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And, compared to limited supplies of fossil fuels like oil, corn is renewable and grown right here in the U.S.A.
But ethanol must also play a role as an energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly fuel. And for that purpose, the corn-based variety might be miscast.
Fields of Dreams
To judge ethanol's energy efficiency  , let's start in the cornfield.
The corn is grown, harvested, and delivered to an ethanol plant, of which there are currently about 100 in the U.S. Some projections indicate that these and future plants could generate about 5 percent of the total vehicle fuel in the U.S. by 2012, given current technology. At the plant, the corn is ground, mixed with water, and then fermented repeatedly until it becomes nearly pure grain alcohol.
The energy required to make corn-based ethanol is considerable. Often, it includes using fossil fuels, such as gasoline for farm equipment. In terms of energy-in versus energy-out, is corn-based ethanol worth it?
Ethanol advocates say it is. But in 2001, David Pimentel, a professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell University, decided to find out. His study accounted for the energy involved in planting, harvesting, irrigating, and processing corn. His conclusion: Corn-based ethanol takes about 70 percent more energy to produce than is actually contained in the fuel.
The Department of Energy, on the other hand, found that corn-based ethanol yields 25 percent more energy than what is required to make it. The DoE contends that Pimentel's study uses old data from when less-efficient processing methods were the norm.
If corn-based ethanol does require more energy to produce than it delivers, how could it be offered at a good price? "The price of E85 in the U.S. is, on average, 20 to 30 cents per gallon lower than regular gasoline," said Frost & Sullivan's Venkataraman -- although, in some regions, such as New England, E85 can cost up to 20 cents more. The reason for the generally lower price is that ethanol in the U.S. is, currently, the beneficiary of large governmental subsidies. (continued...)
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