|
|
<a_plutonium@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1150615796.441742.297310@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> I am getting annoyed by politicians running for office who tout ethanol
> as a great new energy source. Iowa and Nebraska are campaigning with
> ethanol as an issue. This does great harm. For farmers and others may
> think that ethanol is some sort of solution.
>
> Ethanol can be a solution provided the farming of grains is done
> without using any petroleum products. That means the old way of farming
> using horses and no tractors.
>
> The science is that it takes 1.5 gallons of gasoline/diesel to produce
> 1 gallon of ethanol.
Snip......
That is simply not true, it's old data pushed by David Pimental and others.
A more modern number shows a net positive energy balance of 167%. This
includes all inputs and outputs including transportation, fertilizer,
farming, distilation, etc. It results in a net energy INCREASE for corn
ethanol of approxametely 33,000 BTU's per gallon. Source: Hosein, USDA,
2001.
Beyond that, nobody expects corn to be the ultimate source for ethanol in
the future. Corn is convienient and available at this time but in the
future, cellulostic ethanol using far more of the biomass will become the
norm. It's efficiency should be higher because of greater plant utilization
and lower farming costs.
Bob
|
|