To feed or to fuel? That is the question…
I came across this interesting article on the Environmental News Network site. It discusses how much of the US grain crop is already being diverted to our vehicles. We have already begun to see prices rising at the supermarket, with almost all the major food groups being affected by high grain prices. With the new fuel mileage standard bill also calling for massive increases in ethanol production by 2022, it only figures to get worse.
The article states that for an SUV with a 25 gallon fuel tank, filling up with ethanol would use about 560 pounds of grain, enough to feed an average person for a whole year. That’s insane. I think there will be big consequences for diverting more and more crops for fuel. I don’t understand what people see in ethanol. Anyways, here’s the link- http://www.enn.com/agriculture/article/29370.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I have to say I didn’t even think of this effect when looking at ethanol as a fuel source. Unfortunately, an insanity I did not see coming.
Again, thanks for bringing up this important topic!
February 16th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
A balance needs to be found, but I’m not sure a suitable balance between growing crops for food and fuel can ever exist, this is why I don’t see why people back biofuels as the next best thing.