Fact: In ONE YEAR 1 man could live off of the amount of Corn it would take to make ONE full tank of fuel...
Fact: According to USA today for all cars in America to run on ethanol we would need 261 Million gallons A DAY! and at full capacity (i.e. - if ALL available farm acreage in the USA was in corn production for ethanol) we'd still only have less than 100 million gallons a YEAR!
Fact: According to USA today for all cars in America to run on ethanol we would need 261 Million gallons A DAY! and at full capacity (i.e. - if ALL available farm acreage in the USA was in corn production for ethanol) we'd still only have less than 100 million gallons a YEAR!
Fact: As it turns out Ethanol isn't as pollution free as you thought (oh and BTW - Neither is your plug in car - electric cars run clean... but the power plants that fuel them are WORSE than Petrol!). According to the EPA Ethanol plants produce high amounts of Carbon Monoxide, Acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, and acrolein - none of which are good for you know things that live... and breath.
Fact: According to Time Magazine currently 20% of the Carbon emissions being ... well emnmited is being done so not because of Cars but because of the deforestation, for the production of ETHANOL and Sugar Cane, taking place in the Brazil Jungle (You may also recall the Jungle by its other name from way back in the 80's & 90s when we were trying to SAVE IT FROM BEING DEFORESTED - the RAIN FOREST. But Boo Who saving the Rain forest is old school but not so much yet that's gone Vintage and is back IN again.)
Fact: Ethanol is only truly "renewable" to a point. Crops need rotated or fields need to replenish the nutritional value of their soil and production at full capacity means all available acreage is being worked continuously and sucking that value out of the soil and thus at some point yield will begin to decrease and we do not actually know the long term effects of long term land abuse.
Fact: Ethanol is not as efficient as Petrol. According to Consumer Reports mileage decreases by about 27% on cars that run on Bio Fuels as apposed to those running on Petrol.
Fact: Ethanol is already more expensive than Petrol and is not cost efficient to produce. Companies that specialized in Ethanol have turned to "alternative" bio fuels to supplement their output because thanks to Ethanol - the cost of corn and wheat have increased so that they are no longer profitable crops to work with.
Fact: According to the director of the EPA there is NO way to accurately calculate your "Carbon Foot Print" and most things done by intuition - like purchasing locally grown produce are inconsistent with what is actually eco-friendly.
The Biggest Fact: We've got to stop problem solving old school - i.e. exchanging one Problem for anther. We've got to start using our brains to come up with REAL and LONG TERM solutions. We've put the Cart in front of the horse and although the horse is standing there looking at the cart and getting it ... somehow it's blowing right over our heads. The health and well beginning of the earth - it is a great and noble cause to champion but must be done with appropriate, economical, logical, scientific actions, not knee jerk emotional reactions. We all must become stewards of the planet but we must do so responsibly. I have argued the case for lessening our impact on the earth for most of my life and while it is wonderful to see it has now become the thing to do over the last few years the hysteria surrounding how to "Go Green" has become as stylish and sensible as buying 5 to 8 year olds $1,000 tickets to see Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) lip sink.
Fact: Ethanol is only truly "renewable" to a point. Crops need rotated or fields need to replenish the nutritional value of their soil and production at full capacity means all available acreage is being worked continuously and sucking that value out of the soil and thus at some point yield will begin to decrease and we do not actually know the long term effects of long term land abuse.
Fact: Ethanol is not as efficient as Petrol. According to Consumer Reports mileage decreases by about 27% on cars that run on Bio Fuels as apposed to those running on Petrol.
Fact: Ethanol is already more expensive than Petrol and is not cost efficient to produce. Companies that specialized in Ethanol have turned to "alternative" bio fuels to supplement their output because thanks to Ethanol - the cost of corn and wheat have increased so that they are no longer profitable crops to work with.
Fact: According to the director of the EPA there is NO way to accurately calculate your "Carbon Foot Print" and most things done by intuition - like purchasing locally grown produce are inconsistent with what is actually eco-friendly.
The Biggest Fact: We've got to stop problem solving old school - i.e. exchanging one Problem for anther. We've got to start using our brains to come up with REAL and LONG TERM solutions. We've put the Cart in front of the horse and although the horse is standing there looking at the cart and getting it ... somehow it's blowing right over our heads. The health and well beginning of the earth - it is a great and noble cause to champion but must be done with appropriate, economical, logical, scientific actions, not knee jerk emotional reactions. We all must become stewards of the planet but we must do so responsibly. I have argued the case for lessening our impact on the earth for most of my life and while it is wonderful to see it has now become the thing to do over the last few years the hysteria surrounding how to "Go Green" has become as stylish and sensible as buying 5 to 8 year olds $1,000 tickets to see Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) lip sink.
The leap for ethanol is still technologically premature (as are most gas-alternatives), yet our jump to conform, to be trendy, to allow the market to dictate the best solution is creating new problems and leaving ethanol's distillery stink and yellow stain on the world economy in escalating prices and wheat/rice/corn food shortages around the world.
Even if we could grow the amounts of corn required seeing as the food shortages we are already creating should we? There is obviously a considerable moral issue at stake if we do. Turning food into a energy increases it's value substantially and thus moves it farther out of the reach of those who already struggle to survive. We are only just feeling the crunch here in the states and while we have the conveyance of perhaps just nipping our splurges here and there to fund our necessities that is a luxury not all the world enjoys.
What about other forms of Bio Fuels? As it stands now anything organic or dropped off the back end of an animal - will require substantial land. Before we encourage developing nations to begin deforestation of their invaluable resources in the rain forest or farmers to utilize their land for fuel as apposed to food research must be done to see what the repercussions of our actions will be. Of course Displacing people and animals are also ill side effects of programs which demand large sums of land to supply goods to a significantly smaller group. Bio Fuels only seem to "work" b/c they are currently low in demand, compared with Petrol. To rely only on Bio Fuels of any kind is to create an environment of dependence were shortages and higher/unstable costs rule the market.
First we need to decided what our goal REALLY IS. Neither 1. wanting to be independent of other countries for energy or 2. eco-friendly earth saving solutions are solved with Bio fuels. If these are the problems we are looking to solve we need to define them and then construct appropriate and humane solutions - based in logic and science. I think the answer is going to be harvesting, harnessing, and somehow retaining solar energy but I'm going to leave it to the scientists - the people who know a heck of a lot more than I do.
Even if we could grow the amounts of corn required seeing as the food shortages we are already creating should we? There is obviously a considerable moral issue at stake if we do. Turning food into a energy increases it's value substantially and thus moves it farther out of the reach of those who already struggle to survive. We are only just feeling the crunch here in the states and while we have the conveyance of perhaps just nipping our splurges here and there to fund our necessities that is a luxury not all the world enjoys.
What about other forms of Bio Fuels? As it stands now anything organic or dropped off the back end of an animal - will require substantial land. Before we encourage developing nations to begin deforestation of their invaluable resources in the rain forest or farmers to utilize their land for fuel as apposed to food research must be done to see what the repercussions of our actions will be. Of course Displacing people and animals are also ill side effects of programs which demand large sums of land to supply goods to a significantly smaller group. Bio Fuels only seem to "work" b/c they are currently low in demand, compared with Petrol. To rely only on Bio Fuels of any kind is to create an environment of dependence were shortages and higher/unstable costs rule the market.
First we need to decided what our goal REALLY IS. Neither 1. wanting to be independent of other countries for energy or 2. eco-friendly earth saving solutions are solved with Bio fuels. If these are the problems we are looking to solve we need to define them and then construct appropriate and humane solutions - based in logic and science. I think the answer is going to be harvesting, harnessing, and somehow retaining solar energy but I'm going to leave it to the scientists - the people who know a heck of a lot more than I do.
The answer should not be emotional, political, or necessarily stylish - but one made out of the necessity and with the planet's best interest at heart. If we treat this issue like a trend, like the cute mini-toy dogs all dressed up and shivering in a purse-carrier so popular 2 years ago - Than that's what it will be - a trend and when it becomes old or boring, just like those dogs it will be discarded.
As long as we remain uninformed and uniformly trendy and afraid to speak out against green fallacies and the PC Police the vote buying politicians and corporate vultures will swarm above us pimping their ever increasing amounts of new and improved unregulated "Green" crap. Down below we'll buy it all up and think we are doing our part - just like the toxic and hazardous Compac Fluorescent light bulbs we feel ohhh so progressive for jamming into our sockets. Companies will always be glad to fill our " green needs" but it doesn't mean their agenda is ours... though it sure as heck is Green. Right now they are leading us by the nose and deciding for us and we cannot afford jumping on the hybrid wagon a moment too soon, because the planet cannot.
