What kind of support does the government give to Ethanol programs?

Question

I don't know if I am asking this right, but basically I want to know how the government is involved in the promotion and influence of ethanol.

Answer 1

From what I know of it and from what I've seen there are the usual subsidies, loans, grants, and price controls that the government uses on these types of things. Unfortunately, there is also the usual government graft, abuse and outright theft involved in this particular venture. Ethanol is NO answer to any of our energy needs, it is just one more of a long line of schemes to get us to focus on the left hand while the right hand robs us blind. All the good science already has went into the alternative energy sources that will truly save our economy and our environment. These sources, in no particular order are currently: solar, nuclear, hydrogen, geothermal(which encompasses a variety of methods for using the absolutely free energy the earth provides) , hydro-electric(which, ironically, environmentalist fight tooth and nail) and wind. All the above energy sources are clean, abundant, and relatively cheap. The same can not be said of ethanol, bio-diesel or any of a number of so called bio-fuels. First off, there is no way we can produce these in amounts even close to meeting one fourth of our needs, regardless of claims to produce hybrid plants or new sources. Secondly, the fuel used to produce and harvest and refine these fuels only adds to the whole problem. Thirdly, in trying to produce and use such fuels we run into a new problem most have not begun to consider, the more we use our cropland and crops for fuels, the scarcer this land becomes, the higher our food costs will go, which in this yr. alone anyone can see that they already have risen, think about cereal and milk alone. To further agravate the problem, we all know that the corporate farms will open up more land to production, over fertilize it, use more pestacides and herbacides and water, and deplete the soil. All this adds up to a lot of time and money going in the wrong direction, and most of the money going to the wrong people.

Answer 2

yes. many governments are involved in pumping huge dollars into ethanol research. they do this despite the unfortunate reality that ethanol has proven to be a quite ineffective choice for alternative energy. widespread ethanol fuel usage would have little or no effect on pollution reduction and it would cause the price of corn to skyrocket. our new energy answers lie elsewhere.

Answer 3

In July I had a conversation with researcher David Pimentel about the ethanol issue (in particular the question about the negative energy balance for corn ethanol that he argues). Here is part of what he wrote, which answers your questions. The current subsidies for Ethanol are also easy to find online.
"Currently the U.S. is producing 5 billion gallons of ethanol (DOE), without charging for all the oil and natural gas inputs required in producing and converting the corn into ethanol. This is using 20% of all U.S. corn and represents only 1% of U.S. petroleum use. If 100% of U.S. corn were used, it would provide only 7% of current U.S. petroleum use. Will this make the U.S. oil independent?
The U.S. government subsidies for ethanol total $6 billion per year. This means that the subsidies per gallon of ethanol are 90 times greater than the subsidies for a gallon of gasoline!
In addition, the environmental impacts are enormous:
1) Corn production causes more soil erosion than any other crop grown.
2) Corn production uses more nitrogen fertilizer than any other crop grown and is the prime cause of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
3) Corn production uses more insecticides than any other crop grown.
4) Corn production uses more herbicides than any other crop grown.
5) More than 1,700 gallons of water are required to produce 1 gallon of ethanol.
6) A total of 12 gallons of sewage effluent are released per gallon of ethanol produced.
7) Enormous quantities of carbon dioxide are produced, including the large quantity of fossil energy used in production, large quantities of carbon dioxide are released during fermentation, and when the soil is tilled soil organic matter is exposed and oxidized. All this speeds global warming.
8) Related to the total operation, including the burning of the ethanol, the air pollution problem is significant."

Answer 4

sandmanamerica is absolutely right. Most democrats seem to be pushing Ethanol as the new cure-all for our energy woes but there is no evidence that it would be of any benefit to the environment or our pocketbooks.

Answer 5

luckily, you already want a historical past verify to purchase a gun everywhere interior the U. S., so as that situation is solved. flow on, no would desire to repair a situation that has already been fixed. additionally, fortunate for us, the U. S. isn't a Democracy, that's a Republic. this suggests that we don't join mob rule. purely because of the fact fifty one% of the greater gullible ingredient of the inhabitants could be manipulated into thinking specific dumb recommendations are good, we don't persist with majority rule. We persist with rule of regulation. The shape is the guideline of regulation and it says "shall no longer be infringed." uncomplicated sufficient, game over, go residing house.