At 12:16 PM 01/30/2003 -0600, Harmon Seaver wrote:
On Thu, Jan 30, 2003 at 08:05:46AM -0800, Mike Rosing wrote:
> > That's a pretty easy decision to make, eh? Ethanol is renewable, oil isn't.
> > Ethanol doesn't pollute, oil does. Ethanol doesn't require troops in the Middle
> > East, wars, and resultant terror attacks, oil does. Quite simple.
>
> Ethanol pollutes, any hydrocarbon is going to be mixed with N2 and make
> NOx, there's no getting around it with any kind of Otto engine.
Yes, of course, there's always NOx (although that can largely be dealt with
by cats), but the other stuff, sulfur and particulates, is gone, and there are
no problems whatsoever from things like spills, which are quite catastrophic
even in the short term. Biofuels are also greenhouse neutral.
The big pollution issues with ethanol are in growing the corn, sugar, etc. that's used to brew the stuff, fermenting it, and distilling it. Even if it's grown "organically" (or at least without pesticides, which is easier to do with corn that doesn't have to look good for market), it's still a big issue with habitat destruction, and by the way, have you ever smelled a brewery? :-)
Photovoltaics, on the other hand, have all the wonderful toxic chemical problems of the semiconductor industry. Solar thermal power sources are pretty well-behaved technology, though except for water heaters they aren't very common.
