The numbers are in: 6.48 billion gallons of ethanol made in the U.S. in 2007
Photo by MikeGroft. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
The weekly email from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) arrived today and it contains one important number: 6.48 billion gallons. That's how much ethanol - almost all of it from corn - was made in the U.S. last year, a total that comes to an average of 423,000 barrels per day. Compared to 2006, this is an increase of 34 percent. Still, more corn will be needed to reach the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007's new Renewable Fuel Standard for 2008: eight billion gallons. A problem? Not according to the Renewable Fuels Association, which says that current biorefinery capacity is 13.4 billion gallons per year. With 57 new refineries on the way, the eight billion gallons will be here before we know it.
[Source: EERE]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
harlanx6 11:02PM (3/12/2008)
We probably drank half of it!
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rgseidl 4:11AM (3/13/2008)
Since the industry is booming, it's time to start cranking down the farm subsidies and protectionist tariffs. This will take a number of years, but it needs to be done.
Meanwhile, meat and dairy prices will go up, at least until cellulosic ethanol is viable at industrial scales. Americans will have to change their eating habits to some extent, which may not be a bad thing for population health.
Also, lawmakers need to ensure that a sufficient fraction of new vehicles is compatible with high ethanol blends or there could well be a government-mandated ethanol glut. It takes a decade for the car fleet to churn, so mandating E85 compatibility on 70% of all new passenger cars and light trucks with spark ignition engines ASAP would be a prudent precaution. The incremental manufacturing cost is on the order of $40, but the oil industry is of course opposed to FFVs.
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Guenther 7:26AM (3/13/2008)
rgseidl- it wont be necessary to mandate FFV's because they get a break on CAFE, they're attractive to Manufacturers and their sales volume will increase whenever there's a incremental price drop in E85.
You're correct- with corn a highly profitable crop, we do need to ween the agricultural sector off subsidies.
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BoomBoom 10:02AM (3/13/2008)
We've got plenty of E85 cars out there. The problem is nearly none of them run on E85 because it isn't widely available.
E85 from corn should be banned. It uses almost as much energy to make as it saves in gas. Study after study has shown this. Until we can get cellulosic ethanol off the ground, E85 is a fluke. The last thing we want to run our cars on is food.
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Will 12:59PM (3/13/2008)
Hmmm I'm hungry. Oh dear, it's all been made into fuel. Oh well, think I'll hop in the car and visit a burger king.
Corn has ALWAYS been an energy crop - I wish more people would find this figure disturbing. I wanted a car to help me out. Now I see we are in competition for resources. Madness!
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James Bashkin 3:10PM (3/14/2008)
We need to stop the corn ethanol subsidies immediately, not slowly. They just burn tax dollars and keep money from being used for truly green projects, like scaling up production of new solar panel technology to meet needs (including the photovoltaics that don't use polycrystalline silicon, a substance responsible for terrible pollution in China). The contribution of ethanol to our fuel supplies is negligible, but the excessive water use and terrible pollution of fresh water (and also the Gulf of Mexico) by corn ethanol farms and production facilities is very damaging to the environment. This is just the result of politicians trying to shovel money to their old allies and painting it as a green program. Green, it is not.
http://nearlynothingbutnovels.blogspot.com/
http://greenchemistry.wordpress.com/
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Mitesh Damania 5:32PM (3/14/2008)
Thanks for jacking up all the food prices you corrupt jack*** politicians!!
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Dan M 7:41PM (3/30/2008)
boomboom your post makes no sense because e85 is only 1% of ethanol production.. almost ALL of ethanol is used as an a additive to gasoline .
7 billions Gallons of ethanol and only 1% is actually used as an alternative fuel (E85) to the Oil Companies gasoline products.
All that ethanol production is gravy for the ethanol producers because it means they dont actually have to invest in E85 they simply sell 99% of their production to the Oil Companies and the Oil Companies get 51 cents for every gallon of ethanol they "blend" with their gasoline.. (we end up with a truce instead of competition..just splitting the $$$ )
E10 is NOT an alternative fuel..
1. Phase out the 51 cents blenders credit on e10 over 5 years unless produced for cellulosic feedstock ..thats nearly $400 million a year (not even considering growth)
2.Use that annual $400 million as grants, loans , awards to those Companies whether they be Ethanol or Oil to install Blender Pumps .. with NL , E10 , E20 E30 and E85 options
3. Blender credits would then go to whoever owns operates the blender pumps and made that investment ..those blender credits would phase out at a slower rate ..10 years instead of 5
That is the path that ensures that E85 moves from the current 1500 Stations to over 70,000 Stations in under 10 years ..
that is Path that ensures REAL alterntive ethanol fuel (E85) gets to the market and ensures direct competition with NL brands.. and competition ensures better price at the pumps for mall consumers no matters ones personal fuel preference
Dan McCullough
E85Prices.com
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