US ethanol production reaches all-time high
I first beheld this news last Friday, with complete and utter disgust.
U.S. fuel ethanol production reached a record high of 1.109 million barrels per day the week ending July 26, up slightly from the previous record of (1.108) million barrels per day set late 2017, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on July 31. Both fuel ethanol production and stocks were up 1% when compared to the previous week, while exports were up 2%.
Fuel ethanol production averaged 1.109 million barrels per day the week ending July 26, up 14,000 barrels per day when compared to the 1.095 million barrels of production reported for the previous week. When compared to the same week of last year, production for the week ending July 26 was up 42,000 barrels per day.
(Ethanol Producer Magazine)
The reason I was startled is that you’d think that with more people using electric or hybrid vehicles, U.S. demand for gasoline and therefore ethanol would be declining. As that article notes exports of ethanol are comparatively small, and in fact were down significantly from the same time a year ago. So I looked into it.
You can click here for charts of total U.S. gasoline sales over varying time periods. It hasn’t varied much for a while, in the context of many billions of gallons. So while electrics and hybrids aren’t yet having an impact via falling gasoline use – you can see as well as I can how many ridiculously humongous gas-guzzling pickups, more than a few adorned with Trump stickers, remain on the roads – spiking demand isn’t the reason for record ethanol production.
The problem seems to be that there’s way too much corn being grown in the first place. Something has to be done with it, and turning it into ethanol means it won’t spoil and might well be used eventually. U.S. government support for biofuels isn’t helping. This needs to change.
In its Net Zero Roadmap, the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that the share of biofuels will more than double by 2030, rising from 5% in 2022 to 11%. Over the past few decades, the US has used increased corn production for ethanol. Figure 1 shows that this accounted for 7% of corn usage in 2000, rising to 35% by 2022.
Simultaneously, unsustainable growth has depleted natural resources, with the agriculture sector exerting pressure on planetary boundaries, particularly on four of the six already crossed1. Large-scale corn production relies on agrochemicals and land-use change for monoculture while negatively impacting water tables, biodiversity, and the biosphere systems.
(FAIRR)
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