Environmentally-friendly, American made ethanol is a win for all Americans.
Ethanol, a renewable fuel, has been blended in gasoline in the U.S. for over 40 years, helping improve air quality, reduce carbon and vehicle emissions, increase our energy independence, and lower fuel prices to consumers, while delivering performance.
In 2025, more than 79,228 U.S. jobs were directly associated with the ethanol industry, with an additional 237,292 indirect and induced jobs supported across all sectors of the economy. The industry created $28.3 billion in household income and contributed $50.4 billion to the nation’s gross domestic product.
Ethanol biorefineries offer skilled jobs and good wages in rural communities where attractive employment opportunities are often hard to find. Ethanol and feed co-product production provide a valuable market for corn grown in the United States. A typical dry mill ethanol plant adds $2.25 of additional value – over 50 percent – to every bushel of corn processed.
Ethanol reduces carbon emissions, removing the carbon equivalent of 12 million cars from the road each year. At the same time, the environmental impacts of producing ethanol have been greatly reduced. Natural gas and electricity use at dry mill ethanol plants has fallen nearly 40 percent since 1995, while consumptive water use has been cut in half. This has occurred while the amount of ethanol produced from a bushel has increased. Producers are getting 15 percent more ethanol from a bushel of corn than 20 years ago. The result? A smaller carbon footprint and an increase in energy efficiency. Ethanol use reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 44-52 percent compared to gasoline–even when hypothetical land-use change emissions are included. By displacing hydrocarbon substances like aromatics in gasoline, ethanol also helps reduce emissions of air toxics, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides, and exhaust hydrocarbons.
It’s more affordable than traditional gasoline, reduces harmful vehicle emissions, supports American jobs, and protects America’s energy independence. In 2025, ethanol helped protect America’s energy independence by displacing over 640 million barrels of imported crude oil.
Ethanol biorefineries make more than fuel; they also generate highly nutritious animal feed like distillers grains. One-third of every bushel processed by a plant is used to make animal feed. The low cost and nutritional properties of distillers grains make it one of the most sought-after feed ingredients in the world.
