On Fri, Sep 30, 2022 at 2:41 PM Flesner via KRnet <krnet@list.krnet.org> wrote:
> The fact that it takes more energy to produce a > gallon of alcohol than you get back out of it and it simply removes food > from the table dampens my opinion on the validity of the environmental > benefits anyway not to mention it destroying equipment not designed to > use it. > It is common to see ethanol disparaged by Big Oil's public relations folks. They will tout numbers showing every bit of petroleum that is used to grow a bushel of corn, but will "forget" to mention that ethanol is just one product of a well-managed corn farmer. The intelligent farming takes the carbohydrate out of the corn (bad for cattle anyway) to make ethanol, but the residue is distiller's grains rich in protein and fat. The corn stalks are converted into silage. Since most of America's corn is cattle food, we are merely taking the carbs out for ethanol and feeding the cattle the silage and dried distiller's grains that they love (good for cattle). Corn produces about 300 gallons of ethanol per acre. Sweet sorghum produces 800-1000 gallons per acre in my area from two harvests per summer/fall. Scientists are working on a midwest variety of sweet sorghum. We'll see it. Cattle love sweet sorghum forage and silage, also.
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