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Biofuels are no cure-all for energy needs
Pioneer Press ^
| 2-19-06
| Edward Lotterman
Posted on 02/25/2006 7:51:26 AM PST by Rakkasan1
When discussing economic policies it is important to not let rhetoric overpower reality. That happened in a recent, much-reprinted New York Times article that argued "endless fields of corn in the Midwest can be distilled into endless gallons of ethanol
that could end any worldwide oil shortage
and free the United States from dependence on foreign energy." The story went on to discuss how much energy goes into producing ethanol. But it failed to substantiate its lead assertion of "endless gallons of ethanol" that might "free the United States" from oil imports. The United States is an agricultural powerhouse, but even common crops like corn are not endless. In 2004, we harvested just under 12 billion bushels of corn, the most in several years. One bushel of corn yields about 2.7 gallons of ethanol. So if we processed all the corn we produce, we would have 32 billion gallons of fuel alcohol.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bigoil; biofuel; biofuels; brazil; bush; corn; cornholio; e85; energy; ethanol; ford; generalmotors; globalwarming; gm; oil; petroleum; soy; sugarcane
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To: DoughtyOne
What is there to discuss? If it's economic someone will invest the money and start marketing it. If there isn't a market willing to pay the cost plus a good profit it isn't worth doing.
41
posted on
02/25/2006 8:49:34 AM PST
by
DManA
To: DoughtyOne
I don't care how much you drink but keep that lousy fuel out of my gas tank!
Drill and consume the massive amount of oil in California.
42
posted on
02/25/2006 8:52:38 AM PST
by
dalereed
To: dalereed
I'll bet there's a massive amount of oil under Texas and Okalahoma too.
43
posted on
02/25/2006 8:56:00 AM PST
by
DoughtyOne
(If you don't want to be lumped in with those who commit violence in your name, take steps to end it.)
To: rellimpank
During 2002, US oil use averaged 19,761,000 barrels of oil per day. The shares of US oil consumption by sector were as follows:
Transportation 67.5%
Industrial 24.1%
Residential 3.9%
Electric Generation 2.5%
Commercial 1.9%
From the article:
"Processing all corn grown in the U.S. into alcohol would cover about 55 days worth of driving. That is a significant amount, but it is far from a level that "could end any worldwide oil shortage.''"
Cars run best on a 15% gasoline, 85% ethanol mix. If we could increase our corn production by four times and supplement the rest of our needed fuel with coal derived methanol, we could do it.
Another fact that the corn cobbers have failed to tell you is that corn derived ethanol is made from the cellulose fiber of the corn plant. You can still use the corn for food and the plant cellulose for methanol production. By the way, this is not the ordinary fermentation process that you find in corn liquor production. This is a chemical catalyze process that side steps long fermentation times.
The cellulose derived methanol production brings up another point. Cellulose from other plant "waste" is now a fuel source. We don't have to grow all this corn when we also have other crops that produce cellulose. This would be a good way to clear out our timber box forests of all that stuff that causes atmosphere killing forest fires.
We need to put down our corn cob pipes and think a little harder out of the box. Or, are we all stuck on stupid?
To: Rakkasan1
It should be seen as a substitute to increase extra energy resource while China is trying to steal more oil from the market, threatening US's share. The DUmmies may be seeing illusions, but we are looking in to what is availible with limited resource, to maintain our access to energy under threat by China's growth.
45
posted on
02/25/2006 9:20:19 AM PST
by
Wiz
(News hyaena providing you news with spice of acid)
To: Rakkasan1
Crops may also be used for producing plastic. If the price of oil goes up, this might be one of the alternative for plastic. It depends on the cost, but if the cost is lower than oil by the time oil may rise for increase of consumption by China and India, this would be useful. No one would like to spend another dime buying fast food products using platic for the rise of cost of oil. It might not be a silver bullet, but useful. Forget the DUmmies ecologic illusions. It's the cost and countries such as China threatening US's shares that matters.
46
posted on
02/25/2006 9:33:25 AM PST
by
Wiz
(News hyaena providing you news with spice of acid)
To: dalereed
...keep that lousy fuel out of my gas tank!And your very strong opinion is based on what?
To: spikeytx86
48
posted on
02/25/2006 9:53:44 AM PST
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: JustaDumbBlonde
Screws up fuel systems, reduces mileage, and I spent too many years using it in racing fuels, it's pure crap!
49
posted on
02/25/2006 9:57:28 AM PST
by
dalereed
To: VeniVidiVici
all the little things that add-up What do they add-up to? 600 new nuke plants?
50
posted on
02/25/2006 10:00:10 AM PST
by
RightWhale
(pas de lieu, Rhone que nous)
To: ronnied
everybody poopoos now if we can convert that.....
Don't be too sure that we can't. I saw an FR thread the other day on SF looking into using dog crap for energy production. I'll see if I can find a link to it.
51
posted on
02/25/2006 10:02:16 AM PST
by
Bob
To: hdstmf
These are the people who drive their Volvos to the airport to fly to Aspen (or aspire to) where they spin their economic and environmental theories over wine, cheese and caviar...longing for the day that everyone else will live on potatos and beans grown in their state allocated garden space adjacent to their government planned ecovillage.
To: Bob
53
posted on
02/25/2006 10:19:01 AM PST
by
ronnied
(we are the only animals that bare our teeth in greeting...)
Ethanol is a load of crap. How much oil goes into fertilizing and harvesting all the corn for it? Add to that that ethanol is less efficient than oil, and we are taking a net energy loss by converting oil to corn to ethanol.
54
posted on
02/25/2006 10:26:13 AM PST
by
david06
To: Cicero
The picture is the best description of a new yorker I've seen.
55
posted on
02/25/2006 10:42:34 AM PST
by
righthand man
(WE'RE SOUTHERN AND PROUD OF IT)
To: Sybeck1
How much diesel does a farmer use to produce those 2 gallons?
cost it would be in the range of 6-7 gallons per acre, Thats for breaking the ground to harvest.
With an average yield of 120 - 125 bushels .
.05 gallons per bushel
This only figures the cost to the farmer.
56
posted on
02/25/2006 10:53:48 AM PST
by
righthand man
(WE'RE SOUTHERN AND PROUD OF IT)
To: thackney
I was just going by last months fortune article. Still though, most new cars there are flex fuel and 1 sixth of cars on the road are flex fuel. It's not a Utopian solution by any-means, but if we can greatly increase production efficiency it will go along way in reducing our dependence on foreign oil. The most hopeful tool we have to really reduce it and its a proven technology is nuclear.
57
posted on
02/25/2006 11:42:57 AM PST
by
spikeytx86
(Beware the Democratic party has been over run by CRAB PEOPLE!)
To: RightWhale
What do they add-up to? 600 new nuke plants? Sun's over the yardarm somewhere.
58
posted on
02/25/2006 1:45:02 PM PST
by
VeniVidiVici
(What? Me worry?)
To: ronnied; Bob
To: dalereed
Thanks for the reply. I have never used ethanol, but I am using biodiesel with absolutely no problems.
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