Here are some numbers on water use taken from the US Geological survey and
from the US Environmental Protection Agency fondly known as the
EPA. The Anti-ethanol crowd loves to pound us on water usage-----here are
some facts/comparisons on water usage in US.
>62,000 gallons of water per ton of manufactured steel
>39,090 gallons of water to manufacture a new car/tires.
>28,100 gallons to process a ton of beet sugar
>1,500 gallons to process a barrel of beer (I've heard a lot of
good reports about this beverage and may have to try it sometime)
>107,000 gallons used in the average home each year
>24 gallons used to produce a pound of plastic
>101 gallons to produce a pound of cotton
>300 million gallons used each day to print US newspapers---150 gallon
per Sunday paper
>3 gallons of water used per gallon of ethanol produced.
Also, In aggregate, corn returns more moisture to the atmosphere than it
withdraws from ground and surface water. The entire US corn crop is
returning nearly 290 billion gallons of water per day to the atmosphere through
transpiration. (The process by which water vapor escapes from
the living plant, principally the leaves, and enters the atmosphere.)
Comparing Energy to Energy
Gasoline
Did you know it takes 23 per cent more fossil energy
to create a gallon of gasoline than that gallon of gasoline itself contains?
Ethanol
Did you know it takes 22 per cent less fossil energy
to create an equivalent amount of energy in ethanol? An added plus
is that the higher octane in ethanol allows it to burn more completely,
therefore cleaner.
In either case, it is all about converting one form of energy
to another that is useable and in demand in the market place.