Al Gore - U.S. corn ethanol "was not a good policy". (supported policy for political reasons)

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE6AL0YT20101122?pageNumber=3&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true ^

[macquire]

"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. Gore: "It's hard once such a programme is put in place to deal with the lobbies that keep it going. 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."

[WOBBLY BOB]

No surpise. corn pimpin pols on the left and right are looking for political payoffs , not economic.

Why else would Tommie ‘the Commie’ Harkin and Tim ‘T-paw’ Pawlenty be of the same mind regarding ethanol?

[sdcraigo]

People knew that ethanol was inefficient and a drag to food supplies 5 years ago.

A study done at Cornell University in 2005 said the following:

“Turning plants such as corn, soybeans and sunflowers into fuel uses much more energy than the resulting ethanol or biodiesel generates, according to a new Cornell University and University of California-Berkeley study.

“There is just no energy benefit to using plant biomass for liquid fuel,” says David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell. “These strategies are not sustainable...”

“Ethanol production in the United States does not benefit the nation’s energy security, its agriculture, economy or the environment,” says Pimentel. “Ethanol production requires large fossil energy input, and therefore, it is contributing to oil and natural gas imports and U.S. deficits.” He says the country should instead focus its efforts on producing electrical energy from photovoltaic cells, wind power and burning biomass and producing fuel from hydrogen conversion. “

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/july05/ethanol.toocostly.ssl.html

[jjotto]

The Pimintel study was so discredited that it hurt the credibility of all ethanol critics, and may have ended up actually promoting fuel ethanol production.