How many acres of corn would you need to grow in order to produce enough ethanol

Question

How many acres of corn would you need to grow in order to produce enough ethanol fuel to drive a car to work/school for a year? Please and write down your logic. Random (maybe related, maybe not) facts from the internet: One acre of fertile soil produces 250 - 300 bushels of corn or about 7, 110 pounds (3, 225 kg) of corn 1 bushel of corn, which weighs about 54 pounds, converts into about 18 pounds of ethanol 1 bushel of corn (about 35 liters) nets about 2.8 gallons (10 liters) of ethanol fuel-that translates to between 330 - 420 gallons per acre. Gasoline is more efficient than ethanol. One gallon of gasoline is equal to 1.5 gallons of ethanol.

Explanation / Answer

Average gasoline consumption per person in USA is approximately 400 gallons

gasoline is 1.5 times efficient than Ethanol

so we need approximately 600 gallons of ethanol per year

Given in 3rd point average yield of ethanol from corn in one acre is 380 gallons

Area in which corn to be cultivated = 600 /380 = 1.58 acres approximately

one Needs to cultivate corn in 1.5 to 1.8 acres to get ethanol fuel that is enough for one person to drive to school/work for on year

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