There's a better solution to our energy problems than ethanol. It's called nuclear energy.

The Weekly Standard ^ | 04/28/2008 | William Tucker

[DeaconBenjamin]

We need to contact our reps and tell them we need more refineries, and drill for oil in our own country

You can suggest this as a start:

H.R.5437 Title: To promote alternative and renewable fuels, domestic energy production, conservation, and efficiency, to increase American energy independence, and for other purposes.

[RSmithOpt]

Hmmmm.....but we have no import duties on Chia pet stuff...not even poisoned pet food additives made from coal.

Ethanol is not a good fuel for autos....LNG, CNG are very clean.

Coal smokestack scrubbers already remove 70% of the pollutants, newer technologies are boasting 90% removal.

We need to send a bill to the greenies every time they take a dump in a municipal sewage system and every bag of trash they create.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Bump for tonight.

[Neoliberalnot]

Your ignorance of Agriculture is stifling to say the least. Have you ever planted anything besides a flower? Your hateful ax to grind against the world’s most productive food producers has an agenda not unlike the middle east oil producers. A little info on what others are paying for energy—you can blame American farmers for these prices too.

We have chosen just a few countries around the world that may give you an idea of what consumers are having to pay for gasoline in those countries. All amounts have been converted to U.S. $ and to U.S. Gallons. If you care to check other locations world wide, click on the link at the end of the list.
—
United States...... $3.61

Australia (Melbourne)........ $5.18
Brazil (São Paulo) ............. $6.01
Canada ....................... $4.62
China ............................. $2.44
Denmark (Copenhagen).... $8.14
Egypt (Cairo) ................... $0.93
Finland ........................... $7.98
Germany ........................ $8.63
Hong Kong ..................... $7.56
India (Bangalore) ............ $4.61
Iran ............................ $0.33
Israel ............................. $7.20
Italy .............................. $7.30
Japan ............................ $3.84
Kuwait (Kuwait City) ........ $0.78
Mexico (Mexico City)........ $2.36
New Zealand .................. $5.42
Nigeria (Lagos) ............... $0.38
Norway (Oslo) ................ $9.55
Philippines (Manila) ........ $3.54
Romania (Bucharest) ...... $6.32
Russia (Moscow) ........... $3.04
Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) .... $0.45
Singapore .................... $5.19
Switzerland (Zurich) ...... $6.24
Sweden ........................ $7.42
Thailand ....................... $2.61
Turkey ........................ $10.13
Turkmenistan ................ $0.29
Ukraine ........................ $4.43
United Kingdom ............. $8.18
Venezuela (Caracas) ...... $0.17

[Neoliberalnot]

‘You must not have much experience with diesel tractors.”

I grew up in Iowa.

But you’re a farmer, no wonder you are supporting ethanol. You finally can sell corn for more than it costs to plant.””

I stand corrected then. Please accept my apology. But I am telling you my tractor burns somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3 of a gallon/acre pulling a 15 no-till planter. I have lived in Iowa too. What a great place to farm with some of the most productive farmland in the world.

[Neoliberalnot]

“”What a load of bull. Corn exports are up even with the usage for ethanol.””

Yep, but most people commenting here have never sat a tractor and certainly would never take the time to view the USDA statistics on grain exports. The article is about vilifying agriculture and the world’s most productive food producers to further undermine the nation.

[fairtrader]

$1,200,000 per MVA for a new Coal plant

$2,000,000 per MVA for a new Nuke Plant.
*** (the actual number here is more like $3,000,000 when you factor in the Legal and Permitting Costs)

[thackney]

I do know that we have a good stock of uranium as well.

Really, then why is the majority of our uranium come from foreign suppliers?

Uranium Purchased by Owners and Operators of U.S. Civilian Nuclear Power Reactors, 1994-2006 Deliveries

U.S. Uranium Reserves Estimates
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/reserves/ures.html

[fairtrader]

The answer my friends is Helium3, which gives us real Fusion.

6.7 Tons would power the entire U.S. for a year

But we need to go to the Moon to Get it. Have you wondered why the Chineese, Russians, Indians, and Euopeans have this new found desire to explore the Moon ?

[thackney]

Heck, nuclear reprocessing of the fuel we have would go a long ways towards stretching the supply we have with the technology we have. But thanks to President Carter we cannot do that, unlike Japan, France and Russia.

[JasonC]

Red herring fallacy. It isn't grinding anything to demand that methods of production in a free economy operate on their actual costs and justify themselves by actual value delivered for those costs. The cheapest means should be used because they make the best use of abundant and the least of scarcer and more valuable resources. It is obvious at current prices that farmland can produce far more human value producing food, than it can producing ersatz gasoline, and its need for subsidy is the tangible sign of that patent fact.

If ethanol is supposedly beneficial, it does not need subsidizing. If it needs subsidizing, it is not beneficial. The rest is spin and a smoke machine.

[redgolum]

As a former ADM employee, I think you understate things! The corn side was like something out of a Sinclair novel. Did have much to do with the oil seed side, but their biggest problem was the plants kept catching on fire.

But the anti ethanol screed here lately is overdone. There is a place for ethanol, and the byproduct makes a lot better feed for cattle than corn. The problem is it was way oversold to guys who had no idea how to run a plant and who will end up going bankrupt. We have way to many plants for efficient distribution, not to mention cattle prices suck right now.

Ethanol is not causing food prices to rise, oil is. Many farmers I have talked to are very nervous right now. They can't contract their fuel out till fall anymore, and they are having a hard time locking in the prices for harvest. That is a recipe for disaster if fuel keeps going up or prices crash. Which they will.

[redgolum]

Ethanol in Brazil is going up in price. With the two major oil fields just found inside their waters, the need isn't as great as before. And many are switching from sugar cane to soy beans.

Besides if we import ethanol, people will blame that for starving penguins or something. The whole point of the “environmental” movement is control.

[redgolum]

Ever wonder what the subsidies on the oil side are?

For starters, they operate under a very loose version of the EPA permitting process. They can get away with things that the ethanol plants can't even dream of! (The Region V EPA guys I used to have to deal with laughed about it all the time.) And if you use the same methodology that Piemetal did for ethanol for oil, it is a rather interesting result. In case you aren't familiar with the Pimetal study (though every one from Rush Limbaugh to those on this board quote it all the time), he counted the energy used to build the shed the farmer's tractor sits in among other things to say ethanol doesn't work out. An NREL study showed that ethanol production in modern plants showed a net energy gain.

The ethanol subsidies have either run out or will soon. The most generous were (four years or so ago) in Minnesota, and they expired a while ago.

[JasonC]

The largest are - exempt from federal fuel tax; protected by a steep import tariff; general farm subsidies.

Remove them.

[Neoliberalnot]

Don’t be foolish, there isn’t an industry in the country that isn’t subsidized or that has not received a subsidy in the past. If the same rules apply to all, then no problem, but that is not reality.

I would rather there were no subsidies and that farmers had organized long ago to capture fair value for their products. My father sold corn for $2/Bu in 1950 which is the same price it sold for no more than 3 years ago. You have a pathetic understanding of agriculture and farmers aren’t here to put food on your plate for free. Look around you and see how many people consume too much grain.

[Delacon]

Because they can provide it at a cheaper price right now. Our deposits are in sandstone and refining it costs way more than it does for other countries whose deposits are more pure. The issue was if we had enough domestic uranium to supply the US’s reactors into the forseeable future if we had to. The answer is a qualified yes. We get our current domestic supply of uranium enriched by USEC. Currently the enrichment facilities can’t meet our demand. Their facilities would have to be massively expanded and updated. We are tied for forth with South Africa in known recoverable uranium supplies. There is also the political angle. We did an agreement to buy Russia’s weapons grade uranium back in 1993 called “megatons to megawatts” and 50% of our reactors our currently using Russian and US uranium that was intended for warheads.

[Delacon]

Thanks for the info but it really doesn’t answer my question. After costs of construction(and maintenance costs) are factored in, which is cheaper, a megawatt of coal powered electricity or a megawatt of nuclear powered electricity? This is not to be confused with what they will charge based on the market.

[ExSoldier]

....and drilling in our own oil fields, and building more refineries and telling the envir-O-NAZIs to go pound sand.

A-FREAKING-MEN! Well said!

[ctdonath2]

But that single flatbed truck hauling uranium required raw ore on par with that daily 110-car train load. There may be a 2,000,000:1 ratio of energy release, but it’s about two million times easier to mine & burn coal than mine & refine & split uranium.