But that’s unpossible, Part 47
You mean we should eat the corn instead of putting it in the gas tank? Who knew?
12 Responses to “But that’s unpossible, Part 47”
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September 11th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
It depends on the biofuels, of course. Corn and soy aren’t very good for this purpose, but sadly, both of these have very powerful lobbies.
But this sort of thing does need to get more press.
September 11th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
I am with you TG, the lobbying is a big part of the problem. Biofuels like sugar cane work. Maybe switchgrass will. Once again, the Law of Unintended Consequences is at work.
September 11th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
It’s what they do to you with the used corn-cob afterwards that counts…
September 12th, 2007 at 12:03 am
Biodiesel can be made from WVO and non food feedstocks, so most of the objections raised herein don’t really apply.
But yeah, corn based biodiesel is bullshit.
September 12th, 2007 at 12:03 am
That should read corn based ethanol. Duh. It’s been a long day.
September 12th, 2007 at 1:57 am
Sebastian, you can make biodiesel from corn oil, so both are correct.
But watch the price of food stuffs jump if enough of the corp farms jump on the switch grass, or rapeseed growing, instead of corn/surgar cain/what ever.
While i think bio fuel, would be a great half step to get the US off of oil, it is not the end all. The US feeds the world, there are just too many issue/problems if we stop doing that.
Personaly i fill up with Bio-Diesel because it is cheaper then dino-diesel here in germany. Some times in the summer i have been know to put in VVO because it is even cheaper, read 41 euro cents per liter vs 1.15 euro cents per liter.
just my 2 euro cents (yank living in germany)
September 12th, 2007 at 2:22 am
Well uh we could end the protective tariffs on imported cane sugar and you know, let free trade replace all the high fructose corn syrup in manufactured food and drink items with a more inexpensive sweetener. Then all that corn that was formally chemically cracked into sweetener could then be put towards ethanol production or used as feed for livestock..
September 12th, 2007 at 9:14 am
And don’t forget you can also make Diesel from animal fats. Of course, the soap industry has been pretty vocal in their opposition to that.
And the soy (and Biodiesel – but of course in DC they are one and the same) guys go nuts whenever you mention that you can also make it from Palm Oil (Which does bring a host of environmental issues in play – mainly along the lines of deforestation, but then so does using corn for ethanol since it will just result in the increased demand moving to South America and displacing rain forest for new corn acreage).
September 12th, 2007 at 9:28 am
SM – your right on that one. Need to open up the sugar markets domestically but also get rid of the import tariff on ethanol. If we want to get off MIDDLE EASTERN oil and jump start the use of renewable fuels (and mostly ethanol) then why do we have a 54 cent a gallon tariff on imported ethanol.
That together with the 51 cent a bushel blenders tax credit on corn ethanol (which actually comes out to 1.53 a gallon since it takes 3 bushels of corn to produce a gallon of ethanol) results in $2.05 of subsidies PER GALLON OF ETHANOL before you even get to the current 7.5 billion gallon mandate (which they want to raise to 36 billion gallons) . . . . no wonder the ethanol market is booming.
Think about that. Do you have any idea how much ethanol is going to cost us in the future??
If George Bush and the Democrats get their way, we will have nearly 74 billion a year in subsidies supporting the use of ethanol. Does that sound sustainable??? And remember, of that HUGE annual subsidy, 55 billion goes directly to the oil refiners who actually blend in ethanol – Exxon, Chevron, etc – and not the farmers.
September 12th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Makes more sense to produce the methods that produce the ethanol (and other good things) from the waste from the corn – stalks, cobs, etc..
Slight disadvantage if you use it all – tilling some of it back in is good for the soil.
Keep the corn kernals in the food chain and burn the rest.
September 12th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Got to kill the Sugar-Subsidy lobby… Biofuels should be made from waste, not planted on purpose – think kudzu. Otherwise you’re creating another subsidy-monster.
September 12th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Big trouble for corn subsidies.
Doh, now you tell us.