The U.S. currently has 116 ethanol plants in production. The 79 more that are under construction will come online within about two years, allowing for some construction delays due to worldwide shortages of critical inputs and components. (The usual suspects…cement, galvanized steel, copper tubing, etc., thanks to the ongoing construction boom in China.) In addition, there are at least 200 other ethanol plants in the planning stages in the U.S., with a capacity estimated at an additional 3 billion gallons per year.

Gallons and Barrels and Energy Production

There are, according to convention dating back to the Pennsylvania oil boom of the 1860s, 42 gallons in a barrel. So the forecast annual U.S. production of 11 billion gallons of ethanol translates into about 262 million barrels of that type of fuel produced over the course of a year. And I am not even adjusting for the energy density of ethanol, which is far lower, only 59.5%, than an equivalent barrel of petroleum. The standard, accepted measurement of energy density for ethanol is 26.8 megajoules per kilogram. This clearly compares unfavorably with the energy density of gasoline at 45 megajoules per kilogram.

Therefore the mixing of ethanol with the gas has alowed the inefficiencies of the combudtion engine to work just as well with a lower grade of energy per gallon. This will continue to work as long as the price of corn stays low.
But just think everything will be priced in a true market to a BTU equivalent. So if oil stays high then ethanol and coal and nuclear and natural gas will remain high. As these energy source are being expanded they will replace the depleteing oil resources. Right now the law of demand and supply in the market place is working well. Mild winters in the world has created less demand for energy and the price of oil has come down. Now OPEC is crying because they want the higher income so they are going to cut back. What a vicious cycle. But to understand the laws of economics and greed and fear are to know the market.

One of the biggest agricultural firms in the world is ADM.
Its price is going with the price of oil.
Soon due to the expansion of etanol plants it will make more than people are projecting for it now.
Once the downtrend line is broken BUY ADM.