When Good Food Goes Bad - Final Draft

Good food equals a good time, right? Society equates everything to food. The theater experience is not the same without popcorn and neither is thanksgiving without Grandma’s corn pudding. Almost everything consumed today is either made from corn or it is a direct result of corn. For instance, beef, chicken, and farmed fish are all fed corn. If the statement is true that you are what you eat, then people are walking kernels of corn. Because of the threat of global warming, scientists are now looking at corn in a different light. How about turning corn into fuel? Not only will people be walking corn kernels, but their mode of transportation will be turned into one as well. And why not let the good times roll right into the vehicle and out of the pocketbook? Producing corn fuel sounds good on paper; however it is not as inexpensive as people would think. Although labeled an alternative to traditional fuel, using corn as fuel will cause financial woes because corn is raising the price of food, processing corn into ethanol is very expensive, and cars receive less miles per gallon which means more fill-ups.

It is no secret that the price of corn is rising. Mercer (2007) has reported that “meat and dairy prices have increased since late summer 2006 – 6.7 percent for ground beef, 6.9 percent for chicken breasts, and a painful 26 percent for whole milk.” Mercer (2007) goes on to say that Tyson, one of the largest meat processors, has already claimed to raise the price of their meat to pass on the upward rising price of corn. Right now, close to 80% of corn production is sold to meat processors. So, if all the corn meant for them is turned into ethanol for fuel, it not only affects the United States but also third world countries who can only afford to buy corn. (Fleischauer, 2006) This does not just affect people food, but dog and cat food prices have soared as well. A thirty pound bag of dog food has gone up as much as eight to ten dollars per bag.

The processing of corn into ethanol is almost identical to a brewery. Corn is first brought to a plant where they begin a milling process to pull the sugars out of the corn. The dry corn is put through a grinder which grinds it into fine corn meal. The next step is to add water and make it into a mash just like distilleries do with the barley to make beer. Once certain chemicals have been added, the mash is heated up to a high temperature to kill bacteria. Next the mash is transferred to a fermenting tank and yeast is added. Yeast is very important for helping pull the sugars out. It takes about two days for the fermenting process to finish and afterwards the liquid is separated in the distillery. The liquid can be pulled apart into corn syrup and ethanol. The ethanol is then further refined to produce close to 100% pure alcohol.(RFA, 2007) According to www.howstuffworks.com, it takes about 26 pounds of corn to make 1 gallon of ethanol. This site also says that because of the amount of work that goes into making corn into ethanol, the price per gallon before the distilling process begins is usually around $1.05 per gallon. (howstuffworks.com, 2001) There is also not enough corn to produce the amount of fuel needed to satisfy everyone’s needs. Right now, most of the corn that is grown is for consumption with only a small portion given for ethanol fuel. There really are not enough acres of land to plant the corn needed to produce ethanol. Ecologist David Pimentel also argues that it takes more energy to make the corn into ethanol than the actual energy that ethanol produces. (Lang 2005)

According to Assistant Professor Kristala Jones Prather of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ethanol is not as efficient as gasoline. She states, “Ethanol has only 70 percent of the energy density of gasoline, making it less efficient, and it’s tendency to absorb water makes corrosion a concern for the current U.S. petroleum storage and distribution network.” (Trafton, 2007) A study done in 2001 on howstuffworks.com showcased a Toyota Camry, which runs on 30 miles to the gallon. When using ethanol, the same car only ran 20 miles to the gallon. (howstuffworks.com, 2001) This means that while ethanol might be cheaper at the pump, it is more expensive when looking at the big picture because gasoline will go farther.

The thought of using ethanol is appealing because it is a cleaner fuel and it is friendlier to the environment. However, corn is not the most efficient source to use and further research needs to be done to find a source that will not only be environmentally friendly, but will be cheaper than our current gas prices. Part of the point of saving the environment is so that it can be enjoyed in the future. How can we enjoy our clean environment if we have spent all our money on corn fuel to do anything fun? The whole point of alternative fuel is to discover a product that is not only great for the environment but also inexpensive.


References

Lang, S.S., (2005). Cornell ecologist’s study finds that producing ethanol and bio diesel
from corn and other crops is not worth the energy. Cornell University news Service.
Retrieved October 17, 2007 from www.news.cornell.edu/stories /July05/
ethanol.toocostly.ssl.html

Morrison, D. (2006). Ethanol fuel presents a corn-undrum. University of Minnesota UMN
News. Retrieved October 17, 2007 from www1.umn.edu/umnnews/Feature_Stories
/Ethanol_fuel_presents_a_cornundrum.html

Fleischauer, E. (2006). Is corn ethanol a viable fuel? Experts disagree. The Decature
Daily News. Retrieved on October 17, 2007 from www.decaturedaily.com/
decaturedaily/news/060918/ethanol.shtml

Associated Press (2005). Corn powered fuel catching on. CBS News. Retrieved on
October 17, 2007 from cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/28/tech/printable704947.shtml
CBS (2006). The ethanol solution. CBS News. Retrieved on October 17, 2007 from
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/04/60minuutes/printable1588659.shtml

www.howstuffworks.com. (2001) How much corn would I need in order to produce
enough ethanol fuel to drive my car across the country? www.howstuffworks.com
Retrieved on October 17, 2007 from www.howstuffworks.com/question707.htm

Trafton, A. (2007, February 8). MIT experts forsee sustainable ethanol production.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology News Office. Retrieved on October 17, 2007
from web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/print/biofuels-print.html

Renewable Fuel Association. (2007). How Ethanol is Made. Retrieved on October 24, 2007 from http://www.ethanolrfa.org/resource/made/