http://www.goodfuels.org/2008/07/usda-chief-ethanol-does-not-equal-high-food-prices/
Critics of renewable fuels link ethanol production to rising food prices. These attacks normally fail to point out the factors that determine the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for food, with the price of corn just part of the equation. A 33 percent increase in crude oil prices, results in a 0.6 to 0.9 percent increase in the CPI of food while an equivalent increase in the corn price cause the CPI to rise only 0.3 percent.
Ethanol uses
field corn. This field corn is processed at the ethanol plant where ethanol is produced, CO2 is captured for sale to beverage companies, corn syrup is produced and sold, distillers grain is produced and sold to farmers for cow/cattle feed and believe it or not, an anti-icing product (alternative to highway road salt) is produced.
distillers grain
Then there is cellulose ethanol production that is seeing its first plants under construction.
2005 AWD Escape Hybrid
Best Interstate
tank trip MPG 39.02 (scangauge II) for 402 miles on I-70, 10.3 gallons used over mostly flat terrain. Aug. 2007
Best
Interstate tank trip E30 MPG 34.6 for 271 miles along I-80 in Indiana and Ohio. May 2008
Best multiple road tank trip E30 MPG 36.2 for 202 miles in Southwestern Pa. July 2008.