"U.S. legislation in 2007 mandated that a growing quantity of 'renewable' biofuels be mixed with gasoline—9 billion gallons in 2008, climbing to 36 billion gallons by 2022. Last year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, responsible for implementing the law, demanded fuel companies mix in 14 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol and 2.75 billion gallons of so-called advanced biofuels, which are usually manufactured using scrap wood or corn husks."
http://www.businessweek.com/articles...slation-passes
Downsides—
❀ Incentivize farmers to take marginal land into corn production increasing erosion damage
❀ Mandatory ethanol production and use drives food and feed prices through the roof
❀ Harms lawnmowers and other small engines
❀ Car Manufacturers refuse to warranty against 20% ethanol fuel damage (some @15%) other than E85 certified vehicles
❀ Increased pesticide broadcast
❀ Depending on which assessment consulted, marginal whether more BTUs produced or used to bring to market
❀ Corn-based ethanol requires 2,500 to 29,000 gallons of fresh water per million Btu of energy – compared to at most 6.0 gallons of fresh or brackish water per million Btu of energy produced via fracking
❀ Has increased marine-life killing algae blooms in Gulf Of Mexico from nitrogen fertilizer runoff
❀ Across its life cycle, ethanol production and use releases more carbon dioxide per gallon than gasoline (if you care about that sort of thing)
❀ Artificially increases consumer cost of blended fuel
Upsides—
√ Increases farmer income
√ Increases wholesale ethanol manufacturer revenue (think Archer Daniels Midland)
√ Increases politicians' vote totals in farm states
http://townhall.com/columnists/pauld...hanol-n1863752
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/secret...--finance.html
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethan..._United_States