The bubbles in your beer and soda may flatten due to falling gas prices

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Ease at the pump could still mean a squeeze on your wallet when it comes to carbonated beverages

As gas prices continue to fall, your beer and soda may flatten. The CO2 in your drinks is a byproduct of the ethanol industry, meaning the less gas you guzzle the less bubbly your beverage may become.

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As gas prices continue to fall, your beer and soda may flatten. The carbon dioxide (CO2) used in fizzy drinks is a by-product of the ethanol used in gas. And as coronavirus shutdowns continue to take place across the United States, many soft drink and beer makers have had to scramble to find access to the chemical.

“Roughly half of the ethanol industry is shut down because our main product, fuel ethanol, is in much lower demand,” Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, told Fox News.

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Ethanol makes up at least 10 percent of gasoline. Due to the recent lack of fuel consumption, over 200 ethanol plants across the U.S. have been forced to close and roughly half of the 350,000 workers across 30 states in the ethanol industry were furloughed.

The chemical also adds more to the economy than just the bubbles in your drink.

“CO2 is really an important building block for a lot of products that we use every day, it's the bubbles in your beer and soda. It's the main ingredient in dry ice. It's used in meat processing and food preservation," Cooper said.

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The ethanol industry is the largest supplier of CO2 to the market, producing roughly 40 percent of the product. As the cost of CO2 rises while gas prices fall, Cooper believes you are likely to see manufacturers pass on the higher price of CO2 to you at the supermarket.

“You very well could see beer prices increase a little bit. Soda prices increase on other products where CO2 is a main ingredient,” he said.

The simplest way to avoid a CO2 shortage is to drive, Cooper said. As states reopen and people get back on the road the cost of making CO2 should come down, which may mean pain at the pump but more bubbly beer and soda.