Ethanol Facts: Energy Security
The United States is increasingly dependent on imported energy to meet our personal, transportation, and industrial needs. As a domestic, renewable source of energy, ethanol can reduce our dependence on foreign oil and increase the United States' ability to control its own security and economic future by increasing the availability of domestic fuel supplies. By displacing hundreds of millions of barrels of imported oil, the increasing reliance on domestically-produced ethanol is making available billions of dollars for investment in domestic renewable energy technologies. The increased supply of biofuels worldwide is lowering oil demand, while also helping to mitigate the devastating impacts of volatile oil markets.
FACT: The U.S. imports more than 65% its petroleum needs today.
By 2030, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects the U.S. will import 70% of its petroleum. And oil prices are not expected to ease soon.
FACT: Two-thirds of the world's known oil reserves are located in the volatile Middle East.
Milton Copulos, President of the National Defence Council Foundation, estimates the U.S. spends more than $137 billion a year on military operations securing the safe delivery of oil from the Persian Gulf. And new oil supplies are getting harder and more expensive to find. Nonconventional reserves, like Canadian tar sands, pose significant environmental and economic risks.
"America's dependence on oil is one of the most serious threats that our nation has faced. It bankrolls dictators, pays for nuclear proliferation, and funds both sides of our struggle against terrorism. It puts the American people at the mercy of shifting gas prices, stifles innovation and sets back our ability to compete."
President Barack Obama, January 26, 2009
FACT: According to the Government Accounting Office, the U.S. has spent more than $130 billion over 30 years in government subsidies to the oil industry.
That does not take into account the billions spent since the turn of the century or the money spent to protect our military troops in the Middle East. (GAO/RCED-00-301R)
FACT: Blended with gasoline at terminals, ethanol can help extend our fuel supply by adding volume to the market.
The production of ethanol also helps to diversify our energy infrastructure with local production of renewable fuels.
FACT: The 13 billion gallons of ethanol produced in 2010 displaced the need for 445 million barrels of oil, at a savings of $34 billion to the U.S. economy.
This is the equivalent of 55 million barrels more than the total estimated crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia last year.
FACT: The U.S. ethanol industry is being forced to look beyond U.S. borders for new market growth opportunities.
the U.S. ethanol blending market is nearing saturation and demand has hit what is commonly referred to as the “Blend Wall.” This demand barrier exists because current federal regulations restrict the amount of ethanol that can be blended with gasoline and consumed in conventional automobiles to 10% (E10). We need to allow for the use of blends above 10%, expand the fleet of flex-fuel vehicles able to use up to 85% ethanol (E85), and ensure the infrastructure exists to dispense these fuels. As long as this blend wall exists and total gasoline demand remains consistent with recent trends, the domestic market potential for ethanol tops out at approximately 12.5-13.5 billion gallons. Today’s industry has the capacity to produce more than 14 billion gallons of ethanol, with another 500 million gallons of capacity under construction.
Fortunately, a recent surge in U.S. ethanol exports is providing the industry with a much needed new source of demand. Ethanol exports have boomed in recent months, with shipments going to dozens of energy-thirsty nations around the globe. The United States has been a net importer of ethanol for the last decade, but the nation is quickly evolving into a net exporter. Click here for a May 2010 analysis of rising U.S. ethanol exports.
FACT: According to the University of California at Berkeley, the production of 19 units of ethanol energy takes just one unit of petroleum energy, greatly enhancing U.S. energy security.
