Greenfield Global is piping waste heat underground into the Truly Green greenhouse across the street. (Photo by Paul Pedro)Greenfield Global is piping waste heat underground into the Truly Green greenhouse across the street. (Photo by Paul Pedro)
Chatham

Ethanol Increase In Gas Being Applauded

Ontario's mandate to soon double ethanol in gasoline is music to the ears of officials at Chatham's ethanol plant.

The proposal includes an increase of ethanol in regular gasoline from 5% to 10% by 2020.

Andrea Kent, Vice President of Communications at Greenfield Global, says many opportunities lie ahead for the company, corn producers and the environment. Kent says it's an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars.

"It's probably the easiest, best and lowest cost option that the government can implement in its climate change fight and it's also going to take advantage of Ontario's natural bounty of biomass and agriculture," says Kent.

She says the new mandate allows the ethanol industry and the grain farmers to create jobs and economic activity for the province.

"It's going to have the potential of returning almost one billion dollars a year to the economy and could create as many as four time additional full time jobs in the province. We saw it with the introduction of a 5% mandate and doubling the mandate, it stands to reason that those economic benefits will increase again," Kent says.

Kent says ethanol production will increase and so will investment.

"It allows farmers who have been making key investments and modernizing their farming practices so they have better yields than we've ever seen before, it allows them to have the domestic market for that corn," Kent says.

The Grain Farmers of Ontario also applaud the province for putting forward the proposal.

An October study by Doyletech Corporation found that the economic impact of increasing the provincial ethanol mandate to 10% will contribute an additional $638-million per year to Ontario’s economy.

Read More Local Stories