As of September 2016 the total Ethanol facility production in California was 223.75 millions of gallons of ethanol of nameplate capacity and 218.75 millions of gallons of ethanol of operating production. Nameplate capacity is the “full-load continuous rating of a generator” and operating production is the amount that was actually produced in the plant. California has a relatively low output of ethanol from plants compared to some of the states in the US that are better known as corn growing giants such as Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
Ethanol has proved to have caused more environmental issues than fix so it is somewhat troubling to see the amount of ethanol being produced throughout the country and world today. It is a good thing that California is not among some of the largest producing states but it still contributes to the nation’s total. Using biofuels including corn-ethanol may have seemed like a positive solution to the issue of oil consumption and pollution back in 2007 but today it seems to be causing more problems than lending solutions.
Jansky, D. (2016, October 20). Ethanol Facilities Capacity by State and Plant. Retrieved March 13, 2017, from http://www.neo.ne.gov/statshtml/122.htm
It is troubling to see that the overproduction of corn is hurting the environment through increased Ethanol production. Is there a way that the government can put limits on how much Ethanol is produced by each state?
Givrn that it does not release sequestered carbon, how does ethanol use create more problems then it fixes?
This article relates back to the book we read in class about the overproduction of corn and the environmental effects that come with it. It seems rather challenging and hardly beneficial to develop so many extra uses for corn. Are there ways to convince our population to decrease its corn production?