MSU Professor: Corn Ethanol Results in Energy Gain

Author: Frankie Berti
Published: September 03, 2010 at 8:40 am

Agricultural economist Jake Ferris of Michigan State University sparked further interest in the ongoing debate about the net energy gains vs. net losses of corn ethanol production in his op-ed piece for the Lansing Journal.

Ferris sided firmly with the net energy gain faction, despite the energy content (BTUs) of pure ethanol (E-100) being only two thirds that of gasoline. He cited the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) June 2010 report, where their research found that every BTU of petroleum energy used to create ethanol resulted in 2.3 BTUs of corn ethanol being produced. Not bad, and that is just from corn grain.

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