Jim,
Don't get me wrong. I tend to be a very green person. (I save my
old QuikTrip cups and take them into the store to use again when I
get a soda.) I don't own any gas guzzling cars. I keep the A/C at
82 and the heat at 65 day and 55 night.
At the same time, I have a MS in chemical engineering and believe I
am more qualified than some (and much less qualified than
others!) to separate fact from fancy regarding ethanol's energy
balance. Moreoever, I was around for the first time ethanol made
promises it couldn't keep back during the 70s oil shock. It was, in
fact, a major research project of one of my professors.
Regarding the link you provided.... Kudos to them for co-locating an
ethanol plant with a stockyard. (But wow the smell would be even
worse!). Grabbing the methane from the stockyards is a very green and
possibly even becoming cost effective, but I don't think it is "good
science" to subtract that energy from the corn ethanol energy
calculation. While there are certain overall
transportation/processing efficiencies, the fact remains that the
methane production is completely independent of the
ethanol production. Put another way, a) the manure would produce
methane even if there were no ethanol co-products in the cattle feed
and b) the methane -- however produced -- could be utilized for any
heating/energy purpose. Hence it is no more appropriate to delete
that energy from the balance than it is to delete other energies
utilized in ethanol production such as electricity LPG, etc.
M.
These "scientists" are obviously not familiar with:
<http://www.e3biofuels.com>www.e3biofuels.com
Jim in Tucson
E85 EVO
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