Corn and Environment-The Corn Fuel Ethanol Home Page

Ontario corn farmers are big supporters of the expanded use of renewable fuels including ethanol- blended gasoline, and “neat” ethanol (fuels containing at least 85% ethanol). So, too, are a growing percentage of Canadian automobile owners.

Biological renewability. Ethanol is made from growing crops, not fossil energy sources. The sun is the source of most energy used to make fuel ethanol.
Cleaner environment. When ethanol is used as an automotive fuel, either by itself or in a ethanol-gasoline blend, the result is less carbon monoxide, lower emissions of hydrocarbons into the air, and less dependence on toxic compounds used to increase the octane level of automotive fuels.
Cleaner burning engines, less carbon build-up.
Lower net carbon dioxide emissions caused by the combustion of automotive fuels, These means less potential for global warming.
Less dependence on imported light crude oil used, increasingly, for gasoline production in Canada.
Expanded market opportunity for Canadian farmers, without hampering Canadian food production capabilities.
Economic opportunities for rural Canada.

The Canadian market for ethanol continues to expand. Ethanol-blended gasoline is now sold at over 600 retail stations across Canada, including over 250 in Ontario.

Two new fuel ethanol plants will be built in Ontario in 1996/97 - the Seaway Valley Farmers’ Energy Cooperative plant at Cornwall, Ontario (production capacity, 55 million litres per year), and the Commercial Alcohols, Inc. Plant at Chatham, Ontario (initial production capacity, 150 million litres per year).