They Call It Corn, We Call It Pollution

Katherine Mangu-Ward | September 26, 2006

CEI has a new paper out on why the ethanol solution to global warming and high fuel costs may be too good to be true:

Even without ethanol, the world is facing a clash between food and forests. Food and feed demands on farmlands will more than double by 2050. Unfortunately, the American public does not yet understand the massive land requirements of U.S. corn ethanol nor the unique conditions that have allowed sugar cane ethanol to make a modest energy contribution in Brazil.

The United States might well have to clear an additional 50 million acres of forest--or more--to produce economically significant amounts of liquid transport fuels.

From the group that brought us the amazing (and totally accurate) slogan "Carbon dioxide: They call it pollution. We call it life."

Read a few more thoughts about booze-fueled cars and the promise of ethanol here and here.