"The grain grown to produce fuel in the US [in 2009] was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels," said Lester Brown, the director of the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington thinktank ithat conducted the analysis... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/22/quarter-us-grain-biofuels-food
That is just the U.S.!!! The U.S. productes about 1/3 of the worlds ethanol....so, doing the math the grain being dirverted to produce ethanol world wide would be enough to feed a BILLION people.
Turning food into fuel when there is plenty of fuel to be had, is stupid.
The US is thinking of allowing 15% ethanol instead of 10%. Another stupid move. The damage done by ethanol to boats and motorcycles is well klnown and yet they want even more ethanol. Crazy
I see the words Flex fuel written on the back of some vehicles, Flex fuel should mean it will burn gas , kerosene or diesel, but no, it merely means that the vehicle will burn ethanol with a minimum of damage to that vehicle.
exporting grain —> exporting jobs
One thing the UN is good at is meeting a crisis and making it worse.
It is NOT inflation. There is less food to sell. Less food in the market commands a higher price per unit of food. That fact does not state or imply an increase in the money $upply.
U.s should use our food resources as a weapon against the moosies.
Hey gutter religions folks, we’ll trade ya some food for lots of oil.
Or maybe NOT,
It normally goes into feed production for meat animals, but I'm sure if the market raises prices, it will be diverted to human consumption.
I wish the some of the posters would think before they type. Government mandates ethanol. How Congress decided to do that is influenced by lobbying of if an agenda is in place Congress looks the other way as EPA and other Government Agencies act on whims.
In a free market, who the hell would want ethanol for anything. Nothing wrong with fallow land but government manipulates farmers via payments not to farm and/or messes with water rights and restrictions at the minimum.
Diesel engines have comes a long way, just ask Europeans. Diesel is cheaper to produce than gasoline but you would never know that by looking at the pump price. Good luck trying to afford a production line diesel car here in the US. Nothing affordable due to tariffs on the import market.
Some of the posts are like government paid shrills.