Ethanol: A good replacement for Gasoline? By: Christopher Joyce Jan

Ethanol With gas prices skyrocketing lately, many corporations are doing research for alternative fuels. About 1 in 40 cars in the US can run on a mix of ethanol called E85 which is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Ethanol is an alcohol made from distilling the sugars in crops – primarily corn in the U.S.

Why Ethanol? Ethanol is being marketed as an alternative fuel due to the high prices and limited supply of oil whereas there is a hypothetically limitless supply of ethanol. The US also would like to reduce its dependence on foreign oil. Ethanol greatly reduces CO (Carbon Monoxide) emissions.

The Debate Critics say that there is more energy used in producing ethanol than is gained from it. Even if all of the U.S.’s current corn supply was recruited for making ethanol, that would only produce less than 10% of the amount necessary for our transportation needs. The environmental consequences of ramping up pesticides to produce large-scale biofuel crops also must be considered.

Analysis Price Quantity The demand for ethanol as a replacement will decrease the demand for gasoline, causing gas prices to drop. P0P0 P1P1 D1D1 D0D0 S0S0 Q0Q0 Q1Q1