Corn

As most people know by now, the ethanol fuel mandate by the Bush administration has been a complete failure. The price of a gallon of gas is through the roof for a number of reasons, and it seems uncertain whether ethanol is part of the problem or not, but the stuff wouldn't save me any money if it were free. In addition to the cost of fuel, the cost of food has skyrocketed, no doubt largely because so many fields are being used to produce corn for ethanol. This post will detail these irritations. I know a lot of this might bore some people, but it's useful knowledge, so pay bear with me.

Since I became the sole driver of my car, I've kept close track of my gas mileage, with the exception of maybe one or two tanks. I'm a little anal about it. I don't settle for a rough estimate. I like to see my mileage in comparison with the last tank, down to the 100th's place, so I always use a calculator to figure it out. This allows me to see, for instance, if mid-grade or premium gas actually saves me money by making my vehicle more efficient (it does), as well as test certain driving styles and vehicle modifications. It used to be that, assuming I wasn't racing anyone or pulling Jeeps out of ditches, my Outback always got 30-31 miles per gallon on regular gas. Sometimes I could squeeze a little more out of mid-grade or premium, but it never made much of a difference. It never seems to matter, even today, whether I'm driving in the city, on the highway, or something in-between. Apparently, the slower speeds and lower wind resistance of the city balance out the stop-go traffic pattern. But here's the thing. Since the addition of 10% ethanol to all gasoline, my mileage on regular gas has decreased to 25 MPG. On mid-grade, I get 27. I have not tested premium lately, so I can't comment on its effects yet.

This seems fairly counterintuitive. We've changed 10% of our fuel makeup, and my mileage has decreased by roughly 15%. How is this possible? Even if ethanol ran straight through the combustion cycle without participating, it should only decrease power and mileage by 10%, normal logic dictates. So, my engine must not like it. It must be causing an O₂ sensor send a signal to the computer, telling it to enrich the mix, thereby increasing fuel consumption and pollution from unburned fuel. It actually makes a great deal of sense. Ethanol is a cleaner fuel than gasoline. Cleaner exhaust hitting the front O₂ sensor tells the computer that the mix is lean, and it sends more fuel to the rescue. So, essentially, the problem is that modern computer-controlled engines that are not designed to run ethanol do not run well on ethanol. When I put it like that, suddenly it makes a lot more sense. Coincidentally, this shows that old, mechanically-controlled vehicles should handle ethanol well, since they don't have oxygen sensors.

Why doesn't the government consult me on these things? Seriously, I saw this coming. Before the switch, I tried an experiment. I had heard something about propanol being a better fuel than gas in a gasoline engine, so I poured a quart of propanol (similar combustion properties to ethanol) into my tank and observed the results. It may not seem like enough to matter, but like I said, I take meticulous notes on my mileage, and I was able to calculate that my engine did not use the propanol. So, as a tinkerer, I knew already in 2004 what it would take the country a few years to figure out.

Browsing some news articles, there's some horrendously inaccurate information and, should I say, propaganda, out there. According to DomesticFuel.com, gas at $3.25 with a 10% ethanol blend would otherwise be $3.70. How is this possible? By my calculations, even if ethanol were free, it would only account for a 36 cent difference. There is, of course, the role that supply and demand plays, but that must be an inaccurate calculation as well, given the above calculation that most vehicles are actually using more gas now.

Now we move to the obvious issue of food cost. Millions of acres of American farmland have been switched to corn from other crops due to generous government subsidies rewarding this act. Corn used for ethanol production drives up the cost of corn for uses in food, including feed for livestock as well as high fructose corn syrup, which is a major ingredient in virtually every manufactured food item we consume. There are, of course, other factors governing the cost of food. There is high international demand for American food exports (including corn), and the decreased value of the US dollar has certainly played a role, but ethanol production seems to be the biggest problem that builds on itself as far as food cost goes. We use gasoline and diesel to fuel the equipment that harvests the corn, which we then ferment and distill to make ethanol, actually using more energy to produce that fuel than can be gotten out of it. The ethanol is then pumped into farm equipment again as 10% of its fuel, likely decreasing the efficiency of the equipment, and further increasing the cost of farming corn. Then, the use of corn for ethanol both increases demand for corn and reduces the supply of other crops, driving up the price of everything.

Remember those subsidies I was talking about? Yeah, they're getting us there, too. Subsidies like this one always mean that the taxpayers are getting screwed out of money that could otherwise be used to cut taxes, reduce the national debt, or fund something useful like schools or birth control for the poor or the development of power from nuclear fusion. On top of the $3.49 you're paying for a gallon of gas, we're all paying considerably more because of these subsidies.

There is one light spot I've found in this debacle, though. As mentioned before, high fructose corn syrup is in practically every food item we consume. It's not good for us. Our bodies don't metabolize it well, and it's likely a major contributor to our obesity issue. If corn keeps getting more expensive, it may become cost-effective again for food companies to use sucrose (common sugar) in their recipes. So, at least when we're all out of money and have no choice but to bike to work, we'll be healthy enough to do it. Sadly, I'm not even convinced that this will happen. The reason we've got corn syrup in everything we eat is the same reason we've got ethanol from corn in our gas. The corn industry has a powerful lobby in the US government, and it's going to be hard to free ourselves from its stranglehold.

I hate to be so bitter. Maybe I need to cool down. If anyone needs me, I'll be planting a garden and distilling the ethanol out of my gas.