Second Look at USDA Ethanol Energy Balance Report

DomesticFuel.com
Posted by Cindy Zimmerman – September 22nd, 2010

A report released by USDA in June on the energy balance of ethanol plants is getting a second look this week, thanks to a post on the USDA blog.

The second look is well deserved, since the report, titled “2008 Energy Balance for the Corn Ethanol Industry,” got less coverage than it deserves when it was first released. The findings of the report are significant because they specifically tackle the much-publicized claims of David Pimental that ethanol production results in a net energy loss. The USDA report updates the energy balance numbers by taking into account current practices used by both corn producers and ethanol processors that have led to increased efficiencies and concludes that “A dry grind ethanol plant that produces and sells dry distiller’s grains and uses conventional fossil fuel power for thermal energy and electricity produces nearly two times more energy in the form of ethanol delivered to customers than it uses for corn, processing, and transportation.”

Read more