The Curse of Biofuels

Last year, Congress passed an energy bill that phases out incandescent light bulbs replacing them with harmful fluorescent types, did not address the issue of ANWR drilling and increased the use of ethanol. In short, it was pork-laden bill that favors the agriculture industry under the guise of environmentalism and global warming elimination.

As usual, the ill-advised, feel-good bill has had a disastrous effect on the poorer nations of the world and is damaging economies throughout the world:

The price of grains - corn, wheat and rice - has been rising since 2005 under pressure from farmers who would rather plant crops for biofuels than for food; the lack of technological breakthroughs in crop yields; and drought and disease.

The sharpest increase has been this year, with the price of Thai rice, a world benchmark, nearly doubling since January, to $760 per metric ton. Some analysts expect that price to reach $1,000 in the next three months.

Don't buy the technological breakthrough or drought and disease mumbo-jumbo, science has made great strides in combating the diseases and the technological breakthroughs in crop yields could easily be attained but are held up by...you guessed it, environmental do-gooders who despise genetically modified agriculture. No, the primary reason that prices are through the roof is because farmers are making a premium growing crops that can be turned into biofuels.

Put simply, biofuels are expensive to distill, damage engines and we could never grow enough to even make a dent in our dependence on foreign oil as shown quite clearly by the current price (although the high price is also a result of speculation, which I discussed here) and diesel prices. The increase in usage of biofuel is nothing more than a fat present to the large agricultural firms, not the family farmers thought of fondly in American lore.

While the essay quite clearly shows the result of grain shortages in poorer nations, it's doesn't delve as deeply into the effects their use has on Americans. The price of beef, pork and fowl is a direct result of using corn to make a product that is a horrible fuel and does nothing to help the environment.

So let's recap: the US Congress passed and the President signed an energy bill that pushes for increased use of biofuels. As a result, more corn is planted for fuel use and less for human and animal consumption. The ethanol is expensive and does nothing to reduce oil demand and has been shown to harm some internal combustion engines. The environmental impact of manufacturing ethanol is large and does not offset the environmental benefits and, finally, people throughout the world are suffering and dying for no good reason.

All of that misery for no "green" benefit and a whole bunch of downside. As is typical with any liberal plan, it tends to do the exact opposite of what was intended.