The Competitive Profit Of The Ethanol Industry

Switching from the expensive oil to alternative fuels has moved from a dream to reality. Today, there are dozens of alternatives to oil that are currently available us to be used. One alternative to oil that is being used more today is ethanol. Derived from plant materials, ethanol can be a cheaper, cleaner alternative to the gasoline that our vehicles run off. When going to gas pumps, one will notice that much of the gasoline is up to 10 percent of ethanol. According to our text, most ethanol in the U.S. is made from corn, yet ethanol can be made from any biomes-- including garbage. (Turk & Bensel, 2011)

d) It led to less fuel being used than the amount that maximizes consumer surplus.

Mankind has relied on non-renewable resources for thousands of years, and only recently has it started to take its toll on the environment. Chemists have been experimenting with different types of fuels and adding to gasoline to make it more efficient. This is when ethanol made its debut into the fuel industry, as an additive to gasoline. Ethanol is put into gas as a combatant against water, which can find its way into fuel tanks of vehicles. It reduces the effect that this water has on the health of the vehicle, and as a result increases gas mileage, and also increases the amount of complete combustion. Ethanol consumption has severe drawbacks pertaining to its effect on the environment. Production of ethanol increases the formation of

The higher price of ethanol in many areas is made worse by ethanol’s second disadvantage that it, regardless of the price you pay for it, contains less fuel efficient energy than gasoline. In short, this means cars won’t travel as far on a tank of gas, and most cars fuel economy will decrease by 20-30 percent. This is very

Prior to the decline of fuel prices, I had always thought there was not enough being done here in American to contribute to the production of oil. Until now, fuel prices were astronomical. Americans were having to plan out their route and car pool due to excessive prices. Unnecessary trips was not an option.

The demand of gasoline has increased steadily over the last twenty years. In 1981 the U.S. averaged 6.5 million barrels of gasoline consumption per day. By comparison, in 2004 the U.S. averaged 9.2 million barrels of gasoline consumption per day. For most of this time period, gas prices stayed relatively the same. This is because the U.S. refineries increased their production to meet the demand and maintain the equilibrium price. Also during this same time period worldwide demand for crude oil increased 27%. Crude oil producers also increased their production to meet the demand keeping prices the same.

As the revenue of developing countries goes up, the more meat and dairy they will eat. Therefore, the more crops needed to feed livestock. This also cuts down of the crops that can go towards food for the people. Since the demand for corn increases exponentially because of the demand for food and ethanol, the price of corn rises accordingly. Not only does the price of corn rise, but also anything that involves corn will rise. Anything from snacks, cereals, and even meat will experience a increase in cost just because the input costs of corn. In addition, ethanol contains less energy than oil, so this hurts the gas mileage of vehicles causing costumers to have to fill up their vehicles more

Drivers realize that the price of gas is tied to the market value of crude oil, and has a direct impact to their daily commutes, errands, and vacations. However the reality is that the price of fuel has implications much grater than most consumers realize. Fuel prices affect nearly everything we purchase. For example, the price of farm commodities and food increase because farmers pay more for the fuel for their farm equipment and trucking firms pay more for fuel to get the commodities to market. These shipping “fuel surcharges” impact all goods

In today’s society, many countries are vigorously experimenting with different products and resources in order to find new forms of energy. In America for example, there are many people debating on whether the production of corn ethanol should be expanded or reduced. Considering the arguments present in Passage A, Passage B, and the graphic, America should reduce the production of corn ethanol.

The second value proposition for a RIN would be if the obligation exceeds the ability to place the product in the market. This is not the case today as 90% of the fuel in the US continues to be gasoline which could be blended with ethanol. The problem is that the petroleum industry simply chooses not to blend above 10% ethanol volume in gasoline. A 15% ethanol blend, or E15, is a legal fuel approved by EPA for approximately 75% of the cars on the road today and could easily be offered to consumers. In addition, there are 14 million flex fuel vehicles (FFVs) on the road today that can use up to 85% ethanol. Even a modest increase in market penetration of E85 would absorb more ethanol than is required under the entire RFS program, thus relegating RINs to worthless status.” Due to the large profit the petroleum industry was making and the effect it had on the credibility of RFS, the oil industry decided not to blend ethanol in volumes above 10 percent. As a result, the price of RINs was increased significantly.

The author expresses some reasons which indicate that Ethanol is not an appropriate replacement for gasoline. The lecturer, however, refutes the claim since he believes that the arguments are not persuading.

      Since fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide as a by-product, which promotes plant growth, they are, in reality, the only truly “green” source of energy that human beings use at the present time.  Replacing gasoline with ethanol will therefore not only reduce the amount of food that is available for humans; it will also reduce the amount of food that is available for plants.  That is, food that is turned into ethanol is not be available for human consumption and if ethanol does, in fact, reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air then there will be less food available for plant consumption.  Wouldn't it therefore be wise to rethink this policy and practice?

Ethanol fuel has many positive features as an alternative to the use of liquid fuel. First, ethanol is renewable. A relatively safe fuel would show very few engine changes. Second, its energy density is much higher than with some of the other alternative fuels, such as methanol, which means there would be less volume required to go the same distance. With the third benefit of ethanol, it would be able to improve much of the agricultural economies by providing farmers with stable market crops, such as maize and sugar beets, and with

This essay will first discuss the advantages of using corn ethanol as the main source of fuel in the future, such as the renewable features of corn itself, and the benefits of using corn ethanol as an additive of gasoline instead of using gasoline alone. However, everything has its strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, the second part of the essay will discuss some of the weaknesses in applying the fuel into practical usage. For example, corn ethanol currently encounters technical limitations serving itself as a standalone fuel, meaning that corn ethanol can only function by combining itself with a certain amount of gasoline, while gasoline is a kind of fossil fuel. Lastly, this essay will conduct a comparison with other renewable resources in the world, including solar power, other biofuels, and hydrogen fuel.

What environmental benefits do we receive form an influx in ethanol as an alternative fuel? First let’s look