"Corn ethanol is 30 percent less efficient than gasoline and far less efficient than its sugar-based ethanol cousin. Translation: It takes more energy to make corn ethanol that other fuels. Looking at it another way, one hectare (2.471 acres) of sugarcane yields 7,500 liters of ethanol, while the same acreage of corn yields about half as much fuel.
But forget hectares and efficiency, the worst thing about corn-based ethanol is that it’s not even clean. A recent [as of 2009]University of Minnesota study found that corn ethanol is actually worse for the environment than regular gas.
But forget hectares and efficiency, the worst thing about corn-based ethanol is that it’s not even clean. A recent [as of 2009]University of Minnesota study found that corn ethanol is actually worse for the environment than regular gas.
So corn ethanol is not only inefficient and expensive, but it also makes the problem we’re trying to solve even worse. Genius! I can see why Washington threw $3 billion at it in 2007, an amount that represented 76 percent of all renewable-energy tax credits."
Glenn Beck, Arguing With Idiots, pg.100
