Gore Exposed
Posted on 11/22/2010 5:28:16 PM PST by outinyellowdogcountry
ATHENS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said support for corn-based ethanol in the United States was "not a good policy", weeks before tax credits are up for renewal. Total U.S. ethanol subsidies reached $7.7 billion last year according to the International Energy Industry, which said biofuels worldwide received more subsidies than any other form of renewable energy. "It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for (U.S.) first generation ethanol," said Gore, speaking at a green energy business conference in Athens sponsored by Marfin Popular Bank. "First generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small. "It's hard once such a programme is put in place to deal with the lobbies that keep it going." He explained his own support for the original programme on his presidential ambitions. "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." The U.S. ethanol industry will consume about 41 percent of the U.S. corn crop this year, or 15 percent of the global corn crop, according to Goldman Sachs analysts. A food-versus-fuel debate erupted in 2008, in the wake of record food prices, where the biofuel industry was criticised for helping stoke food prices. "The size, the percentage of corn particularly, which is now being (used for) first generation ethanol definitely has an impact on food prices. "The competition with food prices is real."
(Excerpt) Read more at af.reuters.com ...
In other words, Gore has either lost a lot of money on his ethanol play or he has cashed out and is now out of the market.
Ethanol is bad for his new play, whatever that is, so he is talking it down
The Vessel with the Pessel has the Pellet that is Poison.
The Chalice from the Palace has the Brew that is True.
Yellow Dog,
You sound just like a Green! A Willie Green!
Neoliberalnot wrote:
“Currently, using corn to capture solar energy is the best method available in the US to reduce dependence on foreign oil.”
10% alcohol gas is a disaster. Not only does it make auto fuel more expensive directly to the consumer, it also has a 45 cent per gallon tax credit hidden in its price (the distributors get 45 taxpayer cents per gallon of fuel they can sell), and, worst of all, being a poorly thought out mandate by the guberment, it has ruined countless motors, carburetors, and gas tanks, thanks to its 3 month shelf life (after that, it separates and turns to acid), and its ability to dissolve and embrittle rubber and plastics.
Only someone involved in the government payoffs (of tax money) to corn farmers, distillers, and distributors would say anything positive about alcohol in auto fuel.
I’ll say it again gasohol is a disaster.
(By the way, I am not an “urbanite” Neoliberalnot, I am a country boy whose chainsaws, boats, fuel tanks, and dearly beloved 1977 f-250, etc, have been ruined by this vile stuff.)
This fat-slob, divorced uber-LIB Freak finally admits he is an idiot. Maybe he’s worried about the coming revolution. No forgiveness. No quarter.
Not to mention the stuff ruins boat engines. It’s expensive enough as it is to keep a boat seaworthy without the fuel sucking up salty moisture and depositing the corrosive stuff in every nook and cranny.
Don’t be fooled by what algore is doing here. He is saying first generation ethanol was a mistake. First generation=corn ethanol.
The push now within the federal government and by greenies is for second generation (cellulosic) ethanol. If you disliked the subsidies paid for corn ethanol, you are absolutely going to HATE the subsidies required for cellulosic ethanol.
It would seem that candidates in the Iowa presidential caucuses might well be advised to develop some new issues ... like tarring and feathering politicians who preach expensive junk science government programs.
I’d recommend ditching the drowning polar bear crying towels, too.
Oh, I’m no surprised the Gore is abandoning ethanol. Most enviro-freaks have done so, so it’s become a losing game.
What surprises me is his admission that he pushed it for political gain in the first place.
Kind of a Buddhist Temple moment, if you ask me. Although I suppose the media can just brush it under the rug. But I just sent it out to my email list.
That’s what I thought.
comeday morm, and O! you’re vine
sendday eve, and ah!, you’re vinnegar
Ho ho ho Mr Funn you’re going to be fined again
Ha ha ha Mr Finn, you’re going to be Mr Finn Again!
1. Does the incorporation of ethanol into motor fuel raise, or lower, the pump price? Price is same or lower—lower in states like Iowa and Nebraska.
2. Does the incorporation of ethanol into motor fuel improve, or reduce, efficiency (as measured by mpg). Slight reduction, but of course this reduces gasoline consumption 10% by volume which exceeds the slight reduction in mpg.
3. Does the incoorporation of ethanol into motor fuel do a damn thing to reduce harmful emissions — which was its original justification? Yes.
4. In the absence of massive subsidies, would ethanol be any factor whatsoever in our energy supply? Yes—has been around since the 1970s. Hitler ran much of his war machine on ETOH.
I favor elimination of all government subsidies, but not selected ones as you seem to suggest. If you favor elimination of ALL, we share the same ground.
Everyone new that it was stupid, except the corn producers
who would get way over value for their product, by way of
government subsides, the politicians who would get brownie
points from the radical environmentalists, who will do
anything to harm our country and capitalism.
Taking human food to produces fuel for our cars when better
fuel at a lower price (gasoline) is available wrong in so
many ways.””
Are you suffering from lack of food? Newsflash!! It isn’t your product to decide what to do with it. If farmers wish to turn it into energy it is their personal freedom to do so.
If they can convert it to alcohol without my tax dollars
fine, they can dig a hole a bury the corn for all I care.
Just don’t use my tax dollars for this swindle. That is my
point.
I have been using ETOH since the early 80s. I sold my 1980 DATSUN truck in 1992 with 120K on it and the neighbor that bought it drove it another 50K and sold it. I must have maintained it better?? I am sorry if your engines wear out but if you didn’t run a side-by-side control using pure gasoline you don’t have any evidence to indict the measly 10% ETOH. Are you aware of the myriad of other gasoline additives? Engines don’t last forever, they wear out no matter what you do.
400 gallons ETOH/acre (captured sunlight) is not a swindle. I have no problem with cutting ALL government sudsidies to business, but I do have a problem with the selective cuts when they are promoted by oil energy sources; you know, the competition in the energy business. Don’t get me wrong, I support domestic drilling, nuclear and other viable energy options. ETOH does have a place and has for 40 years. Actually, Hitler ran much of war machine on ETOH. The attacks on ETOH are new, the technology is decades old and more efficient now.
“Overall (farming, distillation), it takes 129,600 BTU to produce a
gallon of EtOH (ethanol), but the energy value of a gallon of EtOH is
only 76,000 BTU. In SI units [conversions in footnote 3]: it takes
45.7 MJ to produce a kilogram of EtOH, but the energy value of that
kilogram of EtOH is 26.8 MJ.”
“There is thus a net energy loss of about 54,000 Btu for every gallon
(18.9 MJ for every kilogram) of EtOH produced. Unlike the old joke
about the tailor who claims he loses money on every suit, but stays in
business by ‘making up for it in quantity’, there is no deception
here. It’s a losing proposition.”
You can read the whole article here:
http://www.energyadvocate.com/etohscam.htm
True advancements in a capitalist system, would be one that
can pay for its own way allowing for a profit for the producer and a better product for the consumer. ETOH doesn’t seem to fit that criteria with current technology.
Besides, if left wing environmentalist are for something, I’m immediately suspect. IMO.
I can assure you I am not on the left wing. The article you cite is not a refereed scientific publication. ETOH provides a 30% gain in energy at over 300 gallons/acre from feed-grade corn. This information comes from an Agricultural Economist at the University of Missouri.
Let me just ask you a simple question to see what you know about farming, ok? How many gallons of diesel does it take to plant one acre?
I know nothing of farming, other than I grow a few tomatoes
behind my house during the summer. I do know that Al Gore
was a major proponent of ETOH for years, this makes me
suspect of the whole industry. A good industry should not
require billions of dollars to prop it up with our tax money.
If ETOH can sustain itself well and good. That is all I’m
saying, just don’t prop it up with our tax dollars.
There is a reason that our nation is in total bankruptcy.
Trillions is nothing to sneeze at.
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