reply to post by hawkiye
You repeat the lie that ethanol could not survive without subsidies.
Link to where I said that? Quote me please...
I did not misunderstand subsidies apparently you do not even know what the term means.
If corn ethanol is yielding 0.9:1 energy return it has to be subsidized, yes/no?
I didn't say it was, I said much of the data and much of the practice were offering those returns. However, I also stated that current returns are
1.5:1, which requires no subsidy.
Anyway, your point is quite moot, because the subsidy for corn being lifted (which doesn't actually fully go away until december this year) is a win
for everyone. The industry was an abysmal failure and we won't see the repercussions for time to come.
What the industry doesn’t want to see, however, is an end to a separate tax credit for ethanol made not from corn but non-foodstuffs like
switchgrass, wood chips and even the leaves and stalks of corn.
Known as cellulosic ethanol,...
The industry earlier this month asked Congress to extend that credit, set to expire on Dec. 31. 2012, for five years but lawmakers did not act before
recessing last week.
*
Ethanol producers in Brazil have seen a tariff on their product of
$0.54/gallon
*
Now that it's gone, (and if it stays gone) where do you see the corn-ethanol industry in the US going?
Unfortunately, it has to stay around by law:
By law, 13 billion gallons of biofuel must be produced in the US this year. The country's Renewable
Fuel Standard, as the law is known, was designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on imported oil.
, but if it's not profitable
(no subsidies) than it is only going to increase food costs for the producers to make up for the lost
revenue.
*
And, as I said before, if the net-energy returns are below 0.9:1 or less, than it is technically getting subsidized no matter what (in a energy
sense). Technically, it will be subsidized by the purchase of the oil products used to grow it.
So, I never said it couldn't survive without subsidies. And because it's mandated by law to exist, the chances are slim of that happening. But without
that law, I wouldn't hold my breath on the industry staying afloat. Now, I've sort of said it... Maybe you will quote me on that because I didn't say
anything in that regard earlier.
edit on 3-11-2012 by boncho because: (no reason given)
