Ken. Please take a look at http://www.eesi.org/programs/agriculture/Energy%20Balance%20update.htm on Biofuels: energy balance. Hans ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2004 12:01 AM Subject: Was Re: [Biofuel] Changing Government/Now ethanol
> > The reason the government is promoting ethanol > > production is because of the farm lobby. In general > > the production of ethanol is an energy loss. The > > fossil fuels used to plow, fertilize, ferment and > > distill ethanol require the input of more energy than > > is obtained from the ethanol produced. > > Ken > ========================================== > Sorry Ken, but your data is about 24 years behind the times. I believe it > was a 1980 paper from Cornell U. or something similiar, that mentioned > that ethanol was energy negative. Some things never want to die. > > I remember stopping in Madison Wisconsin to gas up on my way to Chicago a > few years ago. I pulled into a gas station and the gas station attendant > noticed my Minnesota lic. plates (read: 10% ethanol). He proudly > proclaimed that his gas had none of that worthless ethanol in it. I asked > him what his feelings were about ethanol and he said it ruins engines. I > said, "Reeeally, I have over 200,000 miles on my truck and never had a > problem with the engine." He then asked me for the money owed for the gas > and that was the end of that. 8~) > > Maybe ethanol isn't going to reduce oil dependency, but it will replace > the use of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE). I believe 3.3 billion > gallons yearly of ethanol are being produced now. To replace all the nasty > MTBE put in gas in the USA, they'll need another 11-12 billion gallons of > ethanol for a 10% mix. > > When people live in California where MTBE is manufactured and they have to > quit using it and ship in tank cars of ethanol....they will complain. > What's surprising is that California politicians that scream about taking > care of the environment also don't want to ban the nasty MTBE and resort > to "importing" ethanol. Let them eat cake. > > Ron B. > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
