YOUR COMMENTS

I suggest everyone go to the following websites:

http://www.epa.gov/SmartwayLogistics/growandgo/documents/faq.htm

Does it take more energy to make renewable fuels than is actually in the fuel?
EPA has concluded that ethanol and biodiesel generate more energy than the fossil fuel energy used to produce these fuels.

Corn ethanol generates about 30 percent more energy than the fossil fuel energy used to produce it, while biodiesel generates about 50 percent more energy.

It's also important to consider how these fuels compare to the conventional gasoline and diesel fuels they're replacing.

Over the entire lifecycle of producing and using it, corn ethanol reduces petroleum use by over 90 percent compared to gasoline. Biodiesel reduces petroleum use by about 85 percent compared to diesel fuel.



www.ethanol.org

www.ethanolrga.org

www.setamericafree.com

http://www.ncga.com/news/presentations/index.asp

www.eastcoastenergysolutions.com

http://www.epa.gov/SmartwayLogistics/growandgo/documents/factsheet-e85.htm

www.khoslaventures.com

www.E85fuel.com

www.E85prices.com
- Susan, East Windsor, NJ

I would much prefer lower fuel prices and a step towards independence from foriegn oil then corn products. I thought the increase in food prices was due to the outrages gas prices that truckers have to use to ship our food.
- Wayne Yescalis, Manchester

thanks caroll porter got any other bright ideas
- ren, merrimack

I'm not a big advocate for corn ethanol, but this whole food vs. fuel issue is a scam. The biofuels business is less than 1% the size of the global petroleum or food markets. How can this tiny industry create worldwide havoc? It can't.

It is easy to talk in sound bites, but there are really no facts to support the senator's claims. The real culprits are $135/barrel crude oil, reduced food supplies from bad weather (in part from global warming caused by fossil fuels) and increased demand for meat from China and other expanding nations.

80% of our corn crop in the USA last year was used for livestock feed and seed for replanting. Only a few percent is for direct human consumption. Maybe we should eat less meat. Maybe we should grow more food for people and less for livestock. Corn ethanol used 12% of last year's crop. There has traditionally been surpluses close to this amount which have rotted in storage and been thrown away. It was not diverted from your plate or anyone's plate in the 3rd world.

Petroleum has received subsidies for decades, but no one points at petroleum as the root of our problems. Biofuels are an attempt to fix this problem and although corn ethanol isn't perfect, at least it's a start in the right direction. It's estimated that corn ethanol reduces the price of gas at the pump by at least $.15/gallon. If we stop corn ethanol and the price of petroleum products goes up, won't that increase food prices and virtually every other product we buy?

Petroleum is used by trucks, trains, ships and planes to move food. Our farmers use it in their tractors, combines and other machinery. Most fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are petroleum-based and even the plastic our food is wrapped in comes from petroleum. Petroleum is the foundation of the global economy, so when it goes up by 60% in just one year don't you think it will affect food prices? Why aren't there articles about petroleum taking food off our plates?

With all of this overwhelming evidence that there is almost no link between biofuels and food prices, the only people supporting this argument must have a hidden agenda. Maybe it's from accepting money from Big Oil or other special interest groups.

If the "experts" and policymakers want to make these wild claims about biofuels, they need to back them up with detailed analysis that takes all factors into consideration. If they do, you'll find that biofuels play a very minor role in food prices and are one of our only hopes for a solution to the petroleum problem.
- Steve Stout, San Jose CA

From what I have read, it takes something like 7 units of energy to make 8 from corn products. A large chunk of that is converting starches to sugar which can be made into alchahol. Why not encourage using the surplus sugar and skip a step? Sugar beets also require less intensive management and grow in lower quality soil than corn.
- Ken, Merrimack NH

Well said, is it not enough that we are using resources to put into our fuel tanks, the we need to take food off our tables to put into our fuel tanks as well??

ACote
- Alan Cote, Concord