Second, there isn’t enough farm land in the world to plant enough corn to supply enough energy to the people of america. We’re talking automobiles, homes, factories, businesses…we’d probably need 5 planets of corn with continuous cultivation.
Third, there is the whole nitrogen problem. Corn is a very inefficient plant at taking in nitrogen. Nitrogen has to be manufactured and poured all over the fields so that the corn grows fast and large enough. This requires even more energy, more pollution, and a big mess if corn plantations continue to spread with this new demand.
And please, don’t even bring up palm oil…if you think that global warming is impacted by man, then using palm oil as an alternative energy may be the thing that kills us all.
And don’t forget about all of the energy required to grow and cultivate corn…you don’t just plant corn seeds and watch it grow…corn is one of the more difficult plants to grow. It requires huge fields to be plowed, machines to plant it, machines to cultivate it…all of those machines run on fossil fuels, and if you want them to run on ethanol, you’re going to be getting even less out of the yield if you factor all of that in.
Or, we can do it all by hand and see a fraction of the yield.
Kerry, shut the **** up. Ethanol is a type of alcohol, that comes from CORN. That is what I’m talking about. Ethanol. Not alcohol. I never mentioned alcohol in my post. And ethanol is the alternative energy source that is being presented and marketed by two of the top leaders in the United States. And shut the **** up about other forms of energy…I am asking why anyone thinks ETHANOL is a solution, because it’s such a hot topic.
And yes, I know why it is being marketed. Corporations like Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland are making a fortune off of this. Monsanto owns patents on the corn genome that is grown in this country, producing corn that only produces sterile seed, forcing farmers to rebuy fertile seeds from them annually. And this is why farmers in Mexico can no longer afford to grow their own corn.
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But don’t you think that by burning food in cars that more people will die of starvation and solve the root cause of Global Warming: overpopulation?
Maybe it’s a good thing after all. Ironic ain’t it?
First of all, corn is not the only source for alcohol. Secondly, I seriously doubt that anyone has any dreams of alcohol replacing gasoline for everything. I believe that you are making more of the issue than what needs to be made. You also seem to forget that the mash that is left over is still a usable product as an animal feed. Alcohol is not the only thing to make up for oil, it is only an aid to the problem. There are other ways to produce fuel, and you have obviously not done your home work to even scratch the surface of what alternatives exist. The biggest issue is that people are waiting for the government, or the oil companies to do something, and they won’t, not until it is financially profitable for them. Instead of knocking what is being tried, perhaps you should put that effort into helping to find solutions.
Why does anyone think that ethanol is a realistic alternative energy solution?
Well, if you’re a corn farmer or part of the agri-business industry, there’s a lot of money to be made if people THINK that it’s a viable alternative. The price of corn in this part of the world has already gone up so much that some people in Mexico can’t afford tortillas anymore.
If you’re a senator or congressman from Iowa, you can take credit for getting federal subsidies for the development of ethanol and get yourself re-elected to another term. You can also (probably) get a lot of campaign money from agri-business companies.
Ain’t life grand?
Just another scheme invented by those that would destroy our lives. People must be allowed to be in a position to help themselves out of this pollution crisis. Government is only in business to make money, they are an illegal corporation. People must take their lives and thier rights back. We must not be forced by government and big business to destroy our home world. People will find the right ways to live and living will be better once the fossil fuel burners are laid to rest.
if we converted all the corn produced in the world we wouldn’t come nearly close enough to replace the amount of oil required to sustain the world….it’s really really stupid, it’s already raising food prices….more oil is put on to make ethonal then it produces
it’s a disasterous idea….the government is promoting the idea to make people feel less panicked about the end of cheap oil…
A better solution would be hydrogen cells created using a renewable energy source, the only emission is water.
as for effective renewable sources of energy we have:
geothermal- which seems like the most productive option from what I’ve read although the government has created many barriers in tapping this source
solar- afaik it is inefficient at the moment but promising…I read an artical in Time about a guy in Israel who increased the efficiency by a huge amount using an array of mirrors and there is other promising work done in this area
wind- not very reliable but it works
tides, water currents- not as efficient as the others but it works
creating a perpetual motion machine-Bend those laws of physics
I think in order for for ethanol to be produced in the most efficient way possible, people would have to make it themselves because they get to use whatever they want instead of corn such as sugarcane or corn stalls. it would be domestically made, no need for huge trucks to transport them and its a fun skill to learn! but its just an idea.
Corn ethanol IS inefficient. However, CELLULOSIC ETHANOL can achieve much higher yields than corn.
You need to do some more searching on this topic, as switchgrass and miscanthus are capable of doubling the yield of ethanol output per acre. More research is being done to perfect the process.
Search google video for “cellulosic ethanol” and listen to the google tech talk. We could be the Saudi Arabia of ethanol production when cellulosic ethanol is considered.
Yes, ethanol is around the break-even point as an energy producer. Whether it’s above or below the line depends on who’s figures you use. It won’t be a clear net energy producer until a process is developed that uses the silage, rather than just the grain. That makes it quite a bit better than nuclear or coal, but nowhere near as good as water or solar. Most people involved in it read the trade journals, and are aware of this.
Of course there isn’t enough land available to grow enough corn to meet the the nation’s entire need for fuel. Whoever said there was? To be energy-independent of other countries will probably require more than one fuel option. Our current dependence is not based on a single fuel either.
I agree about the nitrogen fertilizer but it’s a fact of life for farmers in the USA on any crop, not just corn. It isn’t essential, it just squeezes a little more profit out of the dollar. In most cases that doesn’t go to the farmer. It’s been said “The American Farmer is going broke growing too much food in a starving world.”
Our politicians are accepting huge bribes from the corporations who are making millions of dollars on tax payer funded ethanol production. So there is money being made by everyone. Is this a great country or what? So what if it doesn’t work and it pollutes the planet? My truck burns 20 percent more fuel when I use 10 percent ethanol. Do the math. And this has the blessing of the environmental wacko people.
Ethanol is crap.
It takes 1.29 units of energy to make 1 unit of ethanol. Did you know it takes 1,700 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of ethanol.
Did you know we have 8 Times more OIL in Colorado than all OPEC countries combined. I have miles and miles on facts from ethanol.
Did you know ethanol put out more CO2 than gasoline because it evaporative rate is higher.
I could go on for hours why ethanol is crap.
Here is a quote from John Mccain!!!
McCain hadn’t changed his tune. “Ethanol is a product that would not exist if Congress didn’t create an artificial market for it. No one would be willing to buy it,” McCain said in November 2003. “Yet thanks to agricultural subsidies and ethanol producer subsidies, it is now a very big business – tens of billions of dollars that have enriched a handful of corporate interests – primarily one big corporation, ADM. Ethanol does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality.”
Ethanol BTU rating is only about 70% of gasoline. According to vehicles get between 25% to 34% less fuel economy.