Ames (September 26, 2007) - Limited oil supplies, perceived environmental benefits and powerful farmers lobbyists have driven the growth of corn bio-ethanol through the roof in the last few years. More than 100 ethanol producing plants based on the low-capital, fast growing dry-grind ethanol technology, propel the growth rate of this industry way over 10% with estimated more than 5 billion gallon of bio-ethanol More farmers have switched from soy to corn in order to capture this business boom. Unfortunately, many inconvenient facts remain unmentioned or even hidden. First of all, without the federal subsidies, no corn ethanol producing plants can survive economically. Secondly, the increase use of corn for bio-ethanol has result in noticeable increase in corn-related food products like corn syrup etc. More significantly, the environmental benefits associated with the corn bio-ethanol are seriously challenged. In order to produce one gallon of corn bio-ethanol, four to six gallons of fresh water are needed. At the same time, about 6.4 pounds of carbon dioxide are generated and in most cases released in the air per one gallon of corn bio-ethanol produced.
