Posted on 11/30/2010 6:17:53 PM PST by pissant
In Greece earlier this month, Al Gore made a startling admission: "First-generation ethanol, I think, was a mistake." Unfortunately, Americans have Gore to thank for ethanol subsidies. In 1994, then-Vice President Al Gore ended a 50-50 tie in the Senate by voting in favor of an ethanol tax credit that added almost $5 billion to the federal deficit last year. And that number doesn't factor the many ways in which corn-based ethanol mandates drive up the price of food and livestock feed.
Sure, he meant well, but as Reuters reported, Gore also said, "One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president."
In sum, Gore demonstrated that politicians are lousy at figuring out which alternative fuels make the most sense. Now even enviros like Friends of the Earth have come to believe that "large-scale agro-fuels" are "ecologically unsustainable and inefficient." That's a polite way of saying that producers need to burn through a boatload of fossil fuels to make ethanol.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
All he had was money.
David Pimental, a leading Cornell University agricultural expert, has calculated that powering the average U.S. automobile for one year on ethanol (blended with gasoline) derived from corn would require 11 acres of farmland, the same space needed to grow a year’s supply of food for seven people. Adding up the energy costs of corn production and its conversion into ethanol, 131,000 BTUs are needed to make one gallon of ethanol. One gallon of ethanol has an energy value of only 77,000 BTUS. Thus, 70 percent more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy that actually is in it. Every time you make one gallon of ethanol, there is a net energy loss of 54,000 BTUs.
Among his findings are:
* An acre of U.S. corn yields about 7,110 pounds of corn for processing into 328 gallons of ethanol. But planting, growing and harvesting that much corn requires about 140 gallons of fossil fuels and costs $347 per acre, according to Pimentel’s analysis. Thus, even before corn is converted to ethanol, the feedstock costs $1.05 per gallon of ethanol.
* The energy economics get worse at the processing plants, where the grain is crushed and fermented. As many as three distillation steps are needed to separate the 8 percent ethanol from the 92 percent water. Additional treatment and energy are required to produce the 99.8 percent pure ethanol for mixing with gasoline.
* Adding up the energy costs of corn production and its conversion to ethanol, 131,000 BTUs are needed to make 1 gallon of ethanol. One gallon of ethanol has an energy value of only 77,000 BTU. “Put another way”, Pimentel says, “about 70 percent more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy that actually is in ethanol. Every time you make 1 gallon of ethanol, there is a net energy loss of 54,000 BTU”.
* Ethanol from corn costs about $1.74 per gallon to produce, compared with about 95 cents to produce a gallon of gasoline. “That helps explain why fossil fuels-not ethanol-are used to produce ethanol”, Pimentel says. “The growers and processors can’t afford to burn ethanol to make ethanol. U.S. drivers couldn’t afford it, either, if it weren’t for government subsidies to artificially lower the price”.
* Most economic analyses of corn-to-ethanol production overlook the costs of environmental damages, which Pimentel says should add another 23 cents per gallon. “Corn production in the U.S. erodes soil about 12 times faster than the soil can be reformed, and irrigating corn mines groundwater 25 percent faster than the natural recharge rate of ground water. The environmental system in which corn is being produced is being rapidly degraded. Corn should not be considered a renewable resource for ethanol energy production, especially when human food is being converted into ethanol”.
* The approximately $1 billion a year in current federal and state subsidies (mainly to large corporations) for ethanol production are not the only costs to consumers, the Cornell scientist observes. Subsidized corn results in higher prices for meat, milk and eggs because about 70 percent of corn grain is fed to livestock and poultry in the United States. Increasing ethanol production would further inflate corn prices, Pimentel says, noting: “In addition to paying tax dollars for ethanol subsidies, consumers would be paying significantly higher food prices in the marketplace”.
* Nickels and dimes aside, some drivers still would rather see their cars fueled by farms in the Midwest than by oil wells in the Middle East, Pimentel acknowledges, so he calculated the amount of corn needed to power an automobile:
* The average U.S. automobile, traveling 10,000 miles a year on pure ethanol (not a gasoline-ethanol mix) would need about 852 gallons of the corn-based fuel. This would take 11 acres to grow, based on net ethanol production. This is the same amount of cropland required to feed seven Americans.
* If all the automobiles in the United States were fueled with 100 percent ethanol, a total of about 97 percent of U.S. land area would be needed to grow the corn feedstock. Corn would cover nearly the total land area of the United States.
With that scheme and the carbon trading I hope it is all exposed and he and the other criminals like Algor lose everything that they have. It looks to me like the greedy commie elites play the hand too soon and now that the economy is in serious trouble people have waken up and now, I hope, there is hell to pay for them.
But we need to pass the bill so we can find out what’s in it.
/sarc
The truly terrible thing is the waste of all that consumable alcohol by diluting it with gasoline... *sigh*
You've long been a liar, a cheat, a thief, and a treasonous bastard, Al. But with ethanol, you finally hit the communist big time - murdering the masses.
How many carbon credits need to be offset for each death by starvation, you bloated pervert?
Really? Gore himself admitted that he did it to get votes from two key farm states when he was running for office.
This is one of the few times that I can’t admire someone for admitting they were wrong. $5 billion isn’t a joke (at least it used not to be).
Yup
In sum, Gore demonstrated that politicians are lousy at figuring out which alternative fuels make the most sense<<<
NOOOOOOO!...... Gore demonstrated that “politicians” are lousy at figuring out what is right for the whole damned Country...It really is that simple IMHO!
Gore knew it. Every member of congress (Rs and Ds) with an IQ above room temp knew it, but they passed it anyway because it suit their political purposes.
That is the problem with politicians having a say with complex problems such as energy. Get the government and politicians the hell out of the subsidy business! They will always do what is best for them and every one else can just go to hell.
If the creep were still running for office, he would have never admitted it.
The only reason he's doing it now is because the eco-commies are now down on ethenol, and the eco-commies is where Gore gets his check from.
The SOB has never cared about anything but his own bank account.
Albert Gore Jr. is not that self aware.
Albert Gore Jr. is not that self aware.
That should read, "a certain fondness for Archer Daniels Midland."
Google: Tennessee, switch grass
.....If all the automobiles in the United States were fueled with 100 percent ethanol.....
There would be a nation of alcoholics. To prevent human consumption, ethanol must be denatured with gasoline
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