David Pimental, a leading Cornell University agricultural expert, has
calculated that powering the average U.S. automobile for one year on
ethanol (blended with gasoline) derived from corn would require 11
acres of farmland, the same space needed to grow a year's supply of
food for
seven people. Adding up the energy costs of corn production and its
conversion into ethanol, 131,000 BTUs are needed to make one gallon
of ethanol.
One gallon of ethanol has an energy value of only 77,000 BTUS. Thus,
70
percent more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy
that
actually isin it. Every time you make one gallon of ethanol, there
is a net energy
loss of 54,000 BTUs.
Mr. Pimentel concluded that "abusing our precious croplands to grow
corn for an energy-inefficient process that yields low-grade
automobile
fuels amounts to unsustainable subsidized food burning".
Neither increases in government subsidies to corn-based ethanol fuel
nor hikes in the price of petroleum can overcome what Cornell
University
agricultural scientist, David Pimentel, calls a fundamental input-
yield
problem: It takes more energy to make ethanol from grain than the
combustion of ethanol produces.
source via Mark Nagel
http://www.healthandenergy.com/ethanol.htm
Corn: Subsidizing starvation
Commentary by Mark Nagel
I offer at rebuttal to those who (in the Times article) argue that
we can have our fuel and eat [it]
too:
Demand for fuel cuts into corn crop
WASHINGTON - Ethanol will devour 50 percent more corn this year,
eating
into the food industry's share of the crop, the Agriculture
Department
said this week.
From breakfast cereal to beef to beer, competition from ethanol
could
raise prices for all kinds of foods.
People don't eat the kind of corn that makes ethanol, but cows, pigs
and chickens do. And people eat other grains that will become less
plentiful as farmers plant more corn. Demand for ethanol is pushing
feed
prices higher and enticing farmers to switch from other crops.
Farmers are expected to grow a record 12.2 billion bushels of corn
in
2007, said Keith Collins, the department's chief economist. An
estimated
3.2 billion bushels will go into ethanol, up from 2.15 billion in
2006.
---
OK, I've also got to rebut the claim in the Times' article that
there
are 35 million acres available for farming. First, much of this
land is
in fallow for regenerative purposes, and second, it's quite likely
that
much is also likely dead land (soil that's no longer likely able to
support real crop production [anytime soon]). Just consider what
the
effects of rising food prices (and lowered exports) are going to
mean as
this nation of debit plows forward. Clearly this world is
overpopulated;
perhaps this is how we'll deal with this?
-Mark Nagel
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit for research and educational purposes. MY
NEWSLETTER has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this
article nor is MY NEWSLETTER endorsed or sponsored by the
originator.)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NewsViewsnolose
or the best of N&V at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newsviewsnolose2
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RunningOnEmptyDemocratCaucusWA/
and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RunningOnEmptyCaucusDemocratsUSA
calculated that powering the average U.S. automobile for one year on
ethanol (blended with gasoline) derived from corn would require 11
acres of farmland, the same space needed to grow a year's supply of
food for
seven people. Adding up the energy costs of corn production and its
conversion into ethanol, 131,000 BTUs are needed to make one gallon
of ethanol.
One gallon of ethanol has an energy value of only 77,000 BTUS. Thus,
70
percent more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy
that
actually isin it. Every time you make one gallon of ethanol, there
is a net energy
loss of 54,000 BTUs.
Mr. Pimentel concluded that "abusing our precious croplands to grow
corn for an energy-inefficient process that yields low-grade
automobile
fuels amounts to unsustainable subsidized food burning".
Neither increases in government subsidies to corn-based ethanol fuel
nor hikes in the price of petroleum can overcome what Cornell
University
agricultural scientist, David Pimentel, calls a fundamental input-
yield
problem: It takes more energy to make ethanol from grain than the
combustion of ethanol produces.
source via Mark Nagel
http://www.healthan
Corn: Subsidizing starvation
Commentary by Mark Nagel
I offer at rebuttal to those who (in the Times article) argue that
we can have our fuel and eat [it]
too:
Demand for fuel cuts into corn crop
WASHINGTON - Ethanol will devour 50 percent more corn this year,
eating
into the food industry's share of the crop, the Agriculture
Department
said this week.
From breakfast cereal to beef to beer, competition from ethanol
could
raise prices for all kinds of foods.
People don't eat the kind of corn that makes ethanol, but cows, pigs
and chickens do. And people eat other grains that will become less
plentiful as farmers plant more corn. Demand for ethanol is pushing
feed
prices higher and enticing farmers to switch from other crops.
Farmers are expected to grow a record 12.2 billion bushels of corn
in
2007, said Keith Collins, the department's chief economist. An
estimated
3.2 billion bushels will go into ethanol, up from 2.15 billion in
2006.
---
OK, I've also got to rebut the claim in the Times' article that
there
are 35 million acres available for farming. First, much of this
land is
in fallow for regenerative purposes, and second, it's quite likely
that
much is also likely dead land (soil that's no longer likely able to
support real crop production [anytime soon]). Just consider what
the
effects of rising food prices (and lowered exports) are going to
mean as
this nation of debit plows forward. Clearly this world is
overpopulated;
perhaps this is how we'll deal with this?
-Mark Nagel
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit for research and educational purposes. MY
NEWSLETTER has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this
article nor is MY NEWSLETTER endorsed or sponsored by the
originator.)
http://groups.
or the best of N&V at
http://groups.
http://groups.
and http://groups.
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