Total water requirements for the irrigation and conversion of one liter of ethanol by state, as well as the total water used in ethanol production by state. Credit: Environmental Science and Technology
Posted on 12/15/2010 7:32:27 AM PST by george76
We've tried the ethanol experiment, and it's failed.
Ethanol hasn't significantly affected our dependence on imported oil, nor has it significantly cut carbon emissions. It has, however, cost taxpayers a bundle, including raising food prices.
Corn-based ethanol is uneconomic as a fuel, especially compared with gasoline and diesel. Ethanol requires mandates to make motorists use it and a generous subsidy of 45 cents a gallon to get refiners to produce it.
Even if ethanol were a solution to any of our energy problems — and it's not — ethanol can be produced cheaper in countries like Brazil with abundant sugar cane. But to protect the domestic industry from competition, that government imposes a 54 percent-per-gallon tariff on ethanol imports.
There is still time to block the extension.
(Excerpt) Read more at deseretnews.com ...
That being said, subsidies or special tax breaks for any industry, ethanol and oil industries included, are a bad idea.
Subsidy of 45 cents a gallon to get refiners to produce it.
Any questions about the IQ of a congressperson.
Washington Roebling, at the dedication to the Brooklyn Bridge, compared its construction to the pyramids. The Egyptians, he explained, put a few grains of rice in the bellies of some Hebrews, while we used coal to power steam engines. Thus, the Egyptians used the sun's energy more efficiently than us.
West of the Mississippi River does always get enough rain.
Thus many large —expensive—water storage projects.
Hence the old west sayings
Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn Does.
the corn-based ethanol lobbyists and politicians are pushing for high tarriffs to keep Brazilian ethanol out. That further increases the price at the retail pump level.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=grass-makes-better-ethanol-than-corn
Livestock eat corn. If corn price go up, then meat prices will go up, too.
Livestock also eat distillers dried grain and digest it far more efficiently than whole corn.
Only about 16% of the US corn crop is irrigated and almost no irrigated corn is used as ethanol feed stock.
According to Dick Morris, about 10% of the money in these earmarks is returned to the politician in the form of campaign contributions. In most places this is called a kickback. Sometimes it's called money laundering. But in Congress it's business as usual.
The argument is that the land used to cultivate this corn had been used to produce food prior to the subsidies.
Check out http://www.pure-gas.org.
Non-ethanol gas is called “recreational gas,” and many marinas and gas stations sell it. Perhaps there is one near you.
I use recreational gas in my 1990 Airstream motor home and my 1991 Cadillac whenever I can — both run better, get better gas mileage. And, in my own small way, I’m sticking it to the environmental whackos when I use it.
It’s time to re-think corn irrigation.
corn farmer... in the 1950s when Georgia farmers averaged 25 bushels per acre...
the times and technology have changed. Georgia averaged 130 bushels per acre in 2007, and...there are other reasons, including improved hybrids, better fertilization, improved weed control, and other factors for Georgia’s better corn yields.
Irrigation requires a relatively high investment in equipment, fuel, maintenance and labor, but it offers a significant potential for increasing net farm income. Frequency and timing of water application have a major impact on yields and operating costs.
http://southeastfarmpress.com/its-time-re-think-corn-irrigation
Ethanol is made mostly from corn in the United States, and more than one-third of the country’s corn crop goes into making it, said Professor Lee Meyer, from the UK College of Agriculture’s Department of Agricultural Economics.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects a greater percentage of the corn crop will go toward ethanol production in the next few years.
“Though corn production is on an upward trend, production has not increased nearly as quickly as the use of corn for fuel,” Meyer said. “Something has to give. That means less corn is going to be used for feeding livestock.”
Corn is the primary feed for chicken and hogs, and it is often used for the last stage of feeding cattle. Its price has increased by approximately 40 percent in 2010.
http://southeastfarmpress.com/grains/corn-common-denominator-fuel-meat-prices
What is missing ? Thanks
Irrigation in a humid state such as Georgia doesn’t deplete water resources. Georgia cropland averages well over a million gallons of rainfall per acre per year.
Total water requirements for the irrigation and conversion of one liter of ethanol by state, as well as the total water used in ethanol production by state. Credit: Environmental Science and Technology
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