[doc30]

And grain alcohol is heavily subsidized with federal tax dollars. Without that subsidy, ethanol would be 2-3 times the price of gasoline. The reason being that it is far cheaper to make ethanol from oil than from fermentation and distillation of grains.

[Paleo Conservative]

And grain alcohol is heavily subsidized with federal tax dollars. Without that subsidy, ethanol would be 2-3 times the price of gasoline. The reason being that it is far cheaper to make ethanol from oil than from fermentation and distillation of grains.

It's probably more energy efficient to make directly ethanol from oil than to make it from grain. See reply #8.