Sustainable Ethanol
One of the great pleasures of working for the Center for Rural Affairs lies in communicating with supporters, activists, and farmers throughout the country. Increasingly, the queries we receive concern renewable energy, biofuels, and, in particular, ethanol.
The energy sector and ethanol are the hottest topic in agriculture today. But the ethanol industry is still in its infancy, and questions abound. Are we capable of seizing this opportunity for rural America? Can we create an industry that is environmentally sustainable, economically viable, and beneficial to family farms and rural communities?
A chance email from a Center for Rural Affairs supporter led me to Jeff and Adrian Goettemoeller’s book Sustainable Ethanol (Prairie Oak Publishing, 2007), and they answer that question with a qualified “yes.” Ethanol offers an opportunity to displace a significant amount of gasoline, and it can do so in an environmentally friendly, energy efficient manner.
That may be contrary to some mainstream media accounts today, but that contradiction is a result of the way we are currently building our ethanol industry, not a reflection of what is actually possible. As the Goettemoeller brothers aptly chronicle, there are many ways of building an ethanol industry, and many ways of utilizing its product. Therein lies the opportunities – and pitfalls – of an ethanol powered world.
If Sustainable Ethanol excels in any particular area, it is the exhaustive documentation of the various innovative and promising research trends and actual projects underway across the country. It is inspiring to read of the incredible projects underway to build an energy future based upon conservation and sustainable use of renewable energy resources.
In addition, Sustainable Ethanol implicitly recognizes the need for proactive public policy that encourages sustainability and conservation today. If we build an enormous ethanol industry with little regard to such considerations, it will be infinitely more difficult to retrofit ethanol plants in the future, when we probably will have little choice anyway.
Sustainable Ethanol provides an excellent overview of the ethanol industry, where it came from, where it is today, and where it is going. But it does not address one aspect of the ethanol industry that the Center for Rural Affairs considers critical to sustainability – local ownership. From the perspective of rural communities, the majority of economic benefits from the ethanol industry must be kept within rural communities if it is to be considered truly sustainable.
Research at Iowa State University has shown that farmer-owned ethanol cooperatives provide nearly twice as much economic benefit to the communities in which they are located as compared to corporate-owned facilities. If rural America is to truly benefit from ethanol, we must not let it turn into yet another extractive industry that thrives on the vibrant natural resources of our rural communities, yet delivers most of its benefit to far-off investors.
But that aspect of the ethanol industry is beyond the scope of Sustainable Ethanol. Jeff and Adrian Goettemoeller have written a great overview of the ethanol industry, and point the way toward a vibrant future for ethanol well utilized and produced in an environmentally sustainable manner. You can order their book on amazon.com or visit the Prairie Oak Publishing website, www.prairieoakpublishing.com.
Contact: Dan Owens, dano@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x 1017 with comments, questions, or for more information.
The energy sector and ethanol are the hottest topic in agriculture today. But the ethanol industry is still in its infancy, and questions abound. Are we capable of seizing this opportunity for rural America? Can we create an industry that is environmentally sustainable, economically viable, and beneficial to family farms and rural communities?
A chance email from a Center for Rural Affairs supporter led me to Jeff and Adrian Goettemoeller’s book Sustainable Ethanol (Prairie Oak Publishing, 2007), and they answer that question with a qualified “yes.” Ethanol offers an opportunity to displace a significant amount of gasoline, and it can do so in an environmentally friendly, energy efficient manner.
That may be contrary to some mainstream media accounts today, but that contradiction is a result of the way we are currently building our ethanol industry, not a reflection of what is actually possible. As the Goettemoeller brothers aptly chronicle, there are many ways of building an ethanol industry, and many ways of utilizing its product. Therein lies the opportunities – and pitfalls – of an ethanol powered world.
If Sustainable Ethanol excels in any particular area, it is the exhaustive documentation of the various innovative and promising research trends and actual projects underway across the country. It is inspiring to read of the incredible projects underway to build an energy future based upon conservation and sustainable use of renewable energy resources.
In addition, Sustainable Ethanol implicitly recognizes the need for proactive public policy that encourages sustainability and conservation today. If we build an enormous ethanol industry with little regard to such considerations, it will be infinitely more difficult to retrofit ethanol plants in the future, when we probably will have little choice anyway.
Sustainable Ethanol provides an excellent overview of the ethanol industry, where it came from, where it is today, and where it is going. But it does not address one aspect of the ethanol industry that the Center for Rural Affairs considers critical to sustainability – local ownership. From the perspective of rural communities, the majority of economic benefits from the ethanol industry must be kept within rural communities if it is to be considered truly sustainable.
Research at Iowa State University has shown that farmer-owned ethanol cooperatives provide nearly twice as much economic benefit to the communities in which they are located as compared to corporate-owned facilities. If rural America is to truly benefit from ethanol, we must not let it turn into yet another extractive industry that thrives on the vibrant natural resources of our rural communities, yet delivers most of its benefit to far-off investors.
But that aspect of the ethanol industry is beyond the scope of Sustainable Ethanol. Jeff and Adrian Goettemoeller have written a great overview of the ethanol industry, and point the way toward a vibrant future for ethanol well utilized and produced in an environmentally sustainable manner. You can order their book on amazon.com or visit the Prairie Oak Publishing website, www.prairieoakpublishing.com.
Contact: Dan Owens, dano@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x 1017 with comments, questions, or for more information.
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Ethanol economy (without ADM "containment")
Once that is done, 20 HP energy generation (that results in $1,500 / month in return) will allow banks to be comfortable in lending the money for the solar-home / car-convertors (whatever) that do this. With a car payment of $300, and a mortgage payment of $800 (possibly distributed automatically), that still leaves $300 for taxes, and insurance, and food. All this without being any burden on the State.The figures are ballpark, but I would expect the banks to adjust the levels to provide a better level of food / personal income for the kind of return this represents.
More than that; correct type of homes built / upgraded get more jobs, in the local area. Energy costs for manufacturing and transportation go down -and remain low-. Labor benefits improve for workers, because they don't need a job , absolutely, right away, and small business will have more money to move around.
Free home, security, transportation, food, and insurance,... and all a person has to do is sign a paper (and maybe get a vasectomy in the dangerously over populated parts of the world).
Ethonol hmmmm?
Is it not true that ethonol contributes twice as much greenhouse gases,as in carbon dioxide! Does not ethonol take away food producing cropland!Are not the poor people in other countries of the world losing food producing land so that their leaders can make money producing ethonol for the European Union!Is it not true that we are still hooked to the fossil fuel teat,even when we use ethonol,which is mixed with gasoline!Is it not true that ethonol production takes huge amounts of water for production!
Why ask why
Biofuel production can be done right
Local ownership of biofuel production
Thanks, Dan, for informing your readers about our book, Sustainable Ethanol. I want to add my support for local and farmer ownership of biofuel production. Organizations like the Center for Rural Affairs are vital in this regard. One of the ideas in our book that might help is the “Regional Biomass Processing Center.” Dr. Bruce Dale of Michigan State University proposes these facilities for initial processing and densification of cellulosic materials for biofuels, animal feed, nutraceuticals, composites, automobile parts, and more. Processing methods might include pyrolysis, gasification, or MSU’s Ammonium Fiber Expansion. These centers could produce an end product like pyrolysis oil (a heating oil substitute) or biogas (a natural gas replacement) or an easily transported intermediate destined for final processing into ethanol or biobutanol. Processing centers could be profitable on a small scale, facilitating ownership by small groups of farmers and local investors.
We have posted excerpts from Sustainable Ethanol at www.ethanolbook.com for those who are interested.
Building wealth at home!
Kudo's to the Center for recognizing that all the money that is being made by the ethanol boom is going to big corporations, and many of those overseas companies. The money is not staying in our communities, and we must build the wealth of our people to be able to offer jobs and reasons for our young people to stay. The startup I am involved in, Prairie Fire BioEnergy Cooperative, is a replacement fuel for natural gas and coal from biomass. We are producer owned, trying to keep the money locally to be used locally. Thanks for recognizing this problem.
A cellolosic biofuel that's already viable
What about Climate Change?
Thanks
Thanks to all who have posted comments and particularly to Jeffrey Goettemoeller for jumping in and answering some questions.
Ethanol plants do consume a considerable amount of water (about 3 gallons for every gallon of ethanol produced), but there are technologies that can reduce that and some of them are detailed in Sustainable Ethanol. While that water usage should not be ignored, of greater concern is the amount of water required to grow the feedstock. Corn in particular requires huge amounts of water to grow, and that is a major concern in irrigation country. Far more water is used to irrigate corn than is used for ethanol production. Of course, this could also become a problem with cellulosic ethanol, although many cellulosic crops require much less water than corn. It's all about the choices we make.
The potential impacts on global warming from biofuels must be considered. The research recently released is disturbing to say the least, and I'm sure further research is forthcoming. The Center for Rural Affairs has done some on farm research regarding best practices for carbon capture on farm land (cover crops, organic production) but much more is needed.
Unfortunately, millions of acres are exiting the Conservation Reserve Program and going back into production, and apparently millions of acres are going into production internationally as well. This presents real challenges, and right now it appears a real discussion on the costs and benefits of widespread biofuels use is desperately needed. It is increasingly obvious that switching to biofuels is not a fantastic panacea for the world's environmental and energy problems. We hope to be a part of that debate.
Lastly, I would note one potential area of conflict. One of the scientists on the global warming studies was quoted in the New York Times as saying we needed to move to cellulosic ethanol utilizing agricultural waste products as feedstock as quickly as possible. I'm inclined to agree with that. However, "waste" implies extremely low monetary value, and not many farmers will be happy to see $5 corn replaced by cheaper-than-dirt wood chips or sugarcane stalks. Just something to keep in mind- the biggest boosters for ethanol today are usually midwesterners, and that might not be the case down the road. Not many of the pilot cellulosic plants are being built in the Corn Belt, and it is hard to imagine prime Iowa farmland being converted to switchgrass production.
Overall, it will be very difficult for decent public policy to keep up with market developments in the biofuels arena (outside of the policy that mandates or incentivizes their use). Already we see many unintended consequences of biofuels production that have prompted little in the way of public policy efforts to mitigate the negative consequences. It will require a lot of work on everyone's part to make biofuels an economic and environmental success story. A lot. Thanks for all your help.
That is so interesting....
Many farmers are already
Ethanol sounds like a good
There should be a more affordable alternative.
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