Summary: A new study shows that ethanol is
sucking up water. Mark Brush looks
at this new government report.
And... a little known gem. When you
need to pick something up for a DIY
project, you probably head out to the
nearest big-box home improvement store.
Today, Lester and our Greenovation Guru
Matt Grocoff are giving you another option
for your around-the-house needs - the
Habitat For Humanity Re-Use store.
More…
Running the well dry… just to make ethanol
This is the Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.
When you fuel up at the pump, chances are you’re putting ethanol into your car. Nearly half of the gasoline in the U.S. is blended with ethanol. And in the coming years, the industry and the government want us to use more of it. To meet the demand, more biofuel refineries are going up. But a new government report says a lot of these refineries are going up in the wrong place. Mark Brush is here – so Mark what do they mean?
They say a lot of them are being built in places where there are known water shortages. And it can take a bunch of water to make ethanol.
I talked one of the authors of this report - Anu Mittel. She follows water resource issues for the Government Accountability Office:
“Many of them are being built in areas where they are relying on groundwater aquifers for their water supply and that could have a devastating effect on the local community that is also relying on that same water source for all of its other needs.”
These refineries use about 4 gallons of water to make a gallon of ethanol. And they make millions of gallons.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Today, ethanol pretty much comes from corn. And in many parts of the country they rely heavily on irrigation to grow corn – giant sprinklers. It takes about a third of a bushel of corn to make one gallon of ethanol. And to grown that irrigated corn – they have to pump almost 300 gallons of water out of the ground. So the amount of water needed to make corn-based ethanol in these places can be enormous.
O.k. - Thanks
(((STING)))
This is The Environment Report.
It seems like our friend Matt Grocoff with Greenovation TV is always working on a home improvement project. And he asked me to go with him to his favorite store. We headed down the road where all the big box home improvement stores are in his hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan… but that’s not where we ended up…
“Just about anything I need, my first stop is always a re-use center. My favorite is, of course, the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Today I’ve gotta find a-- a, uh-- what do you call them? A sander, a hand sander, a belt sander?”
Matt turned to Jackie Hermann who manages this ReStore. And she pulled a case from the shelf in back…
JH: “This absolutely beautiful Porter Cable professional random orbit sander with dust collection.”
MG: “This is gorgeous. This is exactly what I need. And how much is this?”
LG: “Looks like it’s never been used.”
MG: “Almost new condition. $35.00. And it’s used material that’s not going to a landfill or sitting in somebody’s basement not being used. And here I get to use it and save money. This is another one of the things where we can debunk the myth that going green costs more.”
Okay… so Matt got a good deal and extends the useful life of a pretty good tool. But…the idea is to raise money to get people into homes… so I had to ask Jackie about that…
LG: “When you make a sale here, how much of that money actually goes to Habitat for Humanity and building houses for folks?”
JH: “We have a 12-percent administrative overhead, so 88-cents on every dollar into a habitat home.”
There are about 600 of these ReStores across the nation. The administrative overhead varies a bit from store to store… but the money raised at each store goes to homes in that store’s local area.
Jackie says for her area… that’s meant a bit of a shift for Habitat for Humanity. You might have heard… in Michigan there are a lot of foreclosures.
“We””
And it’s donations that make ReStore work. It might be overstock from places like Lowe’s or local contractors. It could be people who are moving or retiring or just don’t need an appliance or have extra cabinets or carpeting or a perfectly good sink they don’t need…
“Proverbial kitchen sink….
…
Matt Grocoff with Greenovation –dot- TV says it keeps stuff out of the landfill… it means perfectly good building material for home improvement projects… saves resources… and raises money to help people get into a home…
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