SUPPLY & DEMAND By: Gina Caudle

Why Are Gas Prices Currently Rising?

1. Oil prices are rising 2. Popularity of motorized transportation has greatly sky rocketed in recent years, especially in developing countries. In places such as China and India, motorcycles, motor scooters, and cars have been in an extremely high demand as the countrys population continues to rapidly grow. This leads to more gas consumption which raises gas prices world wide. 3. Natural disasters such as hurricanes and wars cause gas prices to rise because supplies are interrupted.

WORDS TO KNOW!
Commodities: Commodities are raw materials purchased by manufacturers to make other products. Futures contracts: Deals to buy or sell a commodity for a future purchase or sale.

Index speculators: A speculator is a financial player who has no intention of using the physical commodity.

Index speculators have been contributing to the rise in gas prices because the majority of their contracts are betting on increases, rather than decreases. Trading in oil commodities has also contributed to the rise in gas prices by artificially raising the price of gas.

EFFORTS BEING MADE BY OUR GOVERNMENT

The government has made the following efforts to help encourage citizens to not was fuel:
Several hybrid cars made from year 2005 and after are eligible for tax credits, a specific dollar amount that would be subtracted directly from the total amount of your federal tax owed, reducing your tax obligation. More alternative fuels, such as biofuels, are being produced in the United States. These biofuels can be used in gasoline and diesel engines, but unlike oil, theyre renewable. They burn cleaner and emit lower greenhouse gas emissions. Biofuels can be used in their pure form, but are generally blended to stretch other fuels

EFFORTS BEING MADE BY MY FAMILY AND ME

1. Because we drive an SUV, we try to reduce the number of trips we make by doing our best to run all our errands in one big long trip, as opposed to going back and forth from home several times for different things. 2. Because we live close to several convenient stores and small markets, if we need an ingredient or something small, we will walk to these stores instead of driving. 3. We keep a close watch on the gas prices at the gas stations nearest to us, and always look for the store with the best prices. For example, a store down the street will adjust their gas prices to $2.65 per gallon when you spend $12 on their speedy car wash. Because we have a large car that requires about $80 to get a full tank, this deal saves us about $20.

HOW IS ETHANOL MADE?

Ethanol is an alcohol produced by yeast from sugar plants such as wood chips, corn stover, etc. It is the same alcohol found in beer, wine, and spirits.

milling
corn is processed through a hammer to produce a corn flour, and is then slurried with water and heatstable enzymes are added

saccharification liquefaction
the slurry is cooked using jet-cookers that inject steam into the corn flour slurry the corn mash is cooled and a second enzyme (glucoamylase) is added to complete the breakdown of the starches into simple sugars

fermentation distillation
Ethanol is separated from residual water and results in a pure form yeast grown in seed tanks are added to the corn mash to begin the process of converting the simple sugars to ethanol

ETHANOL IN CARS
Today, there are several types of cars that can run on ethanol. These types of cars are called flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs), and are designed to be more energy efficient by running on a blend of gas and biofuels, such as ethanol. They operate equally in performance compared to gas-only models and also emit less harmful emissions into the environment.

These two models are both E85 FFVs, meaning they run on a fuel blend that is 85% ethanol.

2014 Ford Taurus

2014 Chrysler 200

OTHER SOURCES OF ETHANOL

Corn is currently the most common source when it comes to creating ethanol. However, there are several other sources that can be more efficient when it comes to quantity and production cost.

SUGAR CANE
Sugarcane fields in Brazil yield 600-800 gallons an acre, twice the amount that corn yields. It costs only $0.87 to produce a gallon, and the output is 8 times greater than the input.

CANOLA OIL
In Germany, alternative fuels are provided by chemically altering plant oils to make biodiesel. This process takes less energy than to distill corn into ethanol. The outcome is 2.5 times greater than the initial input.

PRARIE GRASS
Perennial prairie grasses can be grown on land that is unfit for many other crops. It could replace up to 13% of the worlds oil consumption, if an efficient method for transforming the cellulosic plant matter into ethanol can be developed.

CORN TORTILLAS
The price of corn tortillas is rising in Mexico, who buys most of their corn from the U.S. This jump in price is due to the rising prices of corn as we use more and more of it for ethanol

ANIMAL FEED
The price of pork animal feed is also seeing an increase in price as it is two-thirds corn. As a result, the price to produce poultry-both meat and eggs, has gone up by about 15 percent

SODA
Soft drink prices have also increased, due to corn syrup being a main ingredient in them.

Is corn the best source for ethanol?

In my opinion, corn is not the best source for the U.S. to produce ethanol. Corn is such a common and necessary food item; it is not worth the price considering the amount required to produce a substantial amount of ethanol. A better source however, could be algae or scratch grass, plants that are not consumed as food so much. These alternatives would be more logical because they can be grown in many different places year-round. Such plants are also more plentiful and not in demand or use by humans.

THE END