In 2007, 27% of the corn crop in the USA was processed into ethanol. Ethanol displaced 1% of the total amount of gasoline used by the USA in 2007.
Sources, please. Exxon-Mobil website?
As CI indicated, text-based conveyance of humor can be problematic. A smiley of some sort can help when the post is a joke.
Well, I used no smileys, as my post was not a joke. And the stats I cited are not from either the corn-subsidy-takers association or exxon-mobil, but the USDA, GAO, and a local radio guy who has become rather well known WRT auto issues as well as ethanol.
27% of Corn Crop ClaimReuters article aggregating USDA, GAO stats:
Ethanol to take 30 pct of U.S. corn crop in 2012: GAOUSDA Powerpoint Used to Accompany Speech by USDA Personnel
http://www.usda.gov/oce/speeches/Collins%203-28-07(2).pptAmber Waves, a USDA Publication
http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/May07SpecialIssue/Features/Ethanol.htmEthanol Displacing 1% of Gasoline Consumed in USA in 2007 ClaimI heard that stat on Ed Wallace's radio show and can't find a text-based record of it on his web site (
http://insideautomotive.com/). But...
This site that shows USA usage of gasoline & ethanol
http://www.americanfuels.info/2008/03/2007-gasoline-consumption.htmlThe problem is that this site does not separate out imported ethanol from domestically produced ethanol, so it inflates the amount of gasoline corn ethanol replaces if we use these numbers as-is.
But, let us use them as-is, assume that we get zero imports, that the total amount of ethanol burned by autos last year was came from that 27% of the corn crop used for fuel ethanol. These assumptions will over-estimate ethanol's impact on gasoline displacement.
Toss in some simple arithmetic and we see the following:
Year Ethanol: Domestic & Imports (gal) Ethanol Energy Equivalent (gasoline gal) Gasoline (gal) Pct Energy Displacement of Gasoline by Ethanol
2007 6,846,647,000 4,623,451,713 135,574,429,000 3.41%
2006 5,377,400,000 3,631,288,314 136,463,908,000 2.66%
2005 4,048,900,000 2,734,169,534 136,362,602,000 2.01%
2004 3,530,000,000 2,383,763,110 136,438,318,000 1.75%
2003 2,900,000,000 1,958,332,300 134,071,954,000 1.46%
2002 2,085,000,000 1,407,973,395 133,552,278,000 1.05%
gasoline_reg btu 124862
ethanol btu 84318
In 2007, the 27% of the USA corn crop dedicated to producing fuel ethanol displaced 3.41% of the gasoline they would have burned had not ethanol adulterated our fuel gasoline.
Roll-UpSo, my 1% claim can not be backed up with what I was able to find in a quick googling. I withdraw it and replace it with the ultra-conservative, benefit-of-the-doubt-and-all-the-breaks-to-ethanol claims that:
"In 2007, 27% of the USA corn crop was consumed as fuel ethanol and displaced 3.41% of the gasoline the USA would have used had fuel ethanol not been available."
My original claim would have required the absurdity of requiring 2700%
(1) of the USA corn crop to replace all the gasoline used in the USA in 2007.
[sarcasm]My revised and sourced claim requires a do-able & quite reasonable 792%
(2) of the USA corn crop to replace all the gasoline used in the USA in 2007.[/sarcasm]
[tongue_in_cheek]I see no reason why that won't scale up.[/tongue_in_cheek]
(1) IOW, the entire 2007 corn crop multiplied by 27 times.
(2) IOW, only the entire 2007 corn crop multiplied by 7.92 times.