Biofuel Furor

Deck: 

Will power plants get caught in ethanol’s food fight?

Fortnightly Magazine - August 2008
This full article is only accessible by current license holders. Please login to view the full content.
Don't have a license yet? Click here to sign up for Public Utilities Fortnightly, and gain access to the entire Fortnightly article database online.

The debate over food vs. fuel never has been louder. Using corn to make the biofuel ethanol is perhaps the best known point of argument. Everyone is asking: Should the United States require a certain percentage of U.S. corn crops be turned into fuel in the face of global food shortages and exorbitant food prices? And what are the effects of diverting food croplands into producing fuel? About one quarter of all corn produced in the United States last year went for ethanol production. While U.S. government studies claim biofuel demand accounts for only 3 percent of the global increase in food prices, a recent World Bank study suggests a far greater correlation—as much as 75 percent (see “Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis,” The Guardian, July 4, 2008).

But the food-vs.-fuel dispute might affect the electric power industry too.

This full article is only accessible by current license holders. Please login to view the full content.
Don't have a license yet? Click here to sign up for Public Utilities Fortnightly, and gain access to the entire Fortnightly article database online.