it lists the member companies, starting with ADM.
The reality is that I don’t care how unhealthy corn syrup is because it tastes like shit.
Any honest politician would drop the sugar tariffs and the tariffs on products made from sugar (such as ridiculously more efficient ethanol). Unfortunately honest politician is an oxymoron.
bluecon
Same old tax and spend Democrats.
Yes, much better than the borrow from the Chinese and spend Republicans. Why tax the rich now when we can put the burden on our kids latter.
The total ADM whore money for the Republicans over the last decade was $2,616,544, with $1,887,170 going to the Democrats.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/keyraces98/stories/keycash061198.htm
Some of the top individual recipients were Democrats, but that’s just because they tend to be who gets elected in the Midwestern states where corn is most influential.
I don’t understand why your headline incorrectly says Obama has backed off corn Ethanol. He calls it a “transitional” technology and he supports it right? Just like a lot of politicians do. George Bush was calling it transitional and talking up cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass two years ago.
I’m not an expert in building gas stations, but I assume (correct me if wrong) that you will need a seperate tank in the ground to hold E85. Wouldn’t that make this an incredibly expensive upgrade for those 183,000 gas stations?
The price of corn is falling precipitously, along with oil and a lot of other commodities.
Maybe the worry about food inflation can cool off now?
The truth about biofuel:
More biofuel => less dependence on OPEC => lower oil price => lower food price
The local farmers co-op is offering a promotion from 10AM to 2PM Monday on E85. They recently installed an E85 tank and have two pumps.
The promotion price is $1.85/gal. with a 30 gallon limit. I plan to fill up my flex fuel Ranger and jerry cans besides to get to the limit.
E10 sells for about $3.35 around here so it’s a real good deal.
As for the end of the corn based ethanol boom, nothing “booms” for ever, not even the the auto industry. Ethanol plants are still opening regularly and ethanol production is increasing. Ethanol will be around long after gasoline runs out. Ethanol was here before gasoline and it will be here after gasoline.
Cavendel said
I’m not an expert in building gas stations, but I assume (correct me if wrong) that you will need a seperate tank in the ground to hold E85. Wouldn’t that make this an incredibly expensive upgrade for those 183,000 gas stations?
No, they’ll just create a tank that hovers 30 feet in the air. The same engineers that are inventing new battery technology for the Volt are going to invent this new technology as soon as they finish.