We rebut a baker’s dozen of dubious claims about ethanol
It’s very difficult to have a calm discussion about ethanol as a fuel. The loudest voices in the room usually belong to someone with a stake in ethanol’s success or failure: farmers, ethanol producers, and oil companies or their enablers who view any alternative fuel as an existential threat.
Others are happy to charge ahead with strong opinions about ethanol, particularly corn-based ethanol, even though they have a tenuous command of the facts. Or worse, their views are corrupted by willful misinformation disseminated on behalf of the self-interested. Like the shadowy campaign we noted in our 2014 documentary PUMP:
Lies are easy, and profitable. Digging out the truth is hard, and painstaking, requiring a strong back and plenty of patience.
We sifted through the garbage pile of falsehood to locate some of the most persistently pernicious rumors and outright lies about ethanol. We narrowed the multitude of prevarications to a 13. We conducted extensive research on the subject, complementing that with input from our own in-house experts. Then we compiled the “claims” and realities into a handy fact sheet.
Read, digest, discuss, share with friends and unruly relatives. And tell us what we missed.
Related posts:
- Not just corn: 10 homegrown feedstocks for ethanol
- Marc Rauch bats down ‘corrosive’ argument on ethanol
- Iowa has a big batch of cellulosic ethanol. California’s buying
- Facts, free fill-ups win over bikers at Sturgis
- Cellulosic ethanol has finally arrived
How about methanol????
Yes! We’re in favor of all fuels that can be readily substituted for gasoline. But there’s currently no fuel standard for methanol, and it’s not being produced at scale. A few years away. We have to use the fuels that are being made in large quantities now while we work on next-generation replacements.