GASOHOL: A CHOICE THAT MAY BUY GRIEF

Widespread use of gasohol may have an extremely adverse effect on the world's food supply. It takes a quarter of an acre of cropland to feed the average person in the Third World, while it takes eight acres to fuel the average American Automobile. The assumption that sufficient fuel can be obtained from wastes and spoiled crops is regarded in some quarters as a gross overestimation of capacity. Therefore, crops that would have been used for food may be diverted to fuel production. The result could be, to quote a report from the Worldwatch Institute, "direct competition between the affluent minority, who own the world's automobiles, and the poorest segments of humanity, for whom getting enough food to stay alive is already a struggle". The worldwide use of crops for energy is "certain to drive food prices upwards, thus leading to more severe malnutrition among the poor."

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00368075
• Corporate Authors:

  American University

  Development Education and Training Research Institute
  Washington, DC  United States 
• Publication Date: 1980

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 1450-51
• Serial:
  • Science
  • Volume: 207
  • Issue Number: 4438
  • Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
  • ISSN: 0036-8075
  • Serial URL: http://science.sciencemag.org/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Agriculture; Costs; Crops; Economic impacts; Equipment; Food; Gasohol
• Subject Areas: Economics; Finance; Geotechnology; Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00311329
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 27 1980 12:00AM