Reality Pricks Corn Ethanol's Bubble

Miller-McUne.com
By: Doug Struck August 06, 2009 05:00 AM (PDT)

Cost and carbon have chopped down the high hopes America's Midwest had for growing the nation off climate-changing foreign oil.

While corn may not be the answer, biologically derived fuels remain the holy grail for many researchers. In Part II ("Surely There's Some Flora Out There to Fuel My Car"), Doug Struck looks at efforts ranging from other cellulosic ethanol options to pond scum.

The vision of vast golden fields of corn supplying the fuel for our cars, once the dream of environmentalists and farmers, is disappearing, its allure dimmed by science and reality.

Corn-based ethanol was seen as such an ideal solution for our transportation fuel that Congress leaped to write it into law. In a swoon over ethanol in 2007, Congress mandated a fivefold increase in biofuels — 42 percent of it from corn — in 15 years.

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