Biologist David E. Pitts wants farmers, fuel producers, and the government to stop the development of ethanol or at least stop devoting so many resources to the alternative fuel. Why?
[Source: Springfield News-Leader]
- More oil and diesel will be consumed to farm corn fields set aside for ethanol. He calculates it takes seven times more land to produce one year's worth of ethanol than to feed an average American. The result is more pollution, not less, with ethanol.
- Corn is an inefficient source of simple sugars used in the production of ethanol. Scientists have to develop more costly methods to convert corn when sugar cane is a more effective and simpler source of ethanol.
- He calculates it'll take five times the amount of land currently set aside for crops in the U.S. to grow enough corn to fuel the current number of cars in the U.S. alone.
- He questions the ethical issue of diverting foodstuff to fuel vehicles when there are more than two billion starving people in the world.
[Source: Springfield News-Leader]
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