NEW YORK — Next-generation hybrid cars could one day help
ease corn prices that have doubled as greater supplies of the grain are
distilled into ethanol fuel, and could also head off potential meat and dairy
price boosts, a US environmentalist said on Wednesday.
Plug-in hybrids, like regular hybrids, run on both
electricity and gasoline. But they also have a plug that can draw power from the
cleaner-burning electric grid. The cars currently are auto showroom curios, but
pressure is growing on automakers to make them commercially available.
Some of that pressure is coming from the organization Plug-In
Partners, which has spearheaded a national campaign with more than 500 partners,
including electric utilities and the cities of Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, and
Boston. Some members have pledged to buy the cars once they are available.
"There is a real effort afoot to ensure a market for
plug-ins," Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington,
told reporters on a conference call. He also said the United States should boost
fuel economy standards for cars to make ethanol supplies go further.
The US Department of Energy has allocated millions of dollars
a year into research on hybrids, including plug-ins, but says perfection of
batteries remains a major hurdle.
Brown predicted early last year that corn prices would rise
as the United States uses more of the grain for ethanol production.
The Bush administration has offered ethanol producers
millions of dollars of incentives to reduce oil imports and boost supplies of
lower-carbon fuels.
Nearly 80 US ethanol refineries are springing up, mainly in
the Midwest. As they consume more corn, prices have doubled to well over $4 a
bushel, the highest level in a decade.
The rising price of the grain most commonly fed to livestock
in the United States has also cut beef and chicken output, according to the
Department of Agriculture. Rising food prices boosted U.S. consumer prices more
than expected last month, a Labor Department report showed last week.
The United States is the largest exporter of corn and the
price rise could also boost food prices in developing countries. "The world’s
breadbasket is becoming the US fuel tank," Brown said. "Exactly how the world
will react to that is not clear."
Brown, a former farmer, said past price spikes in corn caused
by bad weather have been temporary, but ethanol demand could keep prices high
for a long time.
"There is no reason now to think prices will be going back to
normal any time soon." he said.
Some environmentalists worry plug-ins could increase
pollution by boosting the use of coal, a cheap but dirty fuel used by electric
power plants. But Brown said wind power, which is growing quickly in states like
Texas and California, could add growing amounts of power capacity.
"One of the things holding back power from wind is that it’s hard to store,"
he said. "Basically plug-in batteries could become storage for wind power."
