Needed to produce one gallon of ethanol...
Strictly illustrative...Bioenergy Conversion Factors
Posted on 04/18/2009 2:54:42 AM PDT by Scanian
In September, ethanol giant VeraSun Energy opened a refinery on the outskirts of this eastern Iowa community. Among the largest biofuels facilities in the country, the Dyersville plant could process 39 million bushels of corn and produce 110 million gallons of ethanol annually. VeraSun boasted the plant could run 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet the demand for home-grown energy.
But the only thing happening 24-7 at the Dyersville plant these days is nothing at all. Its doors are shut and corn deliveries are turned away. Touring the facility recently, I saw dozens of rail cars sitting idle. They've been there through the long, bleak winter. Two months after Dyersville opened, VeraSun filed for bankruptcy, closing many of its 14 plants and laying off hundreds of employees. VeraSun lost $476 million in the third quarter last year.
A town of 4,000, Dyersville is best known as the location of the 1989 film "Field of Dreams." In the film, a voice urges Kevin Costner to create a baseball diamond in a cornfield and the ghosts of baseball past emerge from the ether to play ball. Audiences suspended disbelief as they were charmed by a story that blurred the lines between fantasy and reality.
That's pretty much the story of ethanol. Consumers were asked to suspend disbelief as policy makers blurred the lines between economic reality and a business model built on fantasies of a better environment and energy independence through ethanol. Notwithstanding federal subsidies and mandates that force-feed the biofuel to the driving public, ethanol is proving to be a bust
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The Ethanol Fallacy: Op-Ed
So why not build corn liquor stills on an industrial scale and use the output to power our cars and trucks?
That’s exactly what this country has been doing for the past several years. Some 134 ethanol plants are now in operation, consuming close to 1.6 billion bushels of grain, about 15 percent of our total corn production.
The entire ethanol debacle is a great case example to illustrate the folly of government intervention in the free markets.
You can’t fool Mother Market.
And from philman_36's post:
...consuming close to 1.6 billion bushels of grain, about 15 percent of our total corn production.
An a little math by theymakemesick:
If 39 million bushels of corn produces 110 million gallons of ethanol annually,then 110,000,000 / 42 = 2,649,047 barrels annually. We consume about 20,000,000 barrels of petroleum per day in the USA. That plant produces about 13% of what we use in one day. 1.6 billion bushels total / 39 million bushels = 41. 41 X .13 = 5. So, we consume 15% of our annual corn production to offset 5 days worth of our petroleum consumption. This does not include the petroleum required to farm, fertilize, water or transort the corn. Great use of natrual resorces, not.
I meant to say "that plant produces in one year about 13% of what we consume in one day".
I would have to disagree. Mother Market loves bailouts and stiumulus. Mother Market appears to have been bought and paid for by the democrats.
Strictly illustrative...Bioenergy Conversion Factors
See #8.
Hmmm. Wasted resources should be used, not fresh corn. Thanks for doing the math.
but politicians can sure fool the foolish public!
...and the iron law of unintended consequences.
Fannie and Freddie would never have gotten so awful if their debt did not come with implicit taxpayer backing. When we, the people, elected these awful buffoons in Congress over the past decades, we signed up for the bail outs.
If ethanol was so great it would require no subsidies of any sort, just like with gasoline.
22 bushels of corn to produce 1 gallon of ethanol,corn juice not a good idea.
And the Ethanol scam is a drop in the bucket compared to the man made global warming scam. The loss of wealth is going to be staggering.
... At least 43 percent of ADM's annual profits are from products heavily subsidized or protected by the American government. Moreover, every $1 of profits earned by ADM's corn sweetener operation costs consumers $10, and every $1 of profits earned by its ethanol operation costs taxpayers $30
Iowa voted for Obama, right?
Well they got what they paid for. 4000 lost jobs, higher food and fuel bills and in the end the investors of the bankrupt company probably got bailed out.
Happy Iowa?
Didn't Iowa just receive the gift of happy marriages?
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