The International Monetary Fund says increased use of cropland in the US to grow fuelstock for ethanol is already increasing the price of corn and other food and that, long-term, this is not sustainable.
AltEnergyStocks notes:
The main reasons for pursuing ethanol in the manner in which it is being pursued in the US right now are, in order: (a) placate the farming lobby and earn valuable political support in America’s hinterland; (b) placate the wean-America-off-foreign-oil lobby; (c) placate the soft environmentalist lobby; (d) combat climate change…oh, wait a minute…I guess no one’s settled that thorny energy balance question yet, have they?
Well put. For any number of reasons, dedicating huge amounts of crop land to be used to create ethanol is a bad idea. The best idea of all is – cut consumption. That’s where the answer lies.