Image: istockphoto.com/Birgitte Magnus
In an effort to reduce our nation’s reliance on fossil fuels, the Canadian government announced in May that it would contribute $262,000 to the Barley and Bioproducts Opportunities Project, a study to determine the feasibility of turning barley into fuel ethanol. Unfortunately for beer drinkers, that means they may soon have to pump their beloved barley – one of the key ingredients of beer for at least the last 4000 years – into their gas tanks. What’s worse, the resulting rise in barley prices may lead to an increase in the cost of beer.
Whether barley-derived ethanol turns out to be feasible or not depends largely on its net energy yield – the ratio of the amount of energy needed to produce the plant (to grow it, harvest it, transport it and turn it into ethanol) compared to the amount of energy it can provide as fuel. Sugarcane, the mainstay of Brazil’s relatively mature ethanol industry, has a very high net energy yield of 1:8. Sugar beets, used to produce the majority of France’s ethanol, have a moderate yield of 1:2. Corn, on the other hand, the source of most of North America’s domestic ethanol, ranks near the bottom of the barrel at just 1:1.4.
Doug McBain, Past President of the Western Barley Growers Association, which is co-managing the pilot project, thinks barley’s yield will be “close to corn.” In other words, it won’t necessarily reduce our national carbon footprint any more than corn ethanol would, but it will allow barley growers to hold their own against the rising tide of maize.
As for the effect barley ethanol might have on the price of beer, the jury is still out. McBain claims that “there are only about 3-4 cents’ worth of barley in a bottle of beer,” and that even quadrupling the price would have absolutely no effect on the cost of brewing. In Germany, however, where the boom in corn ethanol has persuaded many barley growers to switch to the more lucrative crop, the price of malted barley has risen by over 40 percent in the past two years. As a result, some of the country’s most popular beers have jumped in price by almost 25 percent, leaving the German public – notorious both for their green ethic and their beer consumption – in a bit of a quandary.
Whether the same thing will happen to North American beer remains to be seen. But as more and more food crops are converted into fuel crops, we may one day be forced to give up our beloved automobiles just so that we can afford the simple luxury of an ice-cold beer and a plate of nachos.
Mark Mallet is a LEED Accredited professional consultant and writer based in Vancouver, specializing in the green building industry.
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