Bait & switch: switched grass for rat bait.
Posted on 11/11/2009 11:07:04 PM PST by neverdem
the key point here is,
corn cobs being used,
not corn
Good article. Thanks for posting.
A follow-up article with more details is needed. Who profited from the swichgrass fiasco? Who made the promises that weren’t kept? Who were the legislators who funded it?
Green energy is a huge drain on the economy and there will be little to show for it. Yet eco-frauds will be making billions.
zer0bama seems to think Cuba and Zimbabwe are the models of economic prowess we should follow.
How much oil could we have drilled and refined for that $55 Million?
A hell’uva lot!
corn cobs being used,
not corn
OK, but what happened to the switchgrass?
there are two issues here.
No 1. ethanol from cellulose. I don’t know how that is doing,
___but they are getting SOME output. perhaps there are some ___problems, so they changed from switchgrass to something
___easier.
No 2. there is no market for the switchgrass, something went
___ wrong, see No. 1
Yeah, I would’ve liked to hear a little bit more science in that article. Why exactly were they unable to make sufficient quantities of cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass? I’m assuming that they’re making cellulosic ethanol from corn cobs.
in my opinion, the article looks biased.
written by either,
someone working for the oil industry,
(lots of those here at FR, btw)
or,
people who hate the US but like the ragheads in the
middle east
(lots of those at FR, btw)
I thought this was going to be an article about the latest advances in Algae-oil. Since it is about corn cobs and switch grass, next topic.
Can they bottle the stuff up dye it green and market it as “Tennesse Green Guzzlene” ?
Bait & switch: switched grass for rat bait.
bttt
It’s not really biased, but more in line with the truth. I work in the agricultural sciences field. My opinion is that most of the cellulosic bioenergy programs are a waste of tax dollars - but it is a popular initiative.
About 18 months ago I visited a “pilot project” for cellulosic ethanol at a major universtiy. Tens of millions of dollars had been spent on the small but industrial sized plant. The process from loading the vats to refining the output took 8 months. The yield was less than 10 gallons of fuel.
Ten gallons.
I read an article a few months ago about Spain’s experience with a “green” economy. According to the article for every “green” job created four nongreen jobs were lost. If that’s the case, it’s a poor choice, never mind the pros and cons of using fossil fuels or biofuels.
The article is a complete piece of propaganda, using a specific failure (cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass) of a single process to condemn all alternate energy research funding. Some idiot applying for a grant got overly optimistic about the state of the art in cellulosic ethanol and "jumped the gun" before all the bugs were worked out. It happens, and not just in the alternate energy business.
90 MILLION TAX DOLLARS later and the article is biased?
Yea, it is all the biased writers fault.
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