Now
You Compete With Your Car For
Food
Pilgrim's Pride, the largest US chicken
processor, announced that it is
closing a
North Carolina chicken processing facility. This move is
another verification that farming, energy,
and food are closely connected.
The company announced that it will also
close six distribution centers due to
increased feed costs.
Feed costs have significantly increased over
the recent year and are squeezing profit
margins for all livestock and poultry
processors.
Corn and soy
meal are the main ingredients in poultry
rations. Demand from the ethanol industry
has increased corn prices. At the same time,
competition for farm land to grow corn and
soy has increased prices for these and other
grains.
Closure of
this facility will reduce Pilgrim's Pride's
processing capacity by about 1.5% and
the industry's capacity by about 0.4%.
Pilgrim's
Pride 's
decrease in chicken production will increase
chicken prices for all consumers.
This
plant closing will have a small impact upon
industry capacity and increase poultry
prices somewhat, however it is an indicator
of the trend to close food processing plants
in favor of opening ethanol plants. The
grains that would have been used to feed
chickens and other livestock will instead be
used to manufacture ethanol.
Ethanol
production will increase due to government
subsidizes and legislation mandating that
more ethanol be used in cars.
This
production pattern change from food to
ethanol is an in dicator
of changes to be made by Pilgrim's Pride and
other food processors to curtail production
and cut costs.
In the coming years there will be less
chicken to eat and more ethanol to fuel
vehicles. Hungry drivers may have ethanol to
fuel their drives to grocery stores, but
they may not be willing to pay the high
prices for chicken when they arrive.
A rcher
Daniels Midland, one of biggest ethanol
producers in the US, reported that its
income from corn-based biofuel fell by 48% in the three
months ending September 30. This was the
result of a decline in the price it can
charge for ethanol.
Its loss could prompt the company to change
plans to build an additional 550 million
gallon ethanol capacity in 2008. ADM
recently said it would switch production of
corn away from ethanol toward high-fructose corn
syrup or lysine production if ethanol
becomes unprofitable.
T he
price of ethanol was at an all-time high in
August, 2007, but has collapsed in recent
months due to an oversupply. Several
companies in the ethanol production business
have abandoned constructing new plants and
have cut production. VeraSun, the third-biggest US
ethanol producer, recently halted work on a
110 million-gallon facility in Indiana
stating that oversupply was the reason.
If all
of today's US corn production were
converted into ethanol, it would
replace only 12% of our gasoline
needs.
True
False
The US
Energy Policy Act of 2005, became
law in August, 2005. It contains 551 pages
of federal legislation.
True
False
The
Energy Policy Act increases the
ethanol quota. The mandated amount
of ethanol nearly doubles by 2012. It goes from 4.0
billion gallons in 2006 to 7.5
billion in 2012.
True
False
Ethanol
contains about 70% of the energy
contained in an equal volume of
gasoline.
True
False
Since
ethanol contains less energy, it
actually displaces only about 3.5%
of gasoline by energy content. That
is the only measure the engine cares
about -- Useful Energy.
True
False
Since
ethanol contains less energy per
gallon, the consumer will need to
buy more gallons to drive the same
distance as when gasoline is used.
True
False
Decide quickly .
Make the wrong decision. And, now you
have made the situation worse.
And so it is with ethanol, global warming &
other
unproven, emerging technological axioms
as they are prematurely
over-promoted and made to pass as
panaceas.
Agree
Disagree
The
Energy Policy Act of 2005, mandates
that, starting in 2006, the average
gallon of "gas" must contain 2.78%
ethanol.
True
False
Ethanol's formula is C2 H6 O.
More descriptively, its formula
is C2 H5 OH.
That
us interesting.
I
don't understand this.
Ethanol, grain alcohol, is the
US' most widely used biofuel.
About 3.9-billion gallons were
produced in the US in 2005. This
amount is trivial compared with
the 140-billion gallons of gas
used in the US.
True
False
Achieving the federal mandate to
increase ethanol use to 7.5-billion
gallons by 2012 is realistic.
However, it won’t make much
difference in the price of fuel, in
foreign oil dependency, in air
pollution, or for global warming.
The primary fuel in six years will
still be gasoline. If consumption
increases at historical rates, the
extra ethanol will barely offset the
growth in gasoline consumption
expected by then -- and is unlikely
to reduce it.
Agree
Disagree
It
takes 1.48 gallons of ethanol to
equal the energy in a gallon of
gasoline. This means tanks and
transportation capacities must
be upsized if these alcohols are
to replace gasoline. That will
result in each vehicle carrying
a heavier load of fuel -- which
will reduce mileage.
True
False
Ethanol
is one of the alcohols often found
in alcoholic beverages.
True
False
Ethanol
is a tasteless, flammable,
colorless, and mildly toxic chemical
compound. It has a distinctive odor.
True
False
Government
subsidies and tax breaks for corn
growers and refineries are causing an
artificial migration toward ethanol
before significant long-term costs and
impacts have been identified.
True
False
Ethanol contains
less energy than gasoline per given volume.
Therefore a vehicle uses more
ethanol-gasoline mixture to travel the same
distance as it would if it were using pure
gasoline.
True
False
All mixtures of gasoline & ethanol contain less energy
than pure gasoline. Therefore vehicles must burn more
mixture to travel the same distance on the same amount
of gasoline. Mixtures of ethanol & gasoline need to cost
the consumer less to make up for the
decreased energy content.
True
False
Using ethanol has a mixed effect
on vehicle emissions. The
Department of Energy states that
E85 in place of gasoline reduces
carbon monoxide by 4% and NOx by
59%. However, it raises total
hydrocarbon emission by 43%.
True
False
Ethanol is free of two toxic
chemicals -- benzene & xylene --
that are associated with
gasoline. However, exposures to
those substances are so small
that no one need worry about
them today.
True
False
Ethanol exhaust emissions
contain acetaldehydes that are
not found in gasoline exhaust.
True
False
Fossil
fuels are used in the production of
ethanol. Some studies conclude that
making ethanol from agricultural
crops requires more energy than is
contained in the finished product.
There is no academic agreement on
this point.
True
False
Parts
for an ethanol-enabled vehicle's
fuel system cost approximately 30%
more than the same part for a
gasoline-powered vehicle. Your
current fuel pump costing $300 will
cost about $400 for tomorrow's
ethanol-enabled vehicle.
True
False
The US
imports about 65% of its petroleum.
If we assume that the ethanol in
gasoline in 2012 is used entirely to
displace imported oil, and we make
the most favorable assumption --
that 26% of the energy is renewable
-- it would reduce imports by about
1.4%. If all the ethanol production
were used to reduce Persian Gulf
imports, the reduction would amount
to 7.4%.
True
False
Ethanol's real cost today is hidden
by a broad blanket of agricultural
subsidies. The federal government
puts up 51 cents per gallon. That
alone will cost taxpayers more than
$4.1 billion in 2012.
True
False
Some
states add an extra 10, 20
cents, and more with credits, tax
reductions, and other incentives for
farmers and manufacturers.
True
False
Cellulosic ethanol is hoped to be
the future source of ethanol. It is
not yet feasible. If it were, it
would already be used. The US
government has been seriously
funding research for about 30 years.
Instead of using just the high-value
seed kernels of corn as is done now
-- the part that’s food -- the whole
structure of the plant including
stalks, leaves, and all which is not
food, would go into the ethanol
manufacture. And so would any other
plant material, including forest
thinnings & fast-growing foliage
such as switch grass.
True
False
A bushel
of corn yields 2.8 gallons of
ethanol. An acre of corn yields 144
bushels on average, or 403 gallons.
At that rate, satisfying the mandate
for 7.5-billion gallons by 2012 will
require about 1.25-billion-more
bushels of corn, which will require
8.7-million acres to grow. All to
get a mere 5% ethanol into US
gasoline.
True
False
Switchgrass, prairie grasses, and
woody plants theoretically could
produce cellulosic ethanol. Today
process is in the laboratory
development phase. If a practical
process is found to convert these to
biofuel, to do so could cause a
reduction in soil fertility, since
they would not be plowed back into
the ground to fertilize next
season's crops.
True
False
Producing enough ethanol for a 10%
stretch of our gasoline supply would
likely end most corn exports. That
is about two-billion bushels now.
That reduction would require
planting on marginal acres not used
now, and lead to high corn prices
that would disrupt the economics of
meat and dairy production.
True
False
Manufacture of ethanol requires
relatively large amounts of fresh
water. That means that more water
must be purified and/or found just
to sustain current human & animal
level of consumption.
True
False
Ethanol
is corrosive. Ethanol cannot be
transported using the existing
gasoline transportation pipeline
network. Ethanol must be transported
in tanker trucks or railway cars
specially constructed of
corrosive-resistant materials.
True
False
Manufacture of ethanol requires
relatively large amounts of fresh
water. That leaves less fresh water
for human & animal consumption.
True
False
Running
E85 reduces a vehicle's range
roughly 28%. With fewer than 600
stations selling E85 fuel dispersed
across 37 states, why have GM, Ford,
and DaimlerChrysler been cranking
out these flex-fuel vehicles by the
millions? The answer is the
mandatory Corporate Average Fuel
Economy (CAFE) standards. Federal
law requires that the cars an
automaker offers for sale average
27.5 mpg; light trucks must achieve
22.2 mpg. Failure to achieve these
results can result in substantial
fines.
True
False