The Big Idea: Ethanol

noun

1. a clear, flammable type of alcohol
2. a renewable fuel frequently produced from corn
3. CH₃CH₂OH

Ethanol has a lot to do with the Midwest — specifically, the Corn Belt, which extends from Ohio to Nebraska and Kansas. Because of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) established in 2005, U.S. gasoline must contain a minimum amount of renewable fuel, and more often than not that renewable additive is corn-based ethanol. The United States is the world’s largest producer of corn, most of it is grown in the Midwest, and almost all gasoline sold in the United States contains ethanol, usually at a 10% concentration.

The RFS aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and bolster the nation’s renewable fuel sector, but there are potential tradeoffs. While biofuel producers praise the RFS for cleaner air and supporting corn farmers, others criticize its deleterious effects on the environment. 

“The biofuels industry is good from an emissions point of view, but it could be much better,” according to Jack Smith, a Colorado State University engineering researcher who coauthored a 2023 paper about the impacts of the biofuel industry in the Journal of Cleaner Production. ​“The emissions reductions we’re achieving may not be worth the land and water opportunity costs.” 

For Midwestern corn farmers, increased demand for ethanol caused corn prices to increase by 30%, a huge boon. With ethanol in such high demand, farmers started growing more and more corn — 6.9 million acres more, between 2008 and 2016. That also means farmers have converted a lot of grassland and pastureland into cropland, a change that devastates biodiversity and the land’s ability to capture carbon. Growing corn also requires a lot of water, which can deplete reserves. Plus, pesticide and fertilizer runoff from industrial cornfields poisons waterways from local creeks to the Gulf of Mexico, where it contributes to a 3,000-square-mile ​“dead zone.”

It’s unlikely that biofuels are going away, and many farmers would resist returning to the days when corn prices were low and farmers struggled more to make a living. But ethanol critics argue that corn for biofuels isn’t great for the planet — or even farmers. Instead, they support regenerative agricultural practices to help farmers grow sustainably diverse crops and maintain healthy, carbon-sequestering soil.

This is part of ​“The Big Idea,” a series offering brief introductions to progressive theories, policies, tools and strategies that can help us envision a world beyond capitalism.