Increases in gas prices have sparked a movement toward alternative energy, officials say, and at the forefont is the use of sugar-cane-based versus corn-based ethanol
Illustrations by Shabbir Degani
As North Lake College student Andrew Brown sits beside a gasoline pump, he tries not to watch his dollars slip away twice as fast as the gallons enter his tank. Brown, like many Americans, is feeling the burn from the rapid increase in fuel prices.
“I’ve got to make the trip from Flower Mound to North Lake everyday,” Brown said. “I’ve had to cut back on things like food, movies and bowling to have more gas money.”
In 2001, the national average retail price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline was $1.43, according to Marie Montgomery, spokeswoman for the American Automobile Association, or AAA. As of April 21, the national average for the Gulf Coast region, which includes Dallas County, was $3.41. So, price has more than doubled in seven years.
“Prices wouldn’t be so high if people weren’t paying them,” Montgomery said. She added that consumers could make a dent in those high prices by increasing their use of public transportation services.
Increase in prices
On April 21, crude oil prices hit a then record
high of $117.40 a barrel. Each day,
the United States imports approximately 10
million barrels of crude. That’s about $1.17
billion spent on imported oil each day.
If the barrel price were to stay at $117.40 permanently, the U.S. would be spending more than $427 billion on imported oil annually.
“The latest increase is driven by a supply issue,” said AAA’s Montgomery. “The price is up worldwide.”
“When 68 percent of the price of gasoline comes from crude oil, and crude oil runs more than $110 a barrel, there’s no way around the price [of gasoline],” said Cathy Landry, spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute, or API.
The rapid industrialization of both China and India also has contributed to the rising cost of crude oil worldwide.
Back on the home front, the steady devaluation of the U.S. dollar has worsened the impact of high gasoline prices on American consumers.
“It’s getting to the point where we are going to look at people who drive Hummers and think ‘are you un-American?’” said Dr. Lynn Brink, government teacher at North Lake.
What’s being done?
All isn’t lost.
Increases in gas prices have sparked a movement toward alternative energy, API’s Landry noted.
Alternative energy sources, such as ethanol from corn and sugar cane, are renewable, cleaner and more dependable than traditional fuels, according to the Washington based Renewable Fuels Association.
Ethanol offers cleaner alternatives to the environmentally harmful components of gasoline, according to Ethanol Across America, based in Arlington, Va. EAA officials also noted that ethanol is produced in the U.S., which reduces imports of crude oil.
Tests done by the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago have shown the use of ethanol can reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 85 percent and cut the use of fossil fuels 50 to 60 percent.
Researchers across the United States have begun experimenting with corn-based ethanol.
Gasoline stations have begun selling an E-10 fuel mixture - meaning 90 percent of the mixture is gasoline and 10 percent is ethanol. The use of E-10 Unleaded reduces toxic emissions from engine exhausts, which Argonne National researchers say helps reduce air pollution.
The South American country of Brazil has already begun to reduce its dependence on foreign oil. It is one of the world’s leaders in use of ethanol produced from the wastes of sugar cane refiners.
A press release from Ethanol Across America reports that 40 percent of Brazilian cars are fueled 100 percent by sugar-cane-based ethanol. The other 60 percent of Brazilian vehicles use a blend that is 24 percent ethanol and 76 percent gasoline. Not everyone agrees that ethanol is the right solution to today’s fuel crisis.
North Lake’s Dr. Len Kubicek, who teaches geology, math and science, believes that ethanol isn’t the answer.
“Using corn for ethanol is taking food out of poor countries,” Kubicek said. “It’s also driving up food costs.”
Kubicek believes the use of coal would be a much better solution than ethanol.
“The United States has been called the Saudi Arabia of coal,” Kubicek said. “We have a 200-600 year supply of coal.”
“If coal were to sell at $25-$30 a ton, the supply would last 200 years,” he said. “If it were to sell at $75-$80 per ton, it would last 600 years.”
How would the coal be converted to gasoline? Two words: manufactured plants.
Rather than burning coal, which isn’t healthy for the environment, Kubicek said plants could be manufactured to convert coal into synthetic oil and gasoline.
The catch? The plants would give off excess amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that has been shown to destroy the atmosphere.
But Kubicek has an answer for that problem, too.
Pipelines could be built to compress the carbon dioxide and transfer it to oil fields that lack built-up pressure, he said. The carbon dioxide then could be used to add pressure and pump out any oil that remains in depleted fields.
The only problem would be the cost of building pipelines to those old fields.
Members of the Renewable Fuels Association and Ethanol Across America could not be reached for comment on Kubicek’s proposals.
Presidential candidate John McCain is trying to decrease gasoline prices by decreasing federal fuel taxes. Recently, he proposed that Congress suspend both the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents and the 24.4-cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
However, critics of McCain’s proposal said the government would lose more than $10 billion in revenue if the proposal were passed.
In the meantime, what can
consumers do?
Although research is aimed at reducing
America’s dependence on foreign oil and
developing effective alternative fuels, it’s
going to take some time.
With summer right around the corner, experts believe gasoline prices will continue to increase steadily.
“Summer driving means more demand, which leads to higher prices,” API’s Landry said.
People worldwide are trying to come up with ways to get around high prices.
Widespread e-mails flood computer in boxes and advocate boycotting gas for a day or buying only from companies that do not import oil from the Middle East or Venezuela
. “[Such] tips are a little off the wall,” said Landry. “Although they may be somewhat based on fact, the effects would be very minimal and probably wouldn’t be easily recognized by the drivers.
“The best thing to do is slow down, inflate your tires, and, if at all possible, buy fuel-efficient cars,” Landry said.
AAA’s Montgomery added that cutting back on driving and taking public transportation, if possible, could help.
Kubicek also had some advice.
“People need to quit complaining and drive less,” he said. “Drive only as much as you have to.”
Neither Landry nor Montgomery could say whether gasoline prices will ever fall below $3 again.
“Every year, we are breaking new records,” said Montgomery. “We may never get to the point where we see those low prices.”
Those wanting to find the lowest gas prices available in the Dallas-Fort Worth area can visit www.gasbuddy.com.
Fuel Facts
Gasoline
National Gas Prices:
- National Average: $3.50
- East Coast: $3.48
- Central Atlantic Region: $3.48
- Lower Atlantic Region: $3.48
- Midwest Region: $3.47
- Gulf Coast Region: $3.41
- Rocky Mountain Region: $3.41
- West Coast Region: $3.73
Average Price of Gasoline for Texas since March 2005:
- March 2005: $1.96
- March 2006: $2.35
- March 2007: $2.39
- March 2008: $3.14
Ethanol
- One bushel of corn yields 2.8 gallons of ethanol.
- One acre of corn can produce enough ethanol to run a car for nearly 72,000 miles off E10 Unleaded.
- For every barrel of ethanol used, 1.2 barrels of petroleum are displaced.
- Use of E10 Unleaded is approved by every major automaker in the world.
- Helps reduce tailpipe carbon
monoxide emissions as much as
30 percent.
— Source: www.ethanolfacts.com
Ethanol vs. Gasoline
- Texas:
- $3.02 ppg of E85 Ethanol
- $3.34 ppg of Gasoline
- 9.4% avg. price spread
- North Dakota:
- $2.81 ppg of E85 Ethanol
- $3.34 ppg of Gasoline
- 16% avg. price spread
- California:
- $3.23 ppg of E85 Ethanol
- $3.75 ppg of Gasoline
- 13.6% avg. price spread
- New York:
- $2.75 ppg of E85 Ethanol
- $3.34 ppg of Gasoline
- 18% avg. price spread
- Florida:
- $3.22 ppg of E85 Ethanol
- $3.63 ppg of Gasoline
- 11% avg. price spread
— Statistics compiled by Matt Keyser
No end in sight
The Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries has refused
to take a portion of the blame
for the current level of high petroleum
product prices.
Since 2001, the price of petroleum products has increased and begun to hurt the world economy.
Indications of recession have been noted in the United States, which is expected to have a negative impact on the economies of other countries around the world.
Despite the high prices, world consumption levels have not slowed down, partly because of the strong economic performances of Asian giants – China and India.
High oil prices have had the largest impact on developing countries, slowing growth.
In an attempt to contain the soaring market price of oil, efforts are being made, especially by the U.S., to infl uence OPEC to increase the production of oil to meet current demand.
However, renewable sources of energy need to be identified and commercially put to use, to decrease the current reliance on fossil fuel.
In the long run, this would help
stabilize oil prices, lower costs, and
prevent a recession in the world’s
economy.
— Shruti Pandey is a student in
Alicia Plaski’s English class.
Use sugar cane
The debate continues as to
whether the United States should
focus on sugar cane wastes as an alternative
to corn for ethanol.
Ethanol production from sugar cane wastes is more efficient and less time consuming. And it does not remove food from consumers’ tables. Ethanol produced from corn already is taking a staple away from some markets.
Countries such as Brazil, which has a perfect climate and plenty of land for growing sugar cane, possess an advantage over the U.S., where most sugar cane fields are confined to the Gulf Coast.
If the U.S. did switch its ethanol
crop – which would be great – it’d
be in our best interest to use sugar
cane in order to eliminate future
dependence on Brazil or other foreign
ethanol producers. Brazil, by
the way, has a per-gallon tariff of
54 cents on ethanol.
— Vincent Cervantes is a staff
writer with the News-Register.