Abstract
The 2005 Energy Policy Act mandated the use of 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels by the gasoline industry annually by the year 2015. The United States has already achieved this modest goal. As a result of recent successes with ethanol, the new Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (House Resolution 6) has increased the goal to 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels to be in use by 2022. The goal of the legislation is to move the United States toward energy independence; however, the feasibility of reaching it in the given time period is widely debated. As a result of the difficulty of measuring new and innovative environmental policies, few cost-benefit analyses have been performed on alternative fuels. This article presents the debate surrounding ethanol becoming the main commercial alternative fuel through a qualitative cost-benefit analysis so as to better evaluate new energy policies.
Recommended Citation
Isenhouer, Michelle
(2008)
"Is Going Yellow Really Going Green? A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Ethanol Production in America,"
Pepperdine Policy Review: Vol. 1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/ppr/vol1/iss1/4
