Submitted by Steven Stoft, Apr 19, 2007 01:06

The chief economist of the USDA estimates that by 2017 ethanol will only make us 3.7% more energy independent. That's the good news. The bad news is he forgot that ethanol production and nitrogen fertilizer use a lot of natural gas, and extra gas use means more imports. So slightly under 3% is about it.
The terrible news is that by 2017 ethanol will cut US greenhouse gas emissions by only 2/10 of 1%. This is based on data from USDA and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They were more optimistic than UC Berkeley's Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab. These guys are not exactly biased against ethanol. You can get the details and sources at zfacts.com/p/60.html.
It's time to listen to the science and not to the industry that's making a killing on subsidies.

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