Can Ethanol Replace Gasoline?
ethanol - An ethanol pump at a gas station in North Aurora, Ill. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
Ethanol was virtually a campaign mantra this past fall. Hillary Clinton supported "all kinds of ethanol." Barack Obama said he wanted a national "ethanol infrastructure." Sam Brownback stated it perhaps most definitively: "Anything ethanol — I'm for it."
But when it comes to addressing the problem of rising oil prices, will ethanol make a difference?
No, says geologist Ken Deffeyes. In fact, even though it makes a better-burning fuel, he says it's a net negative as far as cutting gas prices goes.
(Scott Olson / Getty Images)
The reason? Ethanol manufacturers end up competing with the food market for the corn or sugar that's necessary to create ethanol, so it can actually raise prices, says Deffeyes.
Deffeyes also says that despite the fact that it's a good fuel for burning, ethanol is actually quite inefficient when its production is taken into account. "You use almost as much energy producing the corn and the ethanol as you get running the car."
Some ethanol supporters point to Brazil as a country that has had great success with ethanol. Deffeyes counters that Brazil has plentiful farmland and cheap land, labor and farming methods, but that those come with a price: the destruction of large swaths of Amazon forest. But it's not even an option in most other places, he says: "Most places don't have underutilized or unutilized farmland.
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"Your best dreams for American ethanol are a drop in the bucket," concludes Deffeyes.
Deffeyes, the son of a pioneering oil engineer, worked in the oil business himself and went on to become a professor of geology at Princeton University. He's the author of Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak, and he's been joining The Bryant Park Project for a series of discussions about solutions to rising oil prices.
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MIKE PESCA, host:
All week we've been talking about solutions to the oil crisis. We've talked about drilling in ANWR and building more refineries. Now we'll get corny with you, a chat on ethanol. We'll bring in our resident crude-dude geologist, Kenneth Deffeyes, author of "Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak," in just a second, but first let's listen to what some U.S. senators said about ethanol, when they were campaigning during the Iowa primaries - Iowa caucuses, Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Tom Harkin of Iowa, and Kansas Republican, Sam Brownback. Here they are.
(Soundbite of press conference)
Senator HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (Democrat, New York): I support all kinds of ethanol. I support...
(Soundbite of press conference)
Senator BARACK OBAMA (Democrat, Illinois): Our proposal would make major headway towards building an entire ethanol infrastructure.
(Soundbite of press conference)
Senator TOM HARKIN (Democrat, Iowa): We need to rapidly develop technology to produce cellulose-based ethanol.
(Soundbite of press conference)
Senator SAM BROWNBACK (Republican, Kansas): Anything ethanol, I'm for it.
PESCA: So you heard a bunch of politicians, both Democrat and Republican. Obviously, Iowa's one of the first states that you have to campaign in, but the idea of using so many of our resources to make ethanol, is that a good thing for oil prices, Professor Deffeyes?
Dr. KEN DEFFEYES (Author, "Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak"): Part of the problem with ethanol is that it winds up competing for the food market.
PESCA: If ethanol technology really takes off, will it substantially lower oil prices?
Dr. DEFFEYES: Well, a good example is Brazil, where they have a very large and very efficient sugar-cane operation. Their climate fits it, their soil fits it, they're cutting down the Amazon forests, and Brazil has been a very successful producer of ethanol, but most places don't have large amounts of underutilized farmland or unutilized farmland.
PESCA: The American Coalition for Ethanol says the alternative fuel saved Americans 100 million dollars over Memorial Day Weekend, and that ethanol is actually keeping our fuel costs lower than they could be.
Dr. DEFFEYES: Your best dreams for American ethanol are a drop in the bucket compared to the world oil situation. Now, I'm not against any drops in the bucket, we need everything we can get, but what's it's going to come down to is that conservation is the biggest single answer. It turned out to be true in the late '70s, early '80s, that conservation was the dominant thing you could do, and that's about to happen to us.
PESCA: The way we use ethanol, which is to mix it in into summer blends, is that the smartest way to use it to keep down oil prices and gas prices?
Dr. DEFFEYES: Oh, I think so, and it also - because there is some oxygen in the ethanol, it's a better burning fuel.
PESCA: So using ethanol in the present, continuing the use of ethanol as a replacement for gasoline, does that help us in terms of energy saving?
Dr. DEFFEYES: It doesn't do anything, because you use almost as much energy producing the corn and the ethanol as you get when you burn it in the car. It's quite inefficient, and the Brazilian model is a success, because the cane fields are cheaper. They use less fertilizer. They've got the right climate for it. And the same does not apply to Iowa, so we're spinning our wheels. Now, it's enormously politically popular, because it means that the farmers, you know, vote.
PESCA: In the end, does ethanol wind up being a net positive, neutral or net negative, in terms of trying to save money on oil?
Dr. DEFFEYES: I think it's a net negative. If it were a freebie and not competing against food, I'd be much more enthusiastic.
PESCA: All right. Ken Deffeyes is a professor, former Shell researcher, and the author of "Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak." Thank you very much Professor Deffeyes.
Dr. DEFFEYES: You're quite welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
