For a mix of reasons, the world's largest energy consumers have joined the biofuel revolution. With fortunes already invested, they are now discovering that it's not the clear winner it once seemed to be. Would you be surprised to learn that God is a factor in whether it succeeds?
by Cecil E. Maranville
Amidst skyrocketing crude oil prices and a populist political fervor to "go green," many nations have launched into huge biofuel production programs. That includes the energy consuming giants of the United States, the European Union, Japan and China.
Initially, the idea of replacing oil with biofuels looked rosy, a win-win proposition. But many problems have surfaced, including higher than anticipated costs, less than anticipated energy efficiency and more complicated than thought distribution challenges. David Pimentel, a Cornell University professor who has studied biofuels for 20 years, says when you take into consideration the added fossil fuel used to manufacture fertilizers and herbicides needed to grow corn (the main source of U.S. ethanol), it actually takes more fossil fuel to produce ethanol than it replaces in the gas tank.
Moreover, ethanol production requires a great deal of water, a resource in shorter and shorter supply worldwide.
"Ethanol companies [in the United States] are near break-even at best," says Ron Oster, a principal at Broadpoint Capital Inc. in Albany, New York ("Ethanol Stalls Out for Investors," The Baltimore Sun, Nov. 20, 2007).
Yet the United States and the European Union continue to surge forward with biofuel plans. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that the federal government currently has 20 laws and incentives to boost ethanol use; 49 states offer additional subsidies and supports. The EU has mandated that 10 percent of all fuels must come from ethanol by 2010.
