Ron E. VanNimwegen wrote: > if we divert our energy harvest from ancient to contemporary carbon sources, > aren't we still shifting an inordinate amount of carbon from the earth > to its atmosphere?
No, because the carbon in corn or switchgrass was recently fixed from the atmosphere. Ideally, biofuels are carbon-neutral. In practice, of course, we use fossil fuels to make them. > If our entire energy burden were placed on any "bio" source, how long would > it take us to strip the planet down to bedrock? I'm not sure what you mean here. Are you talking about soil erosion? > > > Maiken Winter wrote: > > >>Hi all, >> >>We just had a discussion on ethanol on the Tompkins Sustainability >>listserv, and I would like to share one of the most interesting inputs from >>an employee of an independent energy firm in our area: >> >>At Cornell, a study has shown the inefficiency of ethanol; please see: >> >><http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/July05/ethanol.toocostly.ssl.html>http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/July05/ethanol.toocostly.ssl.html >> >>"It seems as if the final word on energy efficiency is still out. >>Pimental, who is widely and correctly quoted, is viewed as an extremist. >>( He may still be right), Most research indicates a tiny bit of positive >>energy produced with corn to ethanol9 10-20%, and a little better for >>Biodiesel from soybeans. >> >>Some interesting articles are listed below: >> >>Drunk on Ethanol- Audubon Society: >><http://magazine.audubon.org/incite/incite0408.html>http://magazine.audubon.org/incite/incite0408.html >>"But the reformulated-gasoline program has turned out to be a colossal >>failure, and the ethanol industry has transmogrified into a sacrosanct, >>pork-swilling behemoth that gets bigger and hungrier with each feeding. >>Ethanol dirties the air more than it cleans it. Its production requires >>vast plantings of corn, which wipe out fish and wildlife by destroying >>habitat and polluting air, soil, and water. Of all crops grown in the >>United States, corn demands the most massive fixes of herbicides, >>insecticides, and chemical fertilizers, while creating the most soil >>erosion." >> >>"Does it take more energy to make ethanol than is contained in ethanol? >>That question continues to haunt the ethanol industry even after 27 >>years of expanding production. Over the years more than 20 scientific >>studies have examined the question. This document contains links to the >>major studies of the subject completed during the last decade." >><http://www.newrules.org/agri/netenergy.html>http://www.newrules.org/agri/netenergy.html >> >> >>Here is a good article from renewable energy access, by LesterBrown of >>Worldwatch. >><http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/reinsider/story;jsessionid>http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/reinsider/story;jsessionid >>=DDB1143EA1BF449D5EFC92ADE6723FDE?id=47092 >> >>"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) projects that distilleries >>will require only 60 million tons of corn from the 2008 harvest. But >>here at the Earth Policy Institute (EPI), we estimate that distilleries >>will need 139 million tons -- more than twice as much. If the EPI >>estimate is at all close to the mark, the emerging competition between >>cars and people for grain will likely drive world grain prices to levels >>never seen before. The key questions are: How high will grain prices >>rise? When will the crunch come? And what will be the worldwide effect >>of rising food prices? >>"From an agricultural vantage point, the automotive demand for fuel is >>insatiable. The grain it takes to fill a 25-gallon tank with ethanol >>just once will feed one person for a whole year. Converting the entire >>U.S. grain harvest to ethanol would satisfy only 16 percent of U.S. auto >>fuel needs. >> >>The competition for grain between the world's 800 million motorists who >>want to maintain their mobility and its 2 billion poorest people who are >>simply trying to survive is emerging as an epic issue. Soaring food >>prices could lead to urban food riots in scores of lower-income >>countries that rely on grain imports, such as Indonesia, Egypt, Algeria, >>Nigeria, and Mexico." >> >>Today's Ithaca Journal has a report on "Mexican President tries to >>contain tortilla prices" due to a surge in corn prices driven by the US >>ethanol industry. Seems like the riots are about to start... >> >>And Iowa may have to import corn next year, from who knows where? >><http://www.farmandranchguide.com/articles/2007/01/05/ag_news/letters_and>http://www.farmandranchguide.com/articles/2007/01/05/ag_news/letters_and >>_editorial/letter02.txt >> >>According to IATP numbers, the biofuel boom - if fulfilled - will >>require Iowa to import 200 million bu. of corn, rather than export 670 >>million bu. as it did in 2005/06. Nebraska would need even more, 421 >>million bu., to fill its ethanol-made hole." >> >>Now, here is just one sentence from myself: >>If - as it seems - ethanol is a hoax, shouldn't we speak up, also for the >>sake of the remaining prairies that might be at stake? >>Maiken >> >>Maiken Winter >>Cornell Laboratory of Orntihology >>Ithaca, NY 14850 >> >> >> > > -- ------------- Jane Shevtsov Ecology Ph.D. student, University of Georgia co-founder, <a href="http://www.worldbeyondborders.org";>World Beyond Borders</a> Check out my blog, <a href="http://perceivingwholes.blogspot.com";>Perceiving Wholes</a> "Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency." --Daniel Burnham, architect of first skyscraper
