U.S. needs more incentives to use ethanol: industry

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The idea of U.S. energy independence is now a myth, but could become a reality if U.S. lawmakers find ways to expand demand for fuels blended from home-grown sources like corn and give automakers incentives to make cars that burn on them, a top U.S. ethanol industry trade official said on Tuesday.

“We really need to have a comprehensive policy to get there,” said Monte Shaw, president of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, speaking at the Reuters Global Biofuel Summit in a telephone interview.

Biorefineries produced about 5 billion gallons of ethanol last year, well on the way to the U.S. target of using at least 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuels annually by 2012.

The administration and many U.S. lawmakers want to require U.S. fuel blenders to use even more ethanol in coming years, but lawmakers need to look at the demand side of the equation, Shaw said.

Reuters