Posted on 05/01/2006 5:19:40 AM PDT by NewJerseyJoe
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Sunday that the U.S. was just "three or four years" away from perfecting the process that would allow American motorists to fuel their vehicles with ethanol instead of gasoline.
Asked, "how long before you think that we will be off of oil and onto ethanol?," Bodman told NBC's "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert:
"We will be in a position over the next three or four years . . . where we will have designed the enzymes and we will be in a position that we can then start the conversion."
Bodman said that besides additional research, the U.S. would need to "build these [ethanol] plants all over America."
"[It's] going to be something that would not just be in the Midwest, but would be in the East Coast and the West Coast where these grasses are, are available," he said.
Bodman estimated that by 2025, ethanol production would replace about 20 percent of total U.S. gasoline consumption.
If we really are "3 or 4 years away" from energy independence, I don't think that will make any difference... because it will take 15? 20? 25? years to replace the American motor fleet -- not every citizen has the money to just dump the old car and buy a new one. Not to mention replacing the supply (i.e., gas station) infrastructure with whatever its replacement will be.
I don't doubt that American ingenuity can make a replacement automobile possible -- and, in fact, I do believe that it will spring from American ingenuity, not from some government program. I just see government (and enviro-whackos) getting in the way of making the transition happen.
Sounds like BS to me.
I'm in favor of increased ethanol, but that headline is more than a little misleading.
What happens to the price of ethanol during a drought? Do we attack BIG CORN for gouging?
Let's see. The U.S. will be "off of" oil in four years, but non-ethanol gasoline consumption will be back up to 80% within twenty.
2025? 20%? Not good enough. Gas prices will be astronomical by then even with the ethanol step. Indiana is already 10%, and it does absolutely nothing. We need to be totally energy independent by then. Our energy costs are unacceptable. We are heading for a market crash. We're maybe two extra cold winters from it.
No, we pass laws to prevent growing corn around Ted Kennedy's "compound"... Or anywhere else it might be seen...
1. Methanol is a better deal than Ethanol, converts from wood and coal etc., and can run on standard gasoline engines. Methanol can also make all of the petroleum by-products.
2. Now can we FINALLY get rid of the sugar tariff so we can have honest to God sugar instead of High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup in our food and drink?
3. What will this do to overall crop prices as farmers convert fields to corn. Is it a good thing to have so much of our land growing one crop?
He's talking about ceullulose-based ethanol - creating alcohol from plant stalks or grasses. And he says we're three to four years away from knowing how to build a plant.
Corn-based ethanol is a marginal product. Cellulose-based ethanol is a clear winner.
That's hilarious!
Yes, the Gummint will investigate Big Corn for gouging and everyone will be issued 100 pounds of cornbread to sooth their anger.
Thanks for the laugh!
Some of this may be political noise-making for the benefit of our oil-producing trading partners in the Middle East: "We don't need your oil as badly as all that, so be nice."
In four years all of the corn will be needed for tortillas. Then what will we do for ethanol?
That is not what he said! It was: "We will be in a position over the next three or four years . . . where we will have designed the enzymes and we will be in a position that we can then start the conversion."
Then later, " Bodman estimated that by 2025, ethanol production would replace about 20 percent of total U.S. gasoline consumption."
It's corny to think ethanol is going to entirely solve the dependence on oil.
The Tooth Fairy is good, too! And Cold Fusion and Perpetual Motion.
Oh no,not the corn cartel!
I think I'll just move to a warm clime and buy a bicycle.
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