Why the heck is America investing so much of its resources in ethanol? We are using land which used to produce food, which not only was feeding us, but people around the world, and now producing a crop that the government subsidizes almost exclusively and producing fuel that is inefficient and added to my car, actually causes me to get LESS gas mileage? Does this sound like a wave of the future? No, it sounds like a sham to me.
America, we are all about our creature comforts. We can still have them, we just need a new way of doing them. It's called innovation people. For so long, America has been the most innovative country in the world. Our technologies have been amazing. Why aren't we unleashing some of that innovation on one of the largest issues facing us. Energy independence that is clean, dependable and in sustainable means. That it's about thinking in a new way.
Look, Henry Ford came up with the Model T and the assembly line, changing America and the world FOREVER. People, that was 101 years ago - 1908. The technology really hasn't changed significantly.
This is a chance for America to change the world if we take the lead. There is a chance for businesses for make a lot of money. It's time for America to be smart again. If not, we're giving this up to other countries and you have to wonder, if America is in decline at that point. It's a battle for America to be great and this is the one we should be looking at. It is our chance to shape the world. Our chance to help countries that are developing and skip over our mistakes.
Ok, I'm getting off my soap box - for now.
1 comment:
Sarah - don't listen to the petroleum industry, do your own research.
We are using less land for growing corn than we did 50 years ago, and at the same time, growing much more corn. The demand for food corn, or sweet corn, has been stagnate for more than 15 years and this is not what the ethanol industry uses for feedstock. Every bushel of corn the ethanol industry utilizes in the production process also produces 18pounds of highly-valuable livestock feed. As you can see, no food is lost, only the starch is used.
The ethanol subsidy that you refer to, otherwise known as the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit, is a blenders credit for the entity that blends ethanol and gasoline together. This is not the ethanol industry, this is the petroleum industry that receives this, along with the other billions in subsidies that they have received for more than a century now.
Ethanol is not the silver bullet, but it shouldn't stop just because it is not. We need an arsenal of things like ethanol to help us rid our dependence on oil.
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