Nebraska Experts Disagree Over Ethanol Water Requirements
Environmental News Network features the debate over how much water it takes to produce ethanol, with some experts saying it’s as little as a 3:1 ratio (three gallons of water for one gallon of ethanol) and others saying it’s as much as 15:1.
Ethanol is an alternative form of energy that can be produced from corn, and Nebraska (the Cornhusker state) is currently the third-leading ethanol producer, but for a state that produces 676 million gallons per year, the water supply has to come from somewhere.
“Groundwater tables in some states, including Missouri, have been drawn down to dangerously low levels near some ethanol plants, said David Pimentel, an ecology and agriculture professor at Cornell University.”
The other issue in play is the cost of corn prices, which have risen nationwide despite one million more acres of the product in Nebraska. Earth 911 has more resources on both energy.
