FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
March 1, 2007
Where the Streets are Paved in Corn
Word on the street is that alternative fuels are the answer to our country's dependence on foreign oil. An added bonus is that these alternative fuels may also reduce greenhouse gases - a big thumbs up for the environment- although some say processing of these fuels may hurt, rather than help, the environment. But where do these alternative fuels come from and is there an infinite supply?
The truth is that the production of alternative fuels currently eats away at our food crops (although you could be forgiven for thinking we had an endless supply of corn given the way we whittle it away in products as varied as soft drinks and cheese spreads). This is not the case.
What will this mean for food costs as demand for crops such as corn and soybeans (the crops currently used in many alternative fuels) continues to outstrip the supply? It's economics 101. As demand goes up, so do prices.
Someone must have taken notice of this dilemma because the U.S. Energy Department announced that six grants will be given to support bio-refineries that produce cellulosic ethanol from nonfood crops. So next time you're wondering where all the wood chips and wheat straw went, you'll know the answer: cellulosic ethanol.
But that doesn’t solve the entire problem since ethanol doesn't have as much energy per gallon as gasoline. That is why many companies are still searching for the Holy Grail of renewable energy: the super-crop or wood chip, which will outperform gasoline.
Who will win the race to create the best alternative fuel? Your guess is as good as mine. But one thing is certain: if the renewable fuel mania cuts into our nation's food supply, those with limited resources, whose food budgets are already constrained by dwindling dollars, will be the ones who will suffer. As Americans demand oil dependency they have to remember one thing: they may get what the wish for. But the price of oil dependency may come at the cost of the dependency of that many more Americans on our already overburdened food stamp programs and soup kitchens.
Just to clarify: I'm all for alternative fuels if they lower the cost of gasoline, create jobs, and are good for the environment, but we have to remember that there isn't a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow and finding the right balance between feeding our fuel frenzy and feeding our country (cheaply and healthfully) is key.
Posted by Ruthie Ackerman at March 1, 2007 2:09 PM | Category: |
7 Comments
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Ethanol is solar energy. Everybody's been screaming that we need to use alternative energy like solar energy and the wind ever since EarthDay debuted 37 years ago.
What people are finally realizing is that there's no free lunch. Photosynthesis is about 13% efficient in converting sunlight - but if you had a 100% efficient means of converting sunlight, the ground behind your solar receptors would freeze from the cold.
Alternatives? Well, there's geothermal. But if you extract heat from the magma, that's going to make a lot bigger impact on global warming than fossil fuels ever could, and we don't know if it will cause earthquakes, etc.
The answers that politicians give are all lies; the only difference is that some are aware that they are lying, and some are unaware. Honest scientists and engineers don't doubt that we're experiencing climate change, but they do wonder what's causing it. There's global warming occurring on Mars, too. It's not clear what's causing global warming on Earth.
I'm thinking that harvesting algae from the oceans, and converting that to alcohol may be the best answer, but I don't know how much algae is there to collect, and how much energy it would take to collect it. Many political solutions are the equivalent of paying for a new home theatre system by switching to generic salt and pepper, and it may be that algae provides no net new energy at all.
Check out http://aaas.org/info for more info on this topic.
Corn?...hmmm. Maybe we should check in with Al Gore again...whadda ya say?
Any perceived shortage of "food crops" is a result of current food consumption and development patterns in the USA.
1. The vast majority of our production of "food crops" goes to feed cattle (as well as other livestock). A good portion of the rest is converted to things like corn syrup and corn starch, staples of the processed- and snack-food and beverage industry. Some goes for industrial use (primarily corn-based resins), and a tiny portion is consumed directly by humans.
Eliminating most beef from our diets and switching to more conversion-efficient diets (poultry, pork, and vegetarian), and reducing our consumption of pre-packaged and sweetened foods and beverages, would free up an enormous volume of these crops. Thus, more corn for conversion to fuel (replacing petroleum fuels) and resins (replacing petroleum-based plastics).
2. Low-density suburban and exurban development continues to gobble up existing farmland which could be producing crops for fuel conversion. Low return on investment in food crops is contributing to the closing of farms and depopulation of rural areas in the Midwest. Those two trends combined are reducing our available production capacity in food crops, but again these trends could be reversed if we were serious about converting food crops to fuel.
There is PLENTY of capacity for production of fuel crops. We just aren't very smart about utilizing it.
Aaron is right
We could fill the great lakes every year with the corn the government pays farmers NOT to produce seasonally. I think our capacity for production is no issue whatsoever, the problem lies in revamping the refinement processes for efficiency
The essence of it all is moderation and balance. That is to say that what the world needs is a hybrid energy supply system, where energy is provided by both renewable & non-renewable sources.
The over-utilization of any one source results in imbalance, hence the current problems.
The smart solution would be to decidedly shift from non-renewable to purely renewable energy sources. The trick is driving for the greatest efficiency possible. As some point, the non-renewables will run out.