The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“ETHANOL'S POSITIVE ENERGY BALANCE” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H6372 on July 22, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ETHANOL'S POSITIVE ENERGY BALANCE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Ms. Herseth) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. HERSETH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to again set the record straight regarding one of the persistent urban myths about ethanol and other renewable fuels. Yet again in the past couple of weeks I read about another study that contains faulty and outdated assumptions, analysis and conclusions about the net energy balance of producing renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel.
Whether produced from corn or other grains or biomass, ethanol production has matured into an extremely energy-efficient process. As you would expect with any developing industry, technological advances have greatly improved these efficiencies over the years. Unfortunately, some academic studies choose to ignore these improvements.
Farmers are much more efficient today than they were in years past. They get more bushels of corn from an acre of land than we did 25 years ago. Some areas have seen yield improvements of 45 percent or more. Moreover, they do it using far less energy. Farmers today use precision and no-till farming to greatly reduce tillage trips and chemical applications. The efficiency of fertilizer and pesticide production also has greatly improved over the years.
What is more, the process of turning this corn into ethanol has greatly improved. Mechanical and biological advancements in the process mean that we get more ethanol from a bushel of corn than we used to. All of these developments have a significant and positive impact on the net energy balance of ethanol production.
This fact has been confirmed by countless analyses. A recent study by the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory found that for every 100 BTUs of energy used to produce ethanol, 135 BTUs of ethanol are produced. That is because corn plants are extremely efficient solar panels. USDA analysis has found that corn farmers use about half the energy to produce a bushel of corn than they did just 25 years ago.
And the industry is not resting on its laurels. Research continues into ethanol production from feed stock such as rice straw, corn stover, and sugar cane waste. These should even further reduce fossil energy use and improve net energy balance. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, ethanol produced from these sources generates 13.2 BTUs of energy for every BTU of fossil energy consumed.
Finally, I will share with my colleagues an important point that was raised yesterday in an Agriculture Committee hearing on renewable fuels. Calculating and arguing over the net energy balance of ethanol, petroleum and any other energy source is not even the most relevant inquiry. From an economic standpoint, the pertinent question really should be, what does it cost to put a gallon of fuel in my gas tank when and where I want to?
Based on that inquiry, ethanol is clearly winning that contest today. Today in Sioux Falls, South Dakota you can go to any Get-n-Go gas station in the city and purchase a gallon of E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline for $1.79, whereas a gallon of premium gasoline costs $2.39. If you know how frugal South Dakotans are, I do not have to tell you which pump they are lining up behind.
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