| apr 22 2007 | | Ethinflation. | First we had inflation now we have ethinflation. What is that? Well the Americans (yes, them again) have decided that a food is to be reclassified as a fuel. What does this mean for us? It means food inflation that will affect every family. You will find your shopping bill going up faster than it does already. Won’t the government do something, as they want to fight inflation? No, because food is not reflected in the inflation figures that the government use. They ignore most of the things that you and I buy and are going up faster, so they can claim that they have inflation under control. My power company, which is regulated, got a 9% hike in their rate. I don’t think power is fully reflected in the inflation rate either.
Anyway, back to corn. Corn is used to make food products, Cornflakes come to mind. It is used to feed animals that we eat, chickens and eggs for example. (I can’t remember which came first). I think you get the idea. Corn is in lots of products.
Now all this corn is not going to be available as the oil companies (yes, them again) want to make fuel. This has caused the price of corn to go up. That is if you can get it. Then, farmers stop planting other crops in favour of corn because it is more profitable. Therefore, the price of other crops go up, as there are less of them. Then the price of goods in the shops go up, as the producers pass on the costs. This is ethinflation.
Bear in mind that corn is probably the least efficient food to transition into fuel but that is not even the point. In a closed system, I don’t believe there is any energy gain from producing ethanol. Want to get into an argument with those loonies that support ethanol? Ask them if they have even seen the statistics from the US Dept of Agriculture. The energy consumed in the production of ethanol is 70%. Why bother? The worst option studied was wheat that consumed 90%. Other crops may have made more sense, for example, sugar cane 10%, cellulose 25%, soybeans 37% or rapeseed 40%.
Of course, none of this would be happening unless the authorities know peak oil has been reached. Wonder when they will tell their voters?
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