Ford was a man ahead of his time but his prediction holds true today: with fossil fuels getting dirtier, costlier and more difficult to extract, now is the time to expand the production and consumption of renewable fuels such as ethanol.
The timing could not be more perfect: technological innovations and advancements in farming prove that domestic ethanol is no longer a “someday” fuel. It is here now and it is more energy efficient, less water intensive, and more environmentally friendly than ever before.
A report released by the USDA in June shows that today’s ethanol has a more than 2 to1 net energy gain. For every British thermal unit (Btu) of energy required in making ethanol, 2.3 Btus of energy are produced, a significant increase from the 1.76 Btus produced in 2004.
Similarly, a University of Illinois-Chicago study found that the amount of energy needed to produce a gallon of ethanol has decreased by an average of 30 percent within the past decade.
Due to efforts by ethanol producers to recycle and conserve our natural resources, ethanol production has become less water intensive as well. The Center for Transportation Research, Argonne National Laboratory, found that water use in ethanol production has declined by 26.6 percent and many ethanol plants across the country are continuing to see that number improve.
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These studies underscore what America’s ethanol supporters have known all along—today’s modern ethanol plants are cleaner and more efficient than ever and there is nearly limitless potential to advance these efficiencies.
For these improvements to be realized, however, we need to eliminate the barriers that stunt the growth of alternative fuels in the marketplace and draw fresh investment into cellulosic ethanol. These barriers include the regulatory cap on the amount of ethanol blended in our fuel and insufficient investment in our nation’s fuel-delivery infrastructure.
The USDA correctly identified these roadblocks in its 2010 biofuels roadmap which details the investments and technology the United States needs to further develop the domestic ethanol industry. Three solutions suggested in the report include rapid expansion of blender pumps and flex-fuel vehicles, and the approval of a higher blend of ethanol in conventional gasoline—all solutions maintained by Growth Energy.
The roadmap makes it clear: continued innovation in the development and deployment of the needed technologies to bring ethanol to market will help spur job growth, facilitate business development, increase our energy independence and pave the way for the commercialization of next generation alternative fuels to help break our nation’s addiction to oil.
Based on what we know about America’s inventiveness, I think it is safe to assume that the tremendous sustainability advances made by the ethanol industry are merely the beginning, and a continued investment in the ethanol industry will help us realize Ford’s prophecy by “substituting” every barrel of oil with a barrel of clean, renewable fuel.
Tom Buis is CEO of Growth Energy. He can be reached at tbuis@growthenergy.org or (202) 545-4000.