Kicking Fossil Fuels
As congressional negotiators close in on an agreement for an energy bill, let’s remember this:
Gasoline has a negative fossil energy balance. It takes 1.23 million British thermal units of fossil energy to make 1 million Btu of gasoline at the pump.
With today’s corn ethanol, it’s the other way around: It takes 0.78 million Btu of fossil energy to create an equivalent 1 million Btu of ethanol at the pump.
Ethanol is a winner by any measure.
Sources:
Steven Mufson, “Negotiators Close In on Energy Measure,” Washington Post, November 29, 2007.
U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, “Ethanol: The Complete Energy Lifecycle Picture,” March 2007. (Large file: 12MB download)
