the myths of ethanol
townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2007/05/23/
the_many_myths_of_ethanol
Part of the whole science fictional hysteria over the myth of manmade global warming is the fantasy that ethanol is the solution that will save Planet Earth. In the words of that great philosopher from ESPN, Lee Corso, "Not so fast, my friend!" As it turns out, not only is the whole notion of manmade global warming a myth, but so is the notion of ethanol being the answer to cheap, clean energy. A summary of the problems with ethanol:
1. Ethanol will increase our energy usage. The claim that using ethanol will save energy is another myth. Studies show that the amount of energy ethanol produces and the amount needed to make it are roughly the same. "It takes a lot of fossil fuels to make the fertilizer, to run the tractor, to build the silo, to get that corn to a processing plant, to run the processing plant," Taylor says.
And because ethanol degrades, it can't be moved in pipelines the way that gasoline is. So many more big, polluting trucks will be needed to haul it.
2. Ethanol will not manke America "energy independent." A University of Minnesota study shows that even turning all of America's corn into ethanol would meet only 12 percent of our gasoline demand. As Taylor told an energy conference last March, "For corn ethanol to completely displace gasoline consumption in this country, we would need to appropriate all cropland in the United States, turn it completely over to corn-ethanol production, and then find 20 percent more land on top of that for cultivation."
3. Ethanol pollutes worse than gasoline, and produces the same amount of greenhouse gas as gasoline. See stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/E85PaperEST0207.pdf
One final problem not mentioned in the above link: America's farmers can't produce enough corn to supply both our fuel needs, and our food needs. Therefore, a massive switch to ethanol will cause the corn supply to greatly diminish and the price of corn worldwide to skyrocket. Starvation and massive increases in the price of fuel will be the result. The world economy would be crippled, and famine would sweep the globe. But that doesn't bother liberals, I suppose. I wonder if Al Gore has any investments in the corn market.
the_many_myths_of_ethanol
Part of the whole science fictional hysteria over the myth of manmade global warming is the fantasy that ethanol is the solution that will save Planet Earth. In the words of that great philosopher from ESPN, Lee Corso, "Not so fast, my friend!" As it turns out, not only is the whole notion of manmade global warming a myth, but so is the notion of ethanol being the answer to cheap, clean energy. A summary of the problems with ethanol:
1. Ethanol will increase our energy usage. The claim that using ethanol will save energy is another myth. Studies show that the amount of energy ethanol produces and the amount needed to make it are roughly the same. "It takes a lot of fossil fuels to make the fertilizer, to run the tractor, to build the silo, to get that corn to a processing plant, to run the processing plant," Taylor says.
And because ethanol degrades, it can't be moved in pipelines the way that gasoline is. So many more big, polluting trucks will be needed to haul it.
2. Ethanol will not manke America "energy independent." A University of Minnesota study shows that even turning all of America's corn into ethanol would meet only 12 percent of our gasoline demand. As Taylor told an energy conference last March, "For corn ethanol to completely displace gasoline consumption in this country, we would need to appropriate all cropland in the United States, turn it completely over to corn-ethanol production, and then find 20 percent more land on top of that for cultivation."
3. Ethanol pollutes worse than gasoline, and produces the same amount of greenhouse gas as gasoline. See stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/E85PaperEST0207.pdf
One final problem not mentioned in the above link: America's farmers can't produce enough corn to supply both our fuel needs, and our food needs. Therefore, a massive switch to ethanol will cause the corn supply to greatly diminish and the price of corn worldwide to skyrocket. Starvation and massive increases in the price of fuel will be the result. The world economy would be crippled, and famine would sweep the globe. But that doesn't bother liberals, I suppose. I wonder if Al Gore has any investments in the corn market.
posted by hondo at 9:19 AM
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