Ethanol? Best Future Economic Opportunity For America?

Reports from 2009 suggest that ethanol and ethanol production continue to become a major economic strength for the U.S. Besides the health drug industry and that colon cleansing pill you just bought, there aren't a heck of a lot of bright spots in the current economy. Ethanol seems to be one of them, however.

“The Economic Contribution of the Ethanol Industry to the Economy of the United States,” according to economist John Urbanchuk is doing just fine. Below he deatils some of the major findings of his research into the industry fro 2009. (A PDF document contains the entire study here. Obviously you will need a PDF reader like Adobe.)

• The increase in economic activity resulting from ongoing production, construction of new capacity, and R&D supported nearly 400,000 jobs in all sectors of the economy during 2009.

• The economic activities of the ethanol industry put an additional $16 billion into the pockets of American consumers in 2009.

• The full impact of the spending for annual operations, ethanol transportation, capital spending for new plants under construction, and R&D spending added $53.3 billion to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2009.

• The production of 10.6 billion gallons of ethanol means that the U.S. needed to import 364 million fewer barrels of oil in 2009 to manufacture gasoline, or roughly the equivalent of five percent of total U.S. crude oil imports. The value of the crude oil displaced by ethanol amounted to $21.3 billion in 2009.

“Despite the well documented economic concerns of the ethanol industry in 2009, producers across the nation remain a critical economic engine in rural America,” said Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen. “Unlike other sectors of the economy, this industry added production, helped Americans keep their jobs, and continued to provide an unparalleled value-added market for farmers across the country.”

Two Ethanol Facilities Win Energy Star Awards

Two ethanol facilities in the Midwest are being recognized for reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions equaling the amount of pollution from almost 6,000 cars annually. Still trying to find ways to reduce costs and utilize their budgeting software efficientlly these companies have at least figured out how to decrease their energy use and hope that eventuallly it will be cost-effective enough to work for you and I.

Energy Star awards will be given to these facilities at the 23rd Annual International Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo in St. Louis, Mo.

Macon Municipal Utilities reduced their energy use by 25 percent. Macon Municipal Utilities installed a 10 megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired combustion turbine CHP system at its 45 million gallon-per-year ethanol plant in Northeast Missouri. The CHP system will likely reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 28,000 tons per year, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 4,500 cars.

At its 40 million gallon-per-year ethanol plant in Illinois, Adkins Energy LLC, decreased their energy use by 15 percent with a 5 MW natural gas-fired combustion turbine CHP system. The CHP system reduces greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 8,700 tons per year, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of 1,400 cars.