Why Ethanol

You might choose fuel enriched with ethanol at the pump because you know it delivers great engine performance and is gentler on the environment. Did you know that ethanol also plays a big part in boosting the American economy?

Ethanol production generates capital investment, economic development and job creation throughout the U.S. it also boosts every family's personal economy by lowering the cost of gasoline to consumers.

Ethanol production by the numbers.

• Provides more than 200,000 American jobs, directly and indirectly
• Adds more than $450 million to state tax receipts
• Reduces the U.S. trade deficit by $2 billion annually
• Increases net farm income by $4.5 billion
• Adds 30¢ to the value of every bushel of corn

The power of ethanol production.

Increasing ethanol production to 5 billion gallons annually would:

• Create 214,000 jobs
• Generate $5.3 billion in new investment in renewable fuel production facilities
• Increase household income by $51.7 billion

Ethanol at the pump.

• Reduces the consumer cost of gasoline by extending the supply
• Provides an alternative to costly imported oil
• Gives leverage to independent gasoline marketers competing against larger, more powerful integrated oil companies

Each ethanol facility.

• Expands the economic base of a community by $110 million
• Creates more than 30 new jobs directly; almost 700 indirectly
• Generates a boost of $140 million to the local economy

The environment.

The use of ethanol as a fuel additive improves the environment because its high level of oxygen increases the efficiency of the combustion process, resulting in lower emissions and higher air quality.

• The American Lung Association of Metropolitan Chicago credits ethanol-blended, reformulated gasoline with reducing smog-forming emissions by 25% since 1990.
• Ethanol reduces tailpipe carbon monoxide emissions by as much as 30%.
• Ethanol reduces exhaust VOC emissions by 12%.
• Ethanol reduces toxic emissions by 30%.
• Ethanol reduces particulate emissions, especially fine-particulates that pose a health threat to children, senior citizens, and those with respiratory ailments.
• Ethanol is widely used in the federal winter oxygenated fuels program and the reformulated gasoline (RFG) program in cities that exceed public health standards for carbon monoxide and ozone pollution.
• Ethanol reduces carbon dioxide greenhouse gases by over 35% compared to gasoline.
• If all the gasoline in California were blended with ten percent ethanol today, the state would reduce CO2 emissions by 6.4 million tons per year compared to straight gasoline.

Pacific Ethanol, Inc. has plans to eventually produce ethanol from agricultural waste such as orchard prunings, which would further improve air quality by keeping that waste from being incinerated. The company is also exploring the possible use of ethanol in hydrogen fuel cells, which would result in even lower emissions than ethanol-blended gasoline.

The farmer.

Ethanol production in the Central Valley will provide a critical boost to the agricultural economy of the region. Pacific Ethanol plans to use corn produced in the Central Valley for up to 20% of its total feedstock; that equates to approximately 20,000 acres of corn to be grown per year in the Central Valley just for PEI's first plant. As the company builds additional production facilities and further develops the technology for converting cellulose to ethanol, purchases from local farmers will continue to increase. The demand created by ethanol production keeps corn prices high, helping support rural family farmers across the nation.

Local dairy farmers will also benefit from the presence of Pacific Ethanol's new facility because one of the byproducts of the ethanol production process is wet distillers grains, a high value feed alternative for livestock, with particular benefits for dairy cows. We project that our plant will produce nearly 300,000 tons per year or 40 trucks per day of wet distillers grains, a healthy dietary supplement for cows, and a cost-effective way for local dairy farmers to improve their rations.

The country.

The United States is increasingly dependent on imported energy to meet our personal, transportation and industrial needs. As a result the U.S. is vulnerable to the whims of OPEC and events in unstable regions of the world. 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. Today, ethanol reduces the need to import 128,000 barrels a day of oil and the fuel additive, MTBE. Just 23.8 gallons of ethanol can replace one barrel of imported oil.

The U.S. imports 62 percent of its petroleum needs today. By 2025, the Energy Information Administration projects the U.S. will import 77 percent of its petroleum.

Two-thirds of the world's known oil reserves are located in the volatile Middle East. The U.S. spends roughly $50 billion each year for military protection of Middle East oil supplies.

According to the Government Accounting Office, the U.S. has spent more than $130 billion over the last 32 years in government subsidies to the oil industry. That does not take into account the billions spent since the turn of the century. (GAO/RCED-00-301R) http://www.gao.gov/

Blended with gasoline at terminals, ethanol can help extend our fuel supply by adding volume to the market. The production of ethanol also helps diversify our energy infrastructure with local production of renewable fuels.

Ethanol use reduces the U.S. trade deficit by $2 billion annually.