Quote:
Originally Posted by JonoBN41
For some reason there's an emphasis on corn for making ethanol while other grains (such as wheat) are more often used for making the kind we drink, as in vodka (corn is used for bourbon). But whatever the material, it has to be fermented, which gives off CO2. The end product of ethanol combustion is CO2 and water.
Ethanol might eliminate other pollutants released by fossil fuels, but with respect to global warming it gives off as much, if not more, CO2 than gasoline. And CO2 is supposedly the culprit in global warming.
I'm not an opponent of ethanol or using corn to make it - these are just the facts as I understand them.
BTW gas at the two stations nearest my home is $4.34 and $4.40 today. It's always high around here but I drive a Honda Civic.
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As with anything it depends on the research.
from
http://www.idahoethanol.com/pages/energy.html
Quote:
Amount of energy you get per unit of energy expended to extract, grow, process, transport and distribute typical fuels are: gasoline=0.74, diesel=0.84, corn ethanol=1.3, bio-diesel= 2.2. These figures are called, in the media, net energy balances and there are several versions of these estimates. The low figure for gasoline is due the energy construction and distribution costs for ships, ports, refineries, pipelines. The estimate for gasoline does not include US military costs. Cellulosic ethanol is still experimental but estimates are coming in at 2-3.
Ethanol and bio diesel are in principle carbon neutral: they consume about as much CO2 as they produce. In current practice this is not true as fossil fuels are still used somewhere in their growing, harvesting and especially distribution by diesel truck. Ideally these diesels would use bio-diesel. In contrast oil is pipelined in and then distributed by local truck.
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Where I am many of the farmers are using soy biodiesel in their tractors and machinery and biodiesel pumps are available around the state. Likewise, many farmers practice environmentally friendly agriculture, including low-till/no-till farming and few to no fertilizers or pesticides. Very few farmers here irrigate and many practice crop rotation. But, I also live in Iowa where the soil and growing season are prime for corn, as opposed to other places in the country where land/weather are less than ideal. Again, I don't think corn ethanol is necessarily the answer, either, but it's at least something for now.
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