I'm reminded of the farmer who was asked whether he believed in baptism. He replied, "Of course. I've seen it done."
Well, as the ethanol boom has continued, I've seen new corn fields in Arizona and California where farmers water the fields with groundwater. Foolishness, oft repeated, does not become wisdom. Repeated claims by some of the comments that little corn is irrigated must come to terms with the map of the Renewable Fuels Association of the location of ethanol refineries in the US. Many are in the arid West.
For those interested in how much water it takes to grow corn, the Water Eduation Foundation (a respected California NGO) thinks it's 2,500 gallons of water to grow enough corn for 1 gallon of ethanol. The respected environmental writer, Ted Williams, pegs the figure at 1,700 gallons.
One comment gives a link to an article from Southwest Hydrology, but that article concedes that groundwater is often the water used for ethanol refineries.
Two larger points. First, I don't mean to pick on ethanol unfairly but it does use lots of water. So does almost every other type of energy production, including for you greenies, concentrated solar thermal. The point I'm making is the intimate connection between energy and water.
Second, the 100th Meridian traditionally marked the boundary between dry land and irrigated farming. But that is no longer true as farmer in the midwest, east, and south are increasingly irrigating their fields. This change in agricultural practices poses a substantial challenge as many parts of the country contront water shortages.
Agreed that other bio sources are better for ethanol. However, corn does produce a valuable high protien feed biproduct essential to dairies.
www.chicagocleancities.org/PDFs/Wang2005Summary.pdf
When it comes to water used by America’s ethanol industry, the facts are positive. The Argonne National Laboratory found “water consumption [by U.S. dry mill ethanol plants] decreased 26.6%” from 2001 to 2007. The most efficient ethanol plants use less than three gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol; most plants recycle their water. The St. Petersburg Times reported that a 40-million-gallon-a-year ethanol plant uses nearly as much water as an average 18-hole municipal golf course. And how does ethanol’s water use stack up against others: 1,851 gallons to refine a barrel of crude oil, 62,600 gallons to process a ton of cane sugar to make processed sugar, 2,075 gallons to make four tires.
Claiming that it takes 2,500 gallons of water to “grow enough corn to produce a gallon of ethanol” is nonsense since the water we are talking about is rainfall. More than 85% of all corn produced in the US is watered from rainfall. Further, an acre of corn gives off 4,000 gallons a day in water.
Instead of shooting arrows to hit a mythological heel, better to plow the ground for some salient facts.
This article claims to not pick on ethanol...I suspect that the author will fail to follow up with a report on water usage (not to mention the non-renewable & pollution rich attributes of gasoline - especially that that which comes from the tar sands of our neighbors to the north)....or maybe not.
Too bad. Always willing to jump on the anti-ethanol bandwagon but not say a word (or an article) against the environmental/economic unsustainability of gasoline or oil in general.
This is summary of the study done by Argonne National Laboratory. Bottom line - Ethanol from cornstarch is a far superior fuel (economically & environmentally) to gasoline and ethanol from cellulose is even better.
I am sure that your "reading" sources push the API's (American Petroleum Institute) propaganda. Start reading some unbiased sources/research and then start making these kind of statements.
In America, not to be facetious, but our poor eat more McDonalds than corn products, unless of course, you are counting the corn that goes to feed cattle for the burgers. Even in Mexico, where corn is the preferred flour for tortillas and breads, they balance their diet with an even greater intake of beans and other legumes, and fresh vegetables. Most corn in this country goes to cattle feed--its greatest misuse and contributes greatly to a variety of health problems other countries don't experience.
The fact is that corn is not the best choice for ethanol. It's the best choice for heavily subsidized corn farmers and their powerful lobby. Brazil has found a way to make ethanol, make it sensibly, affordably, and with no negative food impact. I suggest we study their success.
ETHANOL = STARVING THE POOR!
ETHANOL = CLEAN & RENEWABLE COMPETITION TO DIRTY GASOLINE....THEREFORE UNFAIR ATTACKS THAT DO NOT MENTION THE WATER CONSUMPTION TO MAKE GASOLINE AND THE ECONOMIC/ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION THAT GASOLINE CONTINUES TO GIVE US.