Ethanol seen helping cure U.S. addiction to oil
Published: February 3, 2006
Ethanol could help cure America’s “addiction” to oil, with the fledgling industry poised for a boom to sate the country’s thirst for renewable alternatives to gasoline, industry sources said on Wednesday.
President George W. Bush said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday America was addicted to oil and that technology should be used to develop alternative energy sources, such as ethanol-blended gasoline and hydrogen fuel.
“People look and see what’s happening with worldwide oil supplies and it is a cause for concern. People realize the era of cheap oil is over,” said Bob Dinneen, chief executive of The Renewable Fuel Association.
“Clearly, ethanol is something we are doing now that we can do more of that will provide at least a part of the solution for the future. We wouldn’t be having this discussion if oil was $25 a barrel,” Dinneen said.
U.S. corn-based ethanol is competitive with gasoline when oil is $50 a barrel or higher, according to data from Worldwatch, an environmental think tank in Washington, D.C.
Bush set the goal of reducing U.S. dependence on oil from the Middle East by 75 percent in 20 years.
To meet that goal more home-grown crops like corn and soybeans, a mainstay of the American Midwest and mostly used as animal feed, will go toward making ethanol and biodiesel. By far, ethanol is the leading U.S. renewable fuel, with 2005 production at 4.0 billion gallons, about double the amount produced in 2002.
“We are expanding rapidly and will continue to do so with comments like the president made last night. It sends a very strong signal to our industry, financial markets that the future for ethanol is secure,” said Dinneen.
Ethanol plants are popping up throughout the Midwest as the industry tries to meet the growing demand for renewable fuels. By the end of 2006, U.S. ethanol production capacity is projected to be about 5.0 billion gallons.
That’s a long way from meeting potential demand if the country is to realize Bush’s goal. Corn-based ethanol is now used in only 3 percent of U.S. gasoline, as a clean burning fuel additive. That accounts for 14 percent of the U.S. corn crop.
“Ethanol needs to be part of the goal that helps reduce our major dependence of foreign oil. We’ve never said that ethanol would be the only alternative … it’s just the most viable alternative we have in the United States today,” said Brian Jennings, executive vice president with The American Coalition for Ethanol.
New technologies will have to be part of the solution to meet energy demand, industry sources said.
Advances are helping traditional ethanol plants run more efficiently. The latest statistics from a 2002 U.S. Agriculture Department survey show that for every 100 British Thermal Units (BTUs) that it takes to produce a gallon of ethanol, a 167 BTUs are generated from the green fuel.
But the biggest growth area for ethanol is in cellulosic technology, using enzymes to break down tough fibers in woody plants, corn stalks and other waste products — thus providing a new group of feedstocks for ethanol production.
“The potential for much greater scale production comes from waste, there’s just a lot more of it available. Turning food into fuel is not going to get us very far,” said Suzanne Hunt, biofuel manager with Worldwatch.
Until now, the limiting factor with using enzymes in ethanol productions has been the cost. But the cost was reduced 30 fold last year, Hunt said.
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