Posted on 06/10/2007 4:51:37 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Next to the sales of indulgences and carbon offsets, corn based ethanol will probably be seen as one of history’s greatest scams.
Funny...I wonder how much he is being paid by Exxon-Mobil and BP...
In all seriousness. I honestly do not believe that it is biofuels that are the problem. It is the selective subsidizing of specific crops to use. Corn makes ethanol pretty well, but is not the best, nor the most efficient. All sorts of vegetable matter will work, as will much of the refuge that goes into landfills.
But here in the US, our gubmint has chosen (not by sheer chance) to push for Corn. Keep in mind that corn is extremely fertilizer and water dependent. Takes lots of both to grow a good corn crop. In fact, corn is a relatively expensive crop. There are far cheaper crops that would do as well and in the end would be more economical and closer to self-supportive. But as usual, it was the strong corn producers lobby that got it singled out.
Of course, one other fact left out - the leftover mash from ethanol production - it is also actually valuable for many purposes including animal feed and food additives. That value is generally left out of the balance book for folks who are against.
If you all couldn’t tell, I am a proponent of biofuels - IF DONE right. The current scheme is not my idea of a good plan.
But- with biodiesel - the farmers around here are going nuts for it. Many have been running some formula of it for 1-2 years. One observation by most - lower maintenance cost. Engines are running cleaner, getting better economy (both in terms of fuel cost and in work done per gallon). Noticeable results have been observed with as little as 4% bio. Higher % seem to bring more savings and results.
Actually the biggest subsidy is not on a specific crop but a specific fuel. The 51¢ per gallon paid on ethanol to the blender that uses it gets paid regardless what crop is used, or what country it comes from. All domestic energy production should be promoted.
Algae biomass isn’t within this, nor should it be considered a part of this generalized article.
No, but I like bacon for breakfast.
Well, dentists use nitrous oxide to ease the pain for their patients and Brits have bad teeth, so this ought to work out great for them.
Corn isn’t the best ethanol feedstock, but it’s the best one that can be grown in the U.S. on a massive scale. That’s why it gets used, not because of some conspiracy by “Big Corn.” Corn is actually pretty productive as an ethanol feedstock. The bushels per acre corn yields keep improving, with averages now around 155 bushels per acre and climbing. The gallons per bushel ethanol yields have gone up to an average of close to 2.8 gallons per bushel. Sugar cane is a better feedstock, but we can’t grow much of that here and what we do grow already commands a high price in our highly protected sugar industry. If there were a better feedstock, one cheaper to grow that would provide better per acre ethanol yields, our farmers would jump right on it because they’d love to be able to increase their profits. It’s not like it would be super hard for them to just plant something else other than corn in the spring. They’ll plant whatever they think will bring them the most money. If there was a big supply of a better, cheaper feedstock ethanol producers would snap it up too because like in any other industry these guys would love to reduce the costs of their raw materials.
I don’t grow corn and I don’t produce ethanol or own any stock in any companies that do either. I don’t think ethanol is the answer to our fuel problems, and it wouldn’t be even if we could grow higher yielding sugar cane on a huge scale here. But I have looked into this wondering why we use corn to produce most of our ethanol in this country and from what I can see it is because corn is the best thing we’ve got for it. They’ve done a lot of research in this area and are still trying to find better feedstocks. They’ve looked into things like sugar cane and sugar beets. Neither would fit the bill because neither can be grown on a huge scale here, and both already command a high price in the sugar industry. Sorghum works okay and some plants do use it to produce ethanol, but it does have its drawbacks making corn a more economical feedstock. Processes for production of ethanol from cellulose using crops like switchgrass are still way too expensive and yields using those processes still aren’t that great yet. Someday though it may be that we are able to produce several times as many gallon of ethanol per acre with these cellulose crops than we can from corn today and do it at a cheaper cost such so that ethanol could supply a much greater percentage of our fuel needs, but those working on all this still have a long way to go before that could be a reality.
“We calculate that the land will need to grow biodiesel crops for 70-300 years to compensate for the CO2 emitted in forest destruction.”
If these guys are truth tellers rather than greens trying to out-green each other, the thought police will come and get them... ask the guy at NASA.
It is a matter of choices and priorities, and the free market allocates those best.
I would discount such statements unless they come from credentialed historians.
b0ookmark
-—But I have looked into this wondering why we use corn to produce most of our ethanol in this country and from what I can see it is because corn is the best thing we’ve got for it.-—
I found this a little while ago, you might be interested.
THE ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF ETHANOL PRODUCTION FROM SUGAR IN THE UNITED STATES
http://www.usda.gov/oce/EthanolSugarFeasibilityReport3.pdf
USDA July 2006, see page iv
U.S. Corn wet milling = 1.03
U.S. Corn dry milling = 1.05
U.S. Sugar cane = 2.40
U.S. Sugar beets = 2.35
U.S. Molasses = 1.27
U.S. Raw sugar = 3.48
U.S. Refined sugar = 3.97
Brazil Sugar Cane = 0.81
E.U. Sugar Beets = 2.89
All in dollars per gallon
Nah don’t hunt them. We should ranch em........
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