Encomium Petroleum
28th June 2022
So, Joe Biden goes to the G7 where Boris Johnson pleads with him to stop ethanol production from grain in order to avoid worldwide food shortages. Biden refuses. Obviously, Biden has no concern for adequate nutrition for the globe. Let them eat CO2-depleted air. Or drink ethanol.
Given that burning ethanol produces a mere 4% less CO2 than burning gasoline per gallon, a reasonable person would ask why. And that doesn’t even include the CO2 produced by the fermentation of grains to produce the alcohol. Or the depletion of our fossil water resources on the Great Plains to produce the ethanol. Or the CO2 required from fossil fuels to plant, grow (and the fossil fuels that provide the fertilizers), and harvest the grain. Or the CO2 production from transporting large quantities of ethanol. And etc., and etc. It seems to me that there may actually be a net disadvantage to using ethanol compared to gasoline. The situation may be different in Brazil, where sugar cane is used rather than corn or other grains.