Posted on 05/10/2006 12:31:43 PM PDT by JZelle
It seems like an easy fix. Oil prices have hit record highs. Ethanol, a gasoline additive, can both stretch our supplies of oil and ease air pollution. And best of all, it's a corn-based product. Although America imports nearly two-thirds of its oil, it grows all the corn it needs and more. So all lawmakers have to do is require that gasoline contain a given percentage of ethanol, and our gas-price problems won't be as bad. Or so the theory goes. The problem is, we've been doing this for years, and it's not working so well. In fact, it's part of the reason gasoline prices are so high.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Yep, and we're glad you're here..........
Ethanol or biodiesel technology is a fraud. Everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and push this stuff. And it's not cheap. The problem is that we're still dependent on a nonrenewable resource imported from unstable govts. Surely, there's technology out there that would eliminate being dependent on gasoline. Where is it?
"The Wall Street Journal is urging Washington to discard the 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol. This tariff is effectively a subsidy for corn-based ethanol produced in the USA. Yet, producing ethanol from corn is highly inefficient and consumes 1 unit of energy for each 1.3 units of energy that burning ethanol provides. By contrast, ethanol derived from sugarcane (which is the sole source of ethanol in Brazil) yields 8.3 units of energy. Sugercane is about 7 times more efficient than corn. Some studies even show that corn yields only 0.8 unit of energy, resulting in a net loss of energy."
It's a distribution problem. Brazil has a huge excess of fuel-grade ethanol, which they would be willing to export, and do it a lot more cheaply than the US farmers can raise the corn and Archer-Daniels-Midland can get it processed here.
Trouble is, the US government slaps a tariff on this fuel-grade ethanol, and it is not available to augment our supplies. The whole ethanol scheme is an indirect subsidy to corn growers in this country.
Come on now. Just last week I read about an entrepeneur in South America who wants to convert tropical rain forests into palm oil plantations as a source of biodiesel.
Who says oil is non renewable? There are plenty of studies and reports indicating that it is a renewing energy source. The Russians have been saying this going back to at least the 1920's.
My only guess why there isn't more study in the US done on this is that the oil companies want to maintain the illusion of a finite quantity expiring at an unknown date in the future. Regardless what the reality of the situation is.
Have you seen the cost of pop-corn lately?
It's enought to make me switch to boiled peanuts.
(...come on OFST)
World Net Daily did an article about this several years ago. It was also posted on FR. Basically says that the Earth's rotation churns out a continous supply of oil.
"Some studies even show that corn yields only 0.8 unit of energy, resulting in a net loss of energy."
The problem is that the 'some studies' are all done by one guy at Cornell whose other expressed opinions are all of the '70s-era "population bomb" crud rehashed.
Search on "david pimental" and watch what ELSE he does when he's not talking down ethanol.
Apart from this one guy the consensus opinion is about 1.3 units of energy out for 1.0 units of energy in for corn ethanol as the rest of your quote states:
"consumes 1 unit of energy for each 1.3 units of energy that burning ethanol provides."
It's also informative to go look up how many units of energy it takes to get one unit of oil out of the ground. The ratio is *always* less than 1 in this case (because there's no new energy input into the process). A 1.3/1 ratio is actually very efficient by comparison; it's essentially capturing new energy (from the sun) which becomes plants which we convert into a fuel.
Guessing that scientists will be able to create a genetically engineered plant that is perfect for ethanol production. Much more efficient. Engineered yeast, too for better yields.
High fuel prices are driving research -- the free market system at work.
A ton of corn will produce approx 80 gallons of ethanol. At todays prices ($2.40 a bu for corn) the cost of producing ethanol should be around $1.00 gallon, not including labor.
However, ethanol on the commodities exchange is $2.80 a gallon. Seems to me that something smells.
"Who says oil is non renewable? There are plenty of studies and reports indicating that it is a renewing energy source. The Russians have been saying this going back to at least the 1920's. "
It's quite possible, and I myself put some stock in the 'abiotic' theory, but it is the minority opinion among people who try and find sources of oil for a living.
Thanks - that answers my mileage question, which has been a curiosity since I noticed. And thanks for not correcting my initial spelling of Ethanol ;-)
How about we try something different for a change? Let's let the market deliver energy of a variety of sorts at the best price it can deliver? Let's remove or reduce tariffs on foreign energy, drill in the US and surrounding waters, reduce regulations so new refineries will be built, cut the number of special formulas required by government regulation, etc. Build nukes if the market will bear, and don't if it won't cover the full cost of the technology. Prizes and competitions can help (the DARPA model), but let's not repeat what we did with NASA and create a bureaucracy.
Thank you, Congress...
Yup and as you can see..ther are the mindless posts that say we CANT/IT CANT be done.
We will not only switch to other types of fuels, we will do it and do it soon. The sooner the better..with or without big brother. Gas hits 5 bucks a gallon those who are howling about "cant", will, and will in a split second.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.