----- Original Message -----
From: Douglas P. Wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>As long as we are talking about fuel, I'd like to ask a few questions
>about ethanol. I am told that ethanol is already cheap enough to be
>used instead of gasoline in some places (e.g. Brazil), even in these
>days of low gasoline prices. Is that true, or not? Jay? Does
>anyone have any figures I could use about ethanol?
Ethanol is, to say the least, controversial. I do not have the time or
inclination to untangle the arguments myself, but here is David Pimentel's
opinion:
"Ethanol production is wasteful of fossil energy resources and does not
increase energy security. This is because considerably more energy, much of
it high-grade fossil fuels, is required to produce ethanol than is available
in the ethanol output. Specifically, about 71% more energy is used to
produce a gallon of ethanol than the energy contained in a gallon of
ethanol." http://hubbert.mines.edu/news/v98n2/mkh-new7.html
I suspect that it could provide net energy in some cases, but it is
certainly not going to be a major source of energy like oil.
Here is a good paper on renewable energy:
Renewable Energy: Economic and Environmental Issues,
by David Pimentel, G. Rodrigues, T. Wane, R. Abrams, K. Goldberg, H.
Staecker, E. Ma, L. Brueckner, L. Trovato, C. Chow, U. Govindarajulu, and S.
Boerke (Originally published in BioScience -- Vol. 44, No. 8, September
1994) http://dieoff.com/page84.htm
The bottom line is that the US already has too many people for energy
self-sufficiency at these consumption levels.
Jay -- www.dieoff.org
