[neverdem]

Why not combine alcohol technology, assorted hydrocarbon extraction technologies and environmentally safe technology for atomic energy as a minimum? The Greening of Nuclear Power

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

This article seems to imply that American can't do it.

Seems like the Anti-American mantra of the left has been usurped by the trembling oil companies. I wonder if this guy got a grant from Exxon.

Saying America is incapable of finding a solution to its energy problems is to have no faith in America. Thos who consider themselves "realists" in this regard are in the pockets of those who stand to lose, are traitors, or both.

[Straight Vermonter]

It seems obvious to me that the answer to energy independence is, as you suggest, diversifying. Nuclear is an obvious choice for electrical power. Tidal power, wave power and other reliable renewables should play a role too (wind and solar are dead ends). Biodiesel, ethanol and composted fuels should all play a role in supplanting our consumption of imported oil.

[Havoc]

Sheesh. Get everyone in the US to bag their mowed lawns and sell them weekly for the celulose content.. Problem solved. How many billions of acres of lawns are there in America..

[gotribe]

The problem with ethanol is that it is an unconcentrated form of energy, i.e. it takes too much feedstock to create a unit of energy compared to oil, nuke, etc. Efficiency and economics favors using the most concentrated forms of energy. Nuclear and hydrogen are better bets than ethanol in the long-run.

[azhenfud]

First, Brazil's economy is one-tenth the size of ours, and Brazil's motor fleet is about 100 vehicles per 1,000 people. Brazil's cars and trucks consume about 15 billion gallons of motor fuels annually....

In contrast, there are 765 vehicles per 1000 people in the U.S. consuming about 150 billion gallons of gasoline per year.

---

We have 7.65 times as many vehicles per 1000 persons as Brazil yet consume ten times more gasoline. It appears we should be abled to cut consumption to 114 billion gallons annually (or 7.65x15 billion) which would make our per capita consumption rate the same.

The best method to accomplish this is with an increase in fuel economy of vehicles. It is possible if we mandate autos to get a minimum 20MPG and phase out less efficient autos over a five year period by not renewing licenses of the lesser efficient after a specified date.

[Manic_Episode]

I've seen some moonshine mirages before, and let me tell you, they were quite realistic and terrifying. Phew.

[wita]

I would ask the same thing while middle american congress people are seemingly ga ga over ethanol because ethanol plants and corn planting are big business in SD ND NE etc.

[greasepaint]

commodity price for corn is about $2.50 per bushel.
yiels is 2.5 to 3 gallons per bushel.

only the starch is used, leaving behind some animal feed.

do the math, production could go up.
people are brrewing this stuff on their own.
note, ethanol has two-thirds the energy
content of gasoline.

[Trteamer]

Drill ANWR, drill the west coast, drill the gulf, build more refineries, build more nuclear plants, build more windmills, build more biodiesel plants, develop oil shale, start up a NASA program to come up with solutions for the future. We must have an all out effort to come up with future solutions, in the meantime we must wean ourselves of foreign oil and use our own oil. We have a lot of oil that we can't get to because of envirowaco hysteria.

The truth is we must use our own oil to keep the country strong while we invent the next generation of fuel.

[when the time is right]

One of the interesting and, I think, positive things in Brazil is the refining of the corn is done right on the farms by the farmers and the residue from the process is used to fuel the refinery. The farmers then sell their oil on the open market.

[kittymyrib]

We could run the entire country on the millions of tons of pig and cow manure that can be converted to fuel instead of being a pollution problem, as it is today. And the tasty animals do it for free! The author of this piece should watch the Discovery channel more.

[webstersII]

"Burning food for fuel raises some interesting moral questions in world in which 800 million people are still malnourished."

Sort of let on what his real agenda is here. He thinks our abundance in the face of the rest of the world's poverty is evil. The rest of the world is in poverty because of their own stupid choices. Instead of asking for money they should ask for help in reforming their bad gov't.

[SauronOfMordor]

Without subsidies, ethanol is not viable. Expanding ethanol production (and the associated subsidies) would bankrupt us.

Instead, build more nuke plants, get people who heat with fuel oil to switch to (nuke-generated) electric, invest in coal-to-gasoline conversion (economical when oil is above $30/bbl), etc

[wayoverontheright]

No, we cannot emulate the Brazilian model, because the Brazilian success story is one of increasing domestic supply of PETROLEUM, not ethanol.

We COULD emulate the Brazilian model if there was a ROCK which could be overturned in this country, to get at new sources of oil. The environmental lobby has PARALYZED our political machinery, such that there is NO ENERGY which couldn't be opposed.

The author of this article makes a good case that corn-based ethanol, ethanol from switchgrass, ethanol from orange peels, ethanol from wood chips, ethanol from sugar cane (Florida, Puerto Rico), ethanol from industrial waste, and ethanol from municipal waste, methanol and butanol, BY THEMSELVES are not the answer, and seems to say WHY BOTHER; but fails to acknowledge that combined these renewables COULD provide PART OF THE ANSWER, and thus all are worth persuing.

[snowsislander]

The article had a link to a very interesting joint report from our Departments of Agriculture and Energy:

http://feedstockreview.ornl.gov/pdf/billion_ton_vision.pdf

[Tarpon]

Why drill in ANWR, it only ads a few percent to our daily supply. Why drill off the coast, it only adds a few percent.

Anyone else think these folks are nuts?

While alcohol may not add that much, in farm states it could do a lot, so could biodiesel. Every little bit helps add to the supply in the long run. With biofuels you have to make very little changes to the basic engines in use today so the cost is low and switching fuels doesn't cause any problems -- the fuel injection system recalibrates for any blend of alcohol and gasoline between 0% and 80% automatically.

Nuclear power would solve our electricity problem. I will bet the writer of this drivel is for that, don't you.

[IronJack]

Once again, we're presented with a false dichotomy from the ethanol naysayers. "Since we can't do it ALL, why do ANYTHING?"

Nobody has said that the US can entirely replace gasoline with ethanol. But every gallon of ethanol -- produced DOMESTICALLY and benefiting AMERICA'S economy instead of some sand dune Shangri-La -- lessens the need for FOREIGN fuelstuffs.

What can possibly be the objection against promoting a domestic fuel material over continuing a ravaging dependence on foreign oil????