It often seems that every article, every interview, every public discussion about our most used and visible biofuel, ethanol, starts, and sometimes ends, with the question, “Doesn’t it take more energy to make ethanol than is contained in the ethanol?”

In 1980, the short and empirical answer to this question was yes. In 1990, because of improved efficiencies by both farmer and ethanol manufacturer, the answer was, probably not. In 2005 the answer is clearly no. Yet the question will not go away. One might argue that this is because credible studies by one or two scientists continue to keep alive the claim that biofuels are net energy losers. Yet many grain and oilseed farmers wonder why it is that biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel are singled out for such an aggressive
and persistent attack on the net energy issue.

They compare the discussion of biofuels with that of hydrogen, a fuel that has captured the imagination of federal and state governments. Converting the transportation sector (and other sectors as well) to hydrogen has become a national priority. Thousands of articles have been written about hydrogen. Most are wildly enthusiastic. Some are negative. But very, very few even raise the net energy issue.

A Lexis/Nexis search identified over 300 articles published just since 2000 that discuss the energy balance of ethanol, the vast majority with a negative slant; fewer than 5 even mention the net energy issue with respect to hydrogen. Yet for hydrogen the energy balance is not a controversial question. It is well documented that hydrogen's energy balance is negative: It takes more natural gas to make hydrogen from natural gas than is contained in the hydrogen.

Another frustration by biofuels advocates is that the net energy discussion looks backwards, not forwards. Instead of focusing on the efficiencies of the best farmers and the newest facilities and a strategy to make these
efficiencies the overall industry and agriculture average, the studies present averages largely reflective of the efficiencies of ethanol facilities that are 20 years old. This is not helpful to long range planning.

Pimentel spoke to a largely proethanol crowd of corn producers and their representatives. Ethanol, he said, is not a true renewable energy source, because it requires more energy in its production than is extracted from the finished product. According to his calculations, ethanol takes about 1.15 BTUs (British Thermal Units) of input for every 1 BTU of output.