An Energy Revolution

The American Enterprise Magazine ^ | Robert Zubrin

[jmcenanly]

CONSERVATION AND ALTERNATIVE-FUEL DAYDREAMS

The key to energy independence, rather, is liquid fuel to power cars, trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes. Hydrogen is not a source of energy. Either process necessarily consumes more energy than the hydrogen it produces.

THE ALCOHOL SOLUTION

The alcohols so employed could be either methanol or ethanol.

Ethanol is made from agricultural products. Cars capable of burning such fuel are no futuristic dream. Flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) offer consumers little advantage right now, because the high-alcohol fuels which they could employ are not generally available for purchase. Instead of being the world’s largest fuel importer, the United States could become the world’s largest fuel exporter. Recently, however, the comparative economics of alcohol fuels and gasoline have changed radically.

Two developments make a rapid transfer to high-alcohol fuels possible. ETHANOL OR METHANOL?

To date, all FFVs have been either methanol/gasoline designs or ethanol/gasoline designs. Combined methanol/ethanol/gasoline FFVs have not yet been produced. Methanol is cheaper than ethanol. Ethanol contains about 75 percent of the energy of gasoline per gallon, compared to 67 percent for methanol. Methanol is more corrosive than ethanol. A fuel system made acceptable for methanol use will also be fine for ethanol or pure gasoline.

If the Methanol produced from coal or natural gas has about the same impact on global warming as gasoline.

So if we are to use alcohol fuels to achieve energy independence, a broader resource base is needed.

[Voltage]

We would need to multiply our tillable acreage by 5 times in order to grow both food and sufficient corn. Please explain where that land is going to come from? And the water and fertilizer as well? And by the way, the fuel used in all that additional production.

[SuziQ]

There is plenty of arable land in this country. That there aren't as many 'family farms' as there used to be reflects the drop in the price of food. Most small farmers can't afford to grow it anymore because of economies of scale.

Yep fuel is used, but fuel will be used in producing any type of energy in this country; it's just that this would be a quickly renewable energy source that would not be as dangerous as oil-drilling and natural gas platforms. As for water needs, plant science continues to create hybrid plants that don't need as much water. The Great Plains are very dry, but grasses grow wild there; they must not need that much water. Isn't stickgrass one of these? The President mentioned it in his SOU address.

[RockinRight]

Alcohol can work but several challenges must be met:

-cheaper, more efficient production methods (will happen if/when demand requires it)
-efficiency of the engine running on it, since currently it takes more alcohol to pack the same punch as gasoline

[RockinRight]

Actually, I think we could do better than this. IIRC, there are types of corn that are very high-yield but poor eating quality that would work well for alcohol production.