Pretty sad when we start burning food for fuel.
The debate is about to change in a big way. Corn ethanol is going to build out to about 12-15 billion gallons/yr. That much is in the pipeline now. There may be some growth beyond that as yields increase and/or more acreage shifts into corn, but the emerging story is cellulosic ethanol.
The first commercial scale cellulosic ethanol plants are being built now. If they can hit their projected price points, the buildout will begin in the next couple of years. What the feedstocks will be a decade from now is anyone's guess; there are hundreds of potential feedstocks being investigated, and all involved recognize that we have barely scratched the surface in terms of investigating the biosphere for candidates.
The conventional estimate is that we have the biomass potential right now to supply 30% of our transportation fuel needs from currently identified cellulosic feedstocks: mainly current farm and forest wastes and some recycling. That is without the development of dedicated energy crops. This is an open door. There is some neat stuff out there. In hand -- no, of course not. Yet.
But biofuels are clearly a live option as are, further down the road, electric cars and hydrogen fuel cells, singly or in combination. Lots of options.
Especially when it's not at all necessary, practical or cost efficient to do so......
You may be on to something. Wasn’t it corn that the gubmint was paying farmers NOT to grow???
Do you really think we don’t get enough corn starch in our diets?
Why?
You don't think there is a world food shortage do you? Starvation always has a local cause.
Food is what has always fueled our bodies efficiently. Calories are a measure of energy and food has quite a bit.
When is the last time you ate corn silage?
If you want to bring emotion to a commodity usage debate why not say "Pretty sad when so many of us are obese and yet farmers keep growing more food.... if only we could use it for something else." Why should our government continue paying farmers to grow weeds instead of crops or dump milk or store cheese in mines to keep food prices up when farmers could convert the excess into fuel?
WAAA WAAAA we're burning food for fuel while women and children are starving in Africa. Boo Frigging HOO! Those who starve in Africa are starved intentionally there is no worldwide shortage of food or shortage of NGOs that give food out for free. The reason Africans starve is because it is cheaper to starve them than shooting them and there is no smoking gun to point at that way. A lot of food aid ends up getting sold to buy weapons by those in power. Those who starve are being starved by their countries regimes. IT IS NOT A WORLDWIDE SHORTAGE OF FOOD THAT CAUSES MODERN DAY STARVATION!
In our nations statistics "malnutrition" has even been defined so as to include obesity. If you went out to find the millions of American children who "suffer" from malnutrition you'll find most of them are "Suffering" from childhood obesity. We're not starving. When is the last time you actually saw someone in the USA who was starving to death because they could not get food? I've never seen it.
We've used food for fuel in many ways since time began. It is often even hard to decide if something is more of a fuel or a food. Many bio-diesels are also edible oils, but how much more oil do you really want to eat? If we burn wood for fuel aren't we stealing some poor termite's food? If we burn straw aren't we going to starve the buffalo?
Just as one man's trash is another man's treasure, one man's food is another man's fuel, one man's dog is another man's dinner. Did you see the guy who eats bicycles and stuff? Fruitcake gets used as a doorstop, Salt and flour dough trinkets and popcorn get used to decorate Christmas trees, eggs get used to make paint, oh the horror of it all. Get a clue people. Using food for other purposes is fine.
If I hear one more ignorant dildo claim it is mad or bad or sad to continue using food for fuel as humanity has done from the beginning I think my head is going to explode!
Oats were traditional horse fuel back when horses were vehicles and not just food or glue. Was it wrong of our ancestors to fuel their horses with oats that could have been some kids oatmeal and not instead sell the horse to a French butcher to create more food? If you don't eat the bark off the trees in your yard that is good food going to waste. If you don't stew and eat your leather shoes, belts, and seat covers when you're done with them shame on you! You're throwing food away! ....and dammit women and children are starving! I can't believe you capitalist pigs don't eat your banana peels and melon rinds when they're high in fiber and people are starving. I could go on for ever. My point is the use of food for fuel is neither new nor morally bad and if that is the best those who oppose biofuels can come up with then they are really running out of reasons to keep things the way the oil companies like them.
Not when we have mountains of excess food.