Posted on 02/08/2007 7:35:28 PM PST by Kitten Festival
Energy: Could lowly switch grass mow down the petropower tyranny of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez? A U.S.-Brazil ethanol pact signed this week may supply the fuel to do just that.
Chavez's hostile anti-American dictatorship grows worse as his oil earnings pile up. With the U.S. as his best customer, buying about a quarter, or 1.1 million barrels, of Venezuelan crude oil each day, the bitter coda is that every barrel we buy fuels his anti-U.S. actions.
These range from crazed speeches to colonial acquisitions like Bolivia to rogue-state alliances with Iran and Zimbabwe to menacing moves against neighbors like Dominica, Guyana and Colombia with $4 billion in weapons purchases.
High oil prices, low supply and his own expropriations of foreign oil partners in Venezuela only increase Chavez's oil cash and clout. The U.S. has been largely helpless, because it has few alternatives to buying Venezuelan crude.
But a new deal announced with Brazil to pool ethanol technology and produce greater quantities of ethanol in both countries could help. ...
The ultimate aim of the ethanol deal is to create a commodity market. This could give every country in the region alternatives for energy buying. In turn, it will undercut Chavez's monopoly and abusive influence.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, who flew to Brazil to iron out the deal, made no secret of that. "Energy has tended to distort the power of some of the states we find to be negative in the world — Venezuela, Iran," said Burns, quoted in the Washington Post. "And so the more we can diversify our energy sources and depend less on oil, the better off we will be."
...this signals an impressive new U.S. diplomatic offensive
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
Ethanol is a joke unless we start making it out of food.
Its pitiful. Our Gov is more frightened by the enviorowhacko fallout that they are about Chavez and Amadinajhad
Whatta yew mean, "beat me up?" I din't even ping you on THIS thread, yet!!! Gimme a break!!! (grin) (and I don't want the kind ol Steroid Schwartzenegger got, neither)
Shoot! We got enough oil in Canada and the Gulf of Mexico down deep to supply all of STARFLEET!!! (let alone off our FL & CA shores and the north slope of AK)
How interesting that both the U.S. and Brazil, two states that have been ethanol rivals for years, might benefit by an alliance at this point not only to resolve energy issues but to cut short the negative impact of a oil-drenched dictator. Ironically, by burning corn and sugar in our cars, the U.S. and Brazil can force Chavez to drink his oil.
Recipients of Corn Subsidies from farms in United States totaled $51,261,000,000 in from 1995-2005.
Well the Gov hasnt bought Global Warming yet, although the media and masses have
All that's said about ethanol is right. But if it helps put Hugo out of business, I am in favor of it. Every last bit helps.
The main way Brazil reached energy independance is the $10,000/an tax on every car makes cars too expensive for most.
If there's one single thing that Mexicans have come to depend on at all economic levels, it's the price of corn tortillas!!!
I don't want 'em pist at me, just to help out Archer Daniels Midland and a buncha dumb politicians tryin ta help a buncha smartassed farmers with Federally subsidized corn whiskey for botique gasoline that can't be piped to CA from IA!!!
Then, by Golly, I'll bet the border gets tightened up in a hurry!!! Ha ha Ha!!!
They've bought into more of it than you realize.
All it will succeed in doing is burning more of our dollars.
Did you repeat that idea here in hopes that it would go over really big???
And currently there is like a $.54 tarrif on imported ethanol that precluded us from buying the cheaper brazilian ethanol.
Theres a lot of shennanigans going on, but as fouled up as it is I believe Nicholas Burns is going after Chavez's golden egg here. Burns also just completed a Nuke power plant deal eith India that will cut of a major market to Iran
I once thought long ago, What about pond scum? as in pumping CO2 into algae reactors.
I just looked it up, you Pump CO2 into giant glass solar algae photobioreactors....then you got two options...1) make biodiesel from the algae, or 2) Make it anaerobic and collect the Hydrogen gas. In the first case, the entire cycle would be carbon neutral process to the atmosphere. In the second case, it be carbon reducing. (Not that I'm taking a side on global warming or anything)
I'm not saying that it will be feasable, but I suspect algae reactors would be more energy rich and more efficient to maintain than ethanol production from corn or grass fields.
It might also be possible to do this on the ocean surface somehow, so as not to take up much land area.
2 words...."flour tortillas" ;0)
Well said.
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