The Importance of Ethanol
About the Author
I am the President and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the national trade association for the U.S. ethanol industry. As such, he is the ethanol industry’s lead lobbyist before the Congress and Administration. I have repeatedly presented testimony before the Congress and Federal agencies on numerous occasions, and represented the ethanol industry’s interests at state, national and international forums.
About This Video
Ethanol is a critical component of our national strategy to reduce imports of foreign oil, create green jobs and economic opportunity, and deal with the challenges of global climate change. Many of the most immediate challenges we face are a result of our dependence on petroleum, and in particular, imported oil. Ethanol provides both near term and long term opportunities through the continued development of new technologies that will allow for the production of ethanol from a wide array of materials like corn cobs, grasses, wood waste, and municipal solid waste.
Growing our reliance on domestically-produced, renewable alternatives to petroleum and other fossil fuels is vital for future generations. Renewable fuel technologies like ethanol today are opening new doors and leading to breakthroughs that will yield a host of sustainable energy technologies to meet future energy demands. In addition, by relying on American productivity and ingenuity, we can create the kind of green economy that will help turn this nation around and begin to address the challenges of climate change that impact us all. Ethanol is part of the answer.
In 2008, the U.S. ethanol industry provided tremendous economic and energy security benefits while also helping improve our nation's air quality. In 2008, the production of 9 billion gallons of ethanol helped create nearly 500,000 new jobs, provided nearly $20 billion in increased household income, and reduced our demand for imported oil by more than 320 million barrels valued at some $32 billion. In addition, the use of 9 billion gallons of ethanol reduced greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles some 14 million tons, the equivalent of taking 2.1 million cars off the road. As ethanol production expands and new technologies are utilized, the economic, environmental and energy security benefits of domestic renewable fuels will only increase.
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1 comment for "The Importance of Ethanol".
1. This isn't true
Corn ethanol is basically just a way of converting natural gas (through fertilizer and steam) into a liquid fuel. Some have argued that we need liquid fuels, so even if it consumes more energy than it produces, as long as it is natural gas energy this is okay. But it also takes 2000 gallons of freshwater to produce ethanol, and fertilizer runoff produces nitrous oxide: 300 times as potent a greenhouse gas as CO2.