A disgusting vat of filth that no self-respecting intelligent person would wade into.

[Cletus Miller]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
But that doesn't change the fundamental problem--it takes more energy to turn the corn into ethanol than the resulting product contains. You're taking 100000 BTUs of energy (electricity, coal, whatever) to generate only 80000 BTUs of ethanol.

Unless those plants are inefficiently using energy, then the economies of scale or increased demand are irrelevant.

Yes, my understanding is that the plants themselves are not tremendously expensive compared to the energy and corn used to produce the ethanol. So, the fixed costs are not as large a portion of the costs of operation as one might think.