Apr. 10, 2013
Link to Delta Farm Press Article

With debates over ethanol heating up on the Hill again, the National Corn Growers Association offers a comparison the environmental impacts of ethanol and petroleum as transportation fuels. Scientifically examining a wide array of environmental factors, this side-by-side evaluation offers insight into the important differences between these fuels.

Which fuel is renewable and why is that important?
When corn grows, it takes carbon dioxide from the air and converts it into glucose and then starch, from which ethanol is produced. Corn production returns nutrients to the soil through its roots and decomposing stalks, thus giving back to the land used in its production.
As it takes tens of thousands of years for the planet to create more petroleum, it simply runs out once the current supply is exhausted. Once removed, the molecules containing carbon and other substances, like sulfur, are released into the environment. Unlike ethanol, petroleum is simply a product extracted from the planet and not one that gives back a valuable resource.

From a scientific standpoint, what actually makes up these fuels? What affect do they have on life prior to being used as fuel?
How does production of the fuel's feedstock impact the environment and the global population?
Understanding that the distance the feedstock must travel from production to where it will be made into a useable fuel requires fuel use, how does the environmental impact of ethanol and petroleum production compare? What does it really take to make the fuel?
Yeast, similar to that used to make bread, converts the corn starch into ethanol. In addition, two co-products, corn oil and distillers grains, are produced. These co-products are used in multiple places, including biodiesel production and animal feed.
What sort of air and water pollution do these fuels cause?
What type of waste is produced in the manufacture of these fuels? How do they compare in respect to the greenhouse gases emitted in the production of these fuels?
Since the RFS was first enacted how has increased ethanol use benefitted the United States?

In 2005 and again in 2007 with the enactment of the Energy Independence and Security Act, the government chose to promote the increased production of ethanol for several reasons including lower its GHG emission properties, its renewable nature and as it decreases reliance on foreign oil. Ethanol production and use is estimated to have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 100 million metric tons in 2012. In one year, that reduction is equivalent to removing 20.2 million light duty vehicles from the highways.  Draft studies estimate a cumulative reduction of over 150 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States between the enactment of the original RFS legislation in 2005 and 2012.
In 2010, U.S. oil imports fell below 50 percent for the first time since 1997. Multiple factors contributed to the decrease in petroleum usage including the increased use of ethanol, the high cost of oil and increased vehicle efficiencies.

Looking at how the production of these fuels compares side-by-side, it becomes evident that ethanol is truly renewable and produced in a greener manner than its fossil fuel counterparts. Where petroleum creates reliance upon a fuel pulled from the ground and imported from abroad, ethanol improves our environment while increasing our national and energy security.