That would be just as bad. Part of the reason for the skyrocket in food prices is because a lot of the corn that farmers produce is being used towards gas. Plus, I remember reading somewhere that it's just as "unclean" in terms of the environment as fossil fuels.

I will just have to make do - and probably cut out some/most reenacting that I do (trips down to IL and southern WI). I don't have public transportation options and finding a decent paying job in my home town is next to impossible - and moving isn't really an option because of the housing market where I live so working out of town is about it. I'm just thankful my car is getting around 35-40mpg highway (and a 2-gallon tank of gas lasts the entire summer for my lawn mower!)!

But at least corn is a renewable resource. Petroleum is not.

So far I think it's been helping our business as well, and we're expecting a busier summer than usual. Higher gas prices means less boating time and around here, many people practically live out on the water in the summertime. It's really the only thing to do around here.


I hope that don't. Any kind of product that involves corn will sky rocket and that'll hurt restaurants... and families who love corn.

Ethanol itself as a biorenewable fuel is definitely worth the research and development that's going into it and could be what we need to decrease our dependence on oil. Corn ethanol is just a placeholder right now until they can find a more efficient way, especially from cellulosic waste.

I live in Iowa. I see first hand the positive effects that the corn ethanol boom has had in our state. But I don't think it's the be-all, end-all of ethanol. Farmers and refinery plant owners both know the effects producing corn ethanol has on the land and the environment. It's not perfect, but it's something at least for now.

While the increase in price for corn, and increase for use in ethanol, has had an impact on food prices, it is not the only reason. It's all interconnected. High corn prices = more acres planted in corn. More acres planted in corn = fewer acres planted in other crops. Fewer acres planted in other crops = higher prices for those crops = higher prices for items that use that crop at the grocery store. But if the prices of other crops get to be high enough to be profitable for that farmer, he might switch back to that crop that might be a better fit for his location and growing season. Food prices in the US have been artificially low for a number of years. While the increase may be a shock to us, they're actually more in-line with other countries around the world. Plus, the corn used for ethanol is field corn - meant for livestock and processing. It's not like sweet corn that we're used to eating.

As far as being as "unclean," the ethanol itself is not - it actually helps reduce certain emissions created by gasoline engines. What those opponents are usually talking about is the emissions produced by the agricultural machinery needed to plant, grow and harvest the corn and also by the trucks needed to ship the corn to the processing plant and the finished fuel to fuel pumps - which isn't necessarily true if the farmers use biodiesel (another renewable biofuel made from soybeans).

Brazil has had a lot of success with ethanol. Granted, theirs is largely produced from sugarcane, which is more efficient than corn, but impossible to grow on a large scale in the US.

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I drive a diesel Jeep. Diesel fuel is currently $4.27/gal. We can't take public transportation, I can't walk to work because I'm the one who has to take my son to daycare, I can't carpool with my husband because we work on opposite sides of the city. We don't take as many trips back to see our parents as we did and we won't take any sort of vacation this summer. We do get 25-28 mpg, so a $75 tank of fuel can last two weeks or more of just normal driving around.

they can make cars that can run on 100% ethanol NOW

...my old truck (2000 S10) was equiped to handle either

right....but no farmers from Iowa have ever flown planes into our buildings

For some reason there's an emphasis on corn for making ethanol while other grains (such as wheat) are more often used for making the kind we drink, as in vodka (corn is used for bourbon). But whatever the material, it has to be fermented, which gives off CO2. The end product of ethanol combustion is CO2 and water.

Ethanol might eliminate other pollutants released by fossil fuels, but with respect to global warming it gives off as much, if not more, CO2 than gasoline. And CO2 is supposedly the culprit in global warming.

I'm not an opponent of ethanol or using corn to make it - these are just the facts as I understand them.

BTW gas at the two stations nearest my home is $4.34 and $4.40 today. It's always high around here but I drive a Honda Civic.

I can usually go two weeks between fill ups because I only work a mile and a half from home. Heck, I spend more in gas on my lunch breaks than I do to and from work.

I'm considering starting to walk to and from work now that it's summer and it's warm. What a great way to get some exercise!

I wonder if I decide to do this, if I will stick with it, or if I'll be lazy....hah.

Of course, then again, I drive a Celica, and to my utter disgust today, I filled up 13.5 gallons for $50.00 It's the first time I've ever spent $50 on a tank of gas. I was horrified.

As with anything it depends on the research.

from http://www.idahoethanol.com/pages/energy.html

Where I am many of the farmers are using soy biodiesel in their tractors and machinery and biodiesel pumps are available around the state. Likewise, many farmers practice environmentally friendly agriculture, including low-till/no-till farming and few to no fertilizers or pesticides. Very few farmers here irrigate and many practice crop rotation. But, I also live in Iowa where the soil and growing season are prime for corn, as opposed to other places in the country where land/weather are less than ideal. Again, I don't think corn ethanol is necessarily the answer, either, but it's at least something for now.

What I find interesting is that the phone number on their site for their VP of Operations isn't even in Idaho. We have only one area code, and 214 is Dallas. The U of Idaho has been working with biodiesel and has a biodiesel yellow VW bug it uses for demonstrations. It even went to San Francisco for a conference.

http://www.uidaho.edu/bioenergy/gallery.html

Heh. It was just one of the links that came up when I searched. I didn't even pay attention to where they really were.

I love our diesel Jeep and am going to hate to give it up later this summer. But we cannot fit soon-to-be two kids + giant husband + me + dog in it.