Big Dividends
The latest short-term energy outlook from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that thanks in part to increased ethanol use, America’s petroleum consumption is projected to fall by 90,000 barrels per day.
With the price of oil currently at $108.81 per barrel, that’s a difference of nearly $10 million per day — nearly $300 million per month, or more than $3.5 billion a year — that we are investing at home instead of sending overseas.
And that’s just the beginning. All told, when job creation and everything else is factored in, ethanol production added $47.6 billion to U.S. GDP in 2007 while raising household incomes by $12.3 billion.
It’s an American resource that pays big dividends.
Sources:
“Short-Term Energy Outlook,” Energy Information Administration, March 11, 2008.
“Contribution of the Ethanol Industry to the Economy of the United States,” by John M. Urbanchuk, LECG, LLC, February 20, 2008.
