RFA Releases “40 Facts About Ethanol” Video
February 27, 2013
(February 27, 2013) Washington, D.C. – The Renewable Fuels
Association (RFA) today released a new video entitled “40 Facts About
Ethanol.” It is a fast-paced, up-tempo, animated data-based review of
ethanol past, present and future. To view this video, please visit
www.EthanolRFA.org
or
RFA’s YouTube channel. A
source list for the facts used is also available at
www.EthanolRFA.org.
“This video proves once and for all that today’s ethanol is not your
father’s ethanol. The ethanol industry has made impressive strides in
the last 30 years in production volumes, foreign oil displacement,
production efficiencies, co-products, job creation, and cellulose and
advanced ethanol market entry. The ethanol industry has a great story to
tell and this video helps us tell it with data, color and occasionally
humor. Whether you think you know all there is about ethanol or you are
new to the topic, this video is a must-see! It is a great primer,” said
Bob Dinneen, RFA’s President and CEO.
40 FACTS:
- 1982: A handful of small ethanol plants produced 350
million gallons of ethanol.
- 1992: 39 ethanol plants produced 985 million gallons
of ethanol.
- 2002: 66 ethanol plants were in operation, producing
2.14 billion gallons.
- 2012: 211 ethanol plants produced 13.3 billion gallons.
- That’s 3700% growth in 30 years.
- Today, ethanol makes up 10% of the U.S. gasoline supply.
That’s up from less than 1% just 20 years ago.
- Ethanol is blended in more than 97% of U.S. gasoline
today, from coast to coast and border to border. That compares to
just 15% in 2002.
- Last year, ethanol displaced an amount of gasoline refined from
462 million barrels of imported crude oil. That’s
more oil than we imported from Saudi Arabia.
- And it means the U.S. reduced expenditures on imported oil by
$44 billion last year.
- Oil imports from OPEC are down 22%
since the Renewable Fuel Standard was expanded in 2007.
- And oil imports from the Persian Gulf are
down 30% over the past decade.
- Oil import dependence dropped to 41% in 2012 —
the lowest since 1995. Without ethanol, oil import
dependence would have been 48%.
- Today’s producers get more ethanol out of every bushel—and use
less energy and water to do it. That’s the definition of
sustainability.
- Since 2001: Natural gas energy required to produce a gallon of
ethanol has fallen 28%.
- Electricity use is down 32%. The amount of
ethanol produced per bushel of corn has increased to 2.8 gallons, up
more than 5%.
- Water use has fallen to 2.7 gallons per gallon of ethanol,
down 40% over the last decade and comparable to
water use for gasoline production.
- Producing 20 barrels of ethanol requires just 1 barrel
of crude oil.
- Ethanol’s energy balance is continually improving: 1 unit of
energy invested in making ethanol yields up to 2.3 units of energy
available for the consumer.
- Ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 40-50%
when compared directly to gasoline.
- Emissions of particulate matter, carbon monoxide, air toxics and
volatile organic compounds are also reduced when ethanol is blended
with gasoline.
- Ethanol is the cleanest and most
affordable source of octane on the market
today, displacing toxic aromatics such as benzene and toluene.
- Ethanol plants are important economic engines
in Rural America.
- The industry was directly responsible for 87,000 jobs
in 2012 and indirectly supported 295,000 more.
- More than $43.4 billion in U.S. gross domestic
product was generated by the industry last year.
- Consumers benefit too: ethanol reduced gasoline
prices by an average of $1.09 per gallon in 2011.
- That means the average American family saved $1,200
on gasoline purchases in 2011 because of ethanol.
- From 2000 to 2011, growth in ethanol use reduced gasoline prices
by an average of $0.29 per gallon.
- That saved the U.S. economy nearly $40 billion per year
from 2000-2011 in gasoline purchases.
- Ethanol plants make more than fuel; they also generate
highly nutritious animal feed.
- 1/3 of every bushel processed by a plant is used to make
animal feed, while 1/3 goes to ethanol, and the other 1/3 produces
CO2.
- Ethanol uses only the starch in the grain—the
protein, fat, and fiber components are made into animal feed, such
as distillers grains.
- Distillers grains have superior feeding value
to corn, but typically costs less.
- Distillers grains are fed to beef and dairy cattle, hogs,
poultry, fish and other meat animals around the world.
- The industry generated 37 million metric tons
of feed in 2012—enough to produce seven quarter-pound hamburger
patties for every person on the planet.
- The first generation of ethanol plants primarily uses grain to
produce ethanol. But a second wave of advanced ethanol plants is
being built that will use a new generation of feedstocks.
- At least eight commercial advanced
ethanol plants are under construction or commissioning. At
least 10 more facilities are in the engineering phase, while a dozen
more are in the pilot/demonstration stage.
- These plants will use “cellulosic biomass” to
make ethanol; things like corn stalks, wheat straw, poplar, paper
waste, forestry residues, municipal waste and other materials.
- Cellulosic ethanol promises to reduce GHG emissions by
up to 110% compared to gasoline.
- Many of these plants will also produce electricity.
- The U.S. could produce 75 billion gallons of
cellulosic biofuels, five times the amount currently produced,
according to the Department of Energy.
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