Why Ethanol Drives Us
Corn producers deliver 75 truckloads of corn to our plant every day from one impressive Michigan harvest to the next. Ethanol is renewable energy that helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the need for imported oil.
These are the facts
Carbon Green BioEnergy LLC produces 55 million gallons of ethanol per year. Together, all ethanol plants in the United States produce over 14 billion gallons in a year. U.S. Department of Energy research projects 30% of our motor fuel needs can be met with ethanol fuels by 2030.
Carbon dioxide released when ethanol burns is balanced by carbon dioxide captured by the grow process of corn that goes into ethanol. Petroleum comes from plants that grew millions of years ago and offer no offset.
We have reduced our water usage by 4.4% and our overall utilities usage by 17%, reducing our impact on the environment.
Throughout the process, from corn planting to ethanol production to use in consumers’ vehicles, corn-based ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 52% compared to gasoline. (Source: U.S. Department of Energy.)
In 2014, ethanol use reduced greenhouse emissions by 33.4 metric tons, the equivalent to removing 5.2 million vehicles from U.S. roads. Looking at it another way, 5.2 million is close to the number of registered vehicles in the entire state of Michigan!