This is Energy Independence?
The Man of the House shared an article with me that he found in the March 27 issue of the Financial Times. The article talks about America’s longing to become energy independent by using ethanol for fuel. Ethanol is made from corn. What a perfect plan. We’ll just grow our own fuel. I love the idea! Who wouldn’t?
But it turns out there’s a problem. Corn needs fertilizer. As we grow more corn we need more fertilizer. It turns out that we’re not making enough for our own country’s needs. So guess where we’re getting the fertilizer, the fertilizer to grow the corn so that we can be energy independent? We’re getting it from countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Yes, the same people that sold us oil are now selling us nitrogen-based fertilizer. How’s that for ironic?
Maybe we should just all ride our bikes.
Back here in Iowa we have a new twist on this story – one of the urgencies for building a coal power plants is to power all the ethanol plants! How’s that for clean energy! Actually, if the new congressional standards to have 15% of gasoline come from ethanol, would require 40% of the current acreage used to grow corn. That’s just for 15% of the gasoline burned. What do you think that will do to food prices? Stay Tuned!