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Ethanol could leave the world hungry
Cnn.com ^
| 8-16-06
| Lester Brown
Posted on 08/29/2006 5:55:39 AM PDT by Hydroshock
The growing myth that corn is a cure-all for our energy woes is leading us toward a potentially dangerous global fight for food. While crop-based ethanol -the latest craze in alternative energy - promises a guilt-free way to keep our gas tanks full, the reality is that overuse of our agricultural resources could have consequences even more drastic than, say, being deprived of our SUVs. It could leave much of the world hungry.
We are facing an epic competition between the 800 million motorists who want to protect their mobility and the two billion poorest people in the world who simply want to survive. In effect, supermarkets and service stations are now competing for the same resources.
FORTUNE 500 Current Issue Subscribe to Fortune
More about bio-fuels Why Wal-Mart wants to sell ethanol
E85 is available at only a tiny fraction of gas stations. But the giant retailer is poised to change that. (more) Manure mountains to fuel ethanol plant One company's drive to locate domestic sources of energy is taking a turn into the barnyard. (more) Soybeans that give you gas Argentina is a prime market for making and selling renewable biodiesel fuel thanks to cheap land and labor, as well as bumper crops of soybeans. (more)
This year cars, not people, will claim most of the increase in world grain consumption. The problem is simple: It takes a whole lot of agricultural produce to create a modest amount of automotive fuel.
The grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV gas tank with ethanol, for instance, could feed one person for a year. If today's entire U.S. grain harvest were converted into fuel for cars, it would still satisfy less than one-sixth of U.S. demand.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: energy; ethanol; growhempfools
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To: from occupied ga
So instead you want to send even more to them.
No, I prefer to send as little as possible.
181
posted on
08/29/2006 8:39:58 AM PDT
by
P-40
(Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
To: RedMonqey
To: P-40
The military cost is not because of oil.
Saudi Arabia. Same question back to you. If we became energy independent, how many aircraft carriers would we sell? How many tanks? How many divisions would we disband?
183
posted on
08/29/2006 8:43:02 AM PDT
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: Ouderkirk
Which is how we ended up with gasoline as the choice for motor fuel. We also have the fact that only recently do we have reliale engines that can really take advantage of ethanol's very high octane and built-in oxygen.
To: cripplecreek
"Like I said before, you people will just have to suck it up and cope because the plants are being built all across the country as I write this and none of your arguments seem to be stopping them."
And that is your best argument? People and governments spending good money after bad?
I bet you also invested in "cold fusion" back in the eighties?
185
posted on
08/29/2006 8:43:18 AM PDT
by
RedMonqey
(Liberal Agenda : "You've got it, I want it, you owe me,")
To: Hydroshock
Is there someone with a good grasp of economics who can explain the reasoning behind agricultural subsidies?
Knowing as we do, from plentiful experience, that governmental manipulation of markets always makes things worse, what is the reasoning behind this welfare? Is it simply the political points gained, or is there some economic reasoning behind giving billions of dollars away to farmers?
186
posted on
08/29/2006 8:43:26 AM PDT
by
TChris
(Banning DDT wasn't about birds. It was about power.)
To: from occupied ga
90% of the research dispells Pimental's biased, 10 year old study. It may be popular for the Sierra Club mentality you represent, but worthless trash to the rest of theeducated world.
187
posted on
08/29/2006 8:44:20 AM PDT
by
o_zarkman44
(ELECT SOME WORKERS AND REMOVE THE JERKERS!.)
To: RedMonqey
a world that needs food more than fuel
The world needs stability more than anything. With stability, you get food and fuel.
188
posted on
08/29/2006 8:44:58 AM PDT
by
P-40
(Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
To: rollin
What I live in the farm regions. Most of our farmers can tell you they are paid to not plant half their land . They would tell you, they want imports into the country . Where have you been, open you eyes when you drive through the farm lands of America how much of it is not planted. You must have grown up in a city area. I did not. As far as stating that if we became energy independent of foreign oil the middle east would not be angry and lose a lot of money prove to me it is not true. The oil companies lobbied our pres before Clinton and Bush 41 to drop all the energy ideas we had in the 70s. Look I can't stand Jimmy Carter but he was right about solar and gas made from corn. Oh yea , you want facts since at this time of the year I visit the farmers I know personally, for a lot of produce, ever hear of the stove that burns all day on a small bag of corn. Yes you want facts well there is one out there,and the dealer told me they are so back ordered they cannot keep them in stock. You want facts , go visit the farmer's, or better still call you congressman and ask him if I am right.
To: RedMonqey
You're the genius that keeps saying "grain" to avoid getting an inadvertant look at reality.
If you don't like it, start your own drilling company and compete.
190
posted on
08/29/2006 8:46:23 AM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?)
To: Loud Mime; P-40
Here in Iowa, the largest corn producer in the country, irrigation is -not- widely used for growing corn. The same is true in Illinois, the second-largest producer; it's just not necessary. The water used in production is not an issue;
it's not like the water is destroyed.
191
posted on
08/29/2006 8:47:16 AM PDT
by
xjcsa
(The internet is not a truck. It's a series of tubes.)
To: thackney
Same question back to you.
It would depend on just how independent we become, would it not? If you were to subtract what is paid to protect our non-domestic energy interests from the national budget, even adjusting for the loss of sales revenue from equipment sold...you are talking billions.
192
posted on
08/29/2006 8:51:08 AM PDT
by
P-40
(Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
To: Graybeard58
Why, because we pay our farmers not to plant. Ask the farmers if they can do it . I did!
To: TChris
Is there someone with a good grasp of economics who can explain the reasoning behind agricultural subsidies?
In large part, you would need a good grasp of politics to understand the issue...not economics. The government don't do economics. :)
194
posted on
08/29/2006 8:54:05 AM PDT
by
P-40
(Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
To: P-40
I don't agree. I don't see the military cost going down at all. We did not go to Afghanistan because of oil. Or Somalia, or Kosovo, or Vietnam, or Korea. I believe if we were not in Iraq now, we would probably be in North Korea. I think we can and should be 100% energy independent, at least cut down to supplies from North America. It would not take new technology or great changes. It would only take the will to produce our own resources. We now import more uranium than we produce. We have let environmentalists and democrats strangle this country.
195
posted on
08/29/2006 8:55:26 AM PDT
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: betsyross1776
ever hear of the stove that burns all day on a small bag of corn.
Those things are pretty cool. Be a good way to get rid of corn infested with aflatoxin.
196
posted on
08/29/2006 8:56:53 AM PDT
by
P-40
(Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
To: thackney
197
posted on
08/29/2006 8:58:31 AM PDT
by
hlmencken3
(Originalist on the the 'general welfare' clause? No? NOT an originalist!)
To: hlmencken3
Thank you, I knew that number could not be true.
198
posted on
08/29/2006 9:00:37 AM PDT
by
thackney
(life is fragile, handle with prayer)
To: thackney
I don't see the military cost going down at all.
I think it would go down eventually. Part of our problem now is that we are supplying funds to our enemies with every barrel of oil we buy from them. We support unpopular governments because we need their oil. Frankly, if we were to revert back to a time when our very existence was not dependent on a product that came from some rather unpleasant sources, we would have less problems to deal with where our involvement is required...but would still have those where our involvement is mandatory.
199
posted on
08/29/2006 9:01:11 AM PDT
by
P-40
(Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
To: P-40
I am telling you they got one. It burns all day on one bag of corn. Maybe they have a website .I talk to the farmer when I go for produce this week end. See I support our local famrs and farmers and he sell s those stoves in his barn. I will get back to you .Betsy
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