There’s zero merit to corn ethanol fuels.
Literally makes more sense to fill the fields with solar panels and just do electrolysis to make hydrogen/ammonia. It nearly makes more sense to do the same with DAC plants to “make up” for regular old jet fuel.
If we actually care about aviation emissions, there’s a solution: less aviation. Best way to do it: intercity high-speed rail. Bonus points, it will make for a more comfortable, pleasant, affordable world in the process. Let’s start with LA to Vegas… oh wait. So since trains in Hawai’i probably don’t make the most sense, the next target is Atlanta-Orlando… and go figure, there’s currently an Amtrak route being built to Savannah and Brightlight already has plans to connect to Jacksonville, so finishing that route wouldn’t be terribly hard either…
We try sooooo hard to come up with these techno-wizard solutions that we lose track of how simple and straightforward the actual problems are.
Simple and straightforward solutions (re: things that actually fix problems and don’t sweep them under a rug for a few years) don’t win elections. Which, unfortunately, is the only thing that matters in US government most days…
America runs on corn these days
Hand sanitizer is made from corn ethanol too, COVID did wonders for that business but its waning now
It almost all goes to fuel and animal feed, and has for some time:
