Antonio Castro

Reasons for increase in oil price One of the reasons for increased price is that countries like India and China are demanding more oil and since the supply is only getting smaller the price is going up and people are having to pay more for oil.

Another reason for the increase in price is that commodities traders are increasing the price in oil. Using futures contracts they buy barrels of oil at a fixed price which stays the same no matter how high oil prices rise. By betting on the price of oil which causes oil companies to horde their oil waiting for price increases which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy and increase oil prices due to limits on demand.

Government Efforts The US government created the energy independence act which will increase our amount of ethanol from 9 billion gallons to 36 billion gallons by The US government is also offering tax credits to people who buy hybrid vehicles.

Family Adjustments My dad bought a Toyota Prius and drives it. I have to ride the bus home from school everyday.

Ethanol Production In ethanol production corn is processed into simple sugars then allowed to ferment after it is fermented the water is taken off and produces almost pure ethanol.

Ethanol Vehicles 2015 Ford F-150 FFV 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe E85 FFV

Corn Corn is a food that is grown widely in the United States, it can be turned into ethanol but is not as efficient as some other sources with an Ethanol Fuel Energy Balance (EFEB) of only 1.3. Meaning that for every 1 unit of fossil fuel energy that goes into producing it you only get 1.3 units of ethanol energy.

Soy Beans Soy beans are a food and it can be turned into biofuel like corn can it can be grown in a number of places but is mostly grown in the US (although Brazil may soon surpass US soy production) and Asia. Like corn it is not that efficient as a biofuel.

Sugarcane Sugarcane is grown in many tropical areas around North and South America it is where natural sugar comes from. It can be turned into ethanol and is used widely in Brazil where most of the cars are E85 and run on 85% ethanol. It is more efficient too with an EFEB of 8

Effects of Corn price Due to the high demand for ethanol in the US the price of corn increases and that causes increases in food prices including corn tortillas and corn syrup used in soda. The price of chicken and eggs also go up because corn makes up 2/3 of the feed used for chickens. This is just the start as corn is used in someway in a lot of the food we have.

Future of corn ethanol In my opinion corn is not the best choice for ethanol production the U.S. could use, there are options for us that are better and do not affect our food supply. We can use sugar cane like they do in Brazil that has been shown to work and work well. Another source can be algae if we can get it to be cheaper to grow. Glorious Algae growing future