The Oil Drum

As a result of the recent Rolling Stone article on ethanol, I have been getting a lot of e-mails in which the same topics come up again and again. Therefore, I decided to write a comprehensive ethanol FAQ, which will eventually be placed in full here at TOD. Right now, the FAQ is a work in progress on my blog (feel free to provide comments/criticisms), but I will occasionally post various topics here as I work my way through them. Today's topic is the claim:

Ethanol Reduces Dependence on Foreign Oil

It is interesting that this claim is so popular, given that it is so easily shown to be false. From the Renewable Fuels Association's (RFA) "Energy Facts":

FACT: In 2006, the production and use of ethanol in the U.S. reduced oil imports by 170 million barrels, saving $11 billion from being sent to foreign and often hostile countries.

Interestingly, the RFA's page on industry statistics shows that ethanol production in 2006 was 4.86 billion gallons. This is 116 million barrels. Somehow using 116 million barrels of ethanol, with a per barrel BTU value of just over half that of a barrel of oil, displaced 170 million barrels of oil. To be precise, 116 million barrels of ethanol contain the BTU equivalent of 64 million barrels of oil.