One thing that gets missed in the equation is the transportation costs to move sugar based ethanol as well. Most sugar based in not processed in the U.S. and equating what they do in foreign countries regarding how they deal with waste, byproduct, etc is not an apples to apples thing. There are a lot more regulatory requirements on ethanol producers in the U.S., right along with everyone else. That is like saying it takes less energy and is more efficient to make something in China than the U.S. Of course it is cheaper there. They don't have nearly the regulatory requirements that we do. Now if only the coastal areas of the U.S. used the sugar based stuff, and transportation costs to get it to them were reasonable, that would be just fine with me. The corn based could be used in the heartland, again keeping transportation costs down to get it distributed.
Now if you can just get the entire southern tier of the U.S. to start growing sugar cane and the entire northern and western tiers to only grow sugar beets, then you might have a valid case and it would run the corn ethanol producers out of business. I would be quite comfortable with that if it happened. Will still be a market for the corn in its various products. But even if sugar based is more efficient, if the cost of the raising the crop is not profitable, then it will not make any real dent on things as they are now. A Farmer is going to grow the crop that is best for that region of the country and provides the best possible return on the investment.
And one of the largest sources of granulated sugar in the U.S. is beet sugar. The residue from that is not a good bio stock for energy to produce ethanol.
Now if you can just get the entire southern tier of the U.S. to start growing sugar cane and the entire northern and western tiers to only grow sugar beets, then you might have a valid case and it would run the corn ethanol producers out of business. I would be quite comfortable with that if it happened. Will still be a market for the corn in its various products. But even if sugar based is more efficient, if the cost of the raising the crop is not profitable, then it will not make any real dent on things as they are now. A Farmer is going to grow the crop that is best for that region of the country and provides the best possible return on the investment.
And one of the largest sources of granulated sugar in the U.S. is beet sugar. The residue from that is not a good bio stock for energy to produce ethanol.