Should we make ethanol from corn?
Ethanol, which is primarily made from
corn, has been promoted by both government officials and private companies as a
viable alternative to petroleum-based gasoline. Your task is to investigate the
positive and negative implications of using corn for fuel. Make sure you are
confident in your sources and cite them.
1. Find the answers to the following questions
to see if it makes energetic sense. In other words, would we get more energy
from using corn as food or as fuel?
a) When we eat corn, what is the
useful caloric content?
b) How much ethanol do we get from
corn?
c) What is the energy content of ethanol?
d) What’s your conclusion?
2. What are the social implications of
using corn as fuel?
3. Answer the following questions to
see if it makes environmental sense.
a) What environmental damage is caused
by growing corn?
b) Burning gasoline?
c) Burning ethanol?
d) Which is best?