The case for cane-based ethanol
Not all ethanol is created equal, says Alexandre Marinis in Bloomberg, and “there’s a world of difference” between the corn-based fuel made in the U.S. and its sugar-cane-based cousin from Brazil. Let’s call them “ethacorn” and “ethacane.” Ethacorn causes significantly greater “negative economic, environmental, and social problems” than ethacane. And it is contributing to the spike in food prices, while ethacane isn’t. Yet unfairly, “both are being thrown into the same pinata to get hammered.” Cane-based ethanol produces much more energy per unit than ethacorn, and it’s “twice as productive” to grow. Perhaps if the U.S. ever drops its protectionist 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on ethacane, we’ll “finally” have “a real substitute for oil.”
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