Image source: Clipart.comEditor's note: We're pleased to publish this post from the Network for New Energy Choices, an organization that "promotes safe, clean, and environmentally responsible energy options. We advocate for energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy as the solutions to our energy crisis and we work to transform the public consciousness about the way we produce, distribute and consume energy." Large-scale ethanol production, at least from current feedstocks, has become increasingly controversial in the US, and we look forward to NNEC's report, as well as responses to it.

There is a television commercial being played during primetime these days that goes a little something like this. We see a great expanse of American prairie land, filled with crowded stalks of corn and possibility. Cutting through this vast green space is one solitary highway. After just a beat, to let us really savor this slice of Americana, a curious thing happens: THE KERNELS START TO POP OFF THE STALKS!

Now littered on the road the seeds then transform into automobiles. But not just any automobiles. Oh, no. E85 consuming automobiles! HO!

It is as if The Cougar himself worked on this 30 second spot.

Big Auto (the big three automakers: Ford, GM, Chrysler) has failed to pay proper attention to market research that drivers are concerned about the volatile price of fuel. Instead, they continued to pump out huge, and hugely inefficient, automobiles.

If we examine GM's E85 fleet, a group of cars that can run on a mixture of gasoline and up-to 85% ethanol, we notice some pretty week fuel efficiency standards. City average less than 11 miles per gallon and Highway less than 15. (See the fleet averages here)

So rather than fix the real problem, an inefficient fleet of cars, the auto industry has decided to paint the problem green by hoping Americans will swallow the ethanol pill.

But it is a dangerous pill to swallow.

This is why The Network for New Energy Choices, along with Food & Water Watch and Vermont Law School has put together The Rush to Ethanol: Not all Biofuels are Created Equal

Here are some of the issues covered in the report:

• Not all biofuels are equal. Corn – now used to produce 95 percent of U.S. ethanol and the only ethanol feedstock prepared to capitalize on refinery subsidies in the Farm Bill – is the least sustainable biofuel feedstock of all raw materials commonly used. Cellulosic ethanol, while not yet ready for market, has more favorable energy ratios than corn and presents more room for productivity gains, making it appealing to investors, farmers, and refiners.
• The capacity of corn ethanol to offset U.S. fossil fuel use is extremely limited. Dedicating the entire U.S. corn crop to ethanol production would only offset a small percentage of gasoline demand. Conversely, modest increases in auto fuel efficiency standards, such as those passed by the Senate last month could cut petroleum consumption by more than all alternative fuels and replacement fuels combined.
• Ethanol is not the solution to revitalizing rural America. While higher commodity prices and cooperatively owned ethanol refineries could be a boon to independent farmers, without safeguards, ethanol industry growth could further concentrate agribusiness, draining the economic health of rural communities.
• The report examines the potential impacts of both cellulosic ethanol, which shows much more promise of replacing fossil fuels with fewer negative environmental and economic implications, and corn ethanol on the world food supply, efforts to combat global warming, the need for massive transportation reform.

The Rush to Ethanol will be released July 18th 2007